Israel refills the Sea of Galilee, supplying Jordan on the way

STORY: Israel is saving its main freshwater reservoir

from the effects of climate change

The Sea of Galilee was being lost to droughts

So Israel built a chain of desalination

plants along its Meditteranean coast

They turn seawater into freshwater,

to refill the lake when water levels get low

(Yoav Barkay, Manager of the national water carrier)

"With this environment of climate changes, you don't know what to expect next year and the year afterward. We are standing now in the late January and with very little rainfalls during this winter in Israel, arid winter basically with no rainfall. And we are no longer depending on rain basically for water supply because we know to manage the system and take the extra water, the extra water we produce artificially with desalination plants, and bring it to fill the natural lake if needed."

The new system will also allow Israel to

double the amount of water it sells to Jordan

Water was a major component in the

1994 peace treaty between the two nations