Water in Israel

Annual rainfall in Israel ranges from more than 1,100 mm in parts of the north to under 100 mm in the far south.¹ Seawater desalination and the reuse of treated wastewater now supply a large share of the country’s water, which flows through one national system.^2 3 4 Israel’s main natural sources include the Jordan basin and the Mountain AquiferMountain Aquifer Also called the Yarkon-Tanninim aquifer, it is the largest and highest-quality water resource in the region, stretching about 130 km from Mount Carmel to Beersheva. It is divided into a Western, a North-Eastern and an Eastern basin, and most of its recharge area lies in the West Bank. Source: Mountain and coastal aquifers, European Parliamentary Research Service (Epthinktank), 14 January 2016, which it shares with its neighbours (see Shared waters).^5 6 Since October 2025, desalinated water has also been pumped into the depleted Sea of Galilee.⁷

In what is now Israel, water has long had to be collected and stored. At Megiddo, Hazor and Beer Sheba, Iron Age cities built underground water-collecting systems to serve dense urban communities.⁸ At Hazor, a 20-metre vertical shaft and a sloping tunnel with steps reached water beneath the city in the 9th century BC.⁹ In the Negev, where rainfall is only about 100 mm a year, the desert towns of the Incense RouteIncense Route The trade route that carried frankincense and myrrh from south Arabia to the Mediterranean. In the Negev, the Nabatean towns of Haluza, Mamshit, Avdat and Shivta lay along it; UNESCO lists them as a World Heritage site. Source: Incense Route: Desert Cities in the Negev, UNESCO World Heritage Centre used dams, channels, cisterns and reservoirs to farm on a large scale.^10 11 These systems stored water close to where it fell. Modern Israel took a different approach and moved water across the country. The National Water Carrier, inaugurated in 1964, carries water from Lake KinneretLake Kinneret The Hebrew name (Yam Kinneret) of the Sea of Galilee, the lake in Israel through which the Jordan River flows. In the 1960s it became the starting point of the National Water Carrier. Source: Sea of Galilee, Encyclopædia Britannica and the aquifers to the crowded centre and the arid south.⁴ In the 1960s, it supplied 60% of the country’s water.¹²

Natural water could not keep pace with demand. In 2000, Israel decided to desalinate at scale, and by January 2026 six large plants were operating.^1 2 Treated effluent became the largest single source of water for agriculture.⁴ Wells and surface water still supplied 54% of water production in 2023,^13 14 but these natural sources are under pressure: the Israel Meteorological Service expects rainfall to fall by 10–20% in 2071–2100, and seawater pushing inland has already damaged the coastal aquifer.¹⁵ Israel’s water is also tied to agreements with its neighbours. Under the 1994 peace treaty, it supplies Jordan with about 50 million m³ of water a year; an additional 50 million m³ a year, agreed in 2021, expired in late 2025.¹⁶ In the West Bank, Palestinian water use is still governed by the 1995 Oslo II accord, an interim agreement meant to last five years.⁶

One interactive map of Israel's water, built from real geodata. Climate & drought maps the aridity gradient (WorldClim) with warming projections. The Water risk layer's WRI Aqueduct indicators, covering overall water risk, water stress and flood risk (plus groundwater decline where the trend is significant), shade every river sub-basin by its 0–5 risk score. Demand shows where the population, and the water demand, concentrate. Infrastructure brings the physical system together: rivers, dams (FAO AQUASTAT), treatment plants, desalination and the major conveyors. Shared waters outlines the transboundary river basins and aquifers that Israel shares with other countries, each drawn in full across the border; hover an outline for the countries that share it. Hover any sub-basin or marker for detail; sources are cited under each view.

Israel runs from Mediterranean hills to true desert. The north has a Mediterranean climate and the south is arid, with a narrow semi-arid strip between.³ The central highlands reach 1,208 m at Mount Meron in the Galilee.¹ The Jordan Rift Valley, part of the 6,500 km Syrian–East African Rift, holds the Jordan River, Lake Tiberias and the Dead Sea.¹ The Negev covers about 12,000 km², more than half the land area.¹

Rainfall

Rain falls sharply from north to south. The far south averages under 100 mm a year, while parts of the north receive more than 1,100 mm.¹ Station averages for 1991–2020 show the gradient: Safed 688 mm, Haifa 565 mm, Tel Aviv 557 mm, Jerusalem 522 mm, Be’er Sheva 192 mm and Eilat only 23 mm.³ About 70% of rain falls between November and March, and June to August are often rainless.¹ Snow can fall on the central highlands, including Jerusalem, in January and February.¹

Totals swing widely. National rainfall averaged 6.13 billion m³ a year in 1991–2020, but only 4.5 billion in 2016–17 and 8.44 billion in 2019–20.³ 1998–99 was the worst drought year in a century.¹ In early February 2025 the Water Authority said the winter was on course to be the driest in a century, with just 55% of the average. The Jordan River’s flow was the lowest since 1960.²¹

In the World Bank Climate Change Knowledge Portal’s ERA5 reanalysis, averaged over the whole of Israel, about 216 mm of rain falls in a year (1991–2020). Station records and national averages use other sources and baselines, so their figures can differ (the text cites a national total of 6.13 billion m³ a year for 1991–2020). About 60% of the rain falls in December, January and February, and 4 months average less than 5 mm. Average rainfall in 1993–2022 was about 11% lower than in 1951–1980, and single years swing widely around that.

Heat

January temperatures range from 5 to 10 °C and August from 18 to 38 °C.¹ On 17 July 2019 Sodom reached 49.9 °C, the highest reading in Israel since 1942.³ A long heat wave in late August and early September 2020 peaked at 45 °C.³ Average temperatures have risen by about 0.6 °C a decade.³ The adaptation plan puts the rise at about 1.4 °C between 1950 and 2017.¹⁵ Heat waves at least 6 °C above average for more than three days have become significantly more frequent.¹⁵ Rainfall fell by 3.4% in 1988–2017 against 1961–1990, a trend that is not statistically significant.¹⁵

The same reanalysis gives a mean temperature of 20.3 °C for 1991–2020 and a warming of about 0.42 °C a decade over 1971–2022. Station records and national reports use other sources and periods, so their warming rates can differ (the text cites about 0.6 °C a decade over the last three decades from the national report).

Projections and the coast

Under high emissions, temperatures are expected to rise by a further 1.2 °C by 2050 and 4 °C by 2100.¹⁵ The Israel Meteorological Service expects rainfall to fall by 10–20% in 2071–2100 against 1988–2017, with more runs of dry years.¹⁵ Sea level has risen by 14.9 cm over 19 years.³ The coastal aquifer is already damaged by seawater pushing inland, and further rises will worsen it.¹⁵

Projected change for Israel

The table gives the CMIP6 multi-model median from the same World Bank portal, as change against 1995–2014. Projections cited in the text may use other models, scenarios or baselines, so their figures can differ.

The manufactured majority

Israel’s natural supply averaged 1,249 MCM a year between 1932 and 2010. From 1993 to 2010 it averaged 1,155 MCM a year, and the Water Authority’s 2010 long-term master plan assumed 1,020 MCM a year for 2011–2050.²² Desalination and treated wastewater help fill the gap (see Infrastructure). Treated effluent became agriculture’s largest single source.⁴ The Water Authority describes fresh sources as a strategic resource to be preserved, though wells and surface water supplied 54% of water production in 2023.^13 14

Supply by source

The main rivers

The table ranks the rivers of Israel by the largest natural flow they reach inside the country. Natural flow is the modelled long-term average before any withdrawals. For a heavily used river it measures what the river could carry, not what arrives today.

The dams on these rivers, from the FAO AQUASTAT inventory, are listed river by river under Infrastructure.

Israel’s farms once ran on the same fresh water as its cities. Between 1958 and 2009 agriculture took 69% of available water on average, households 25% and industry 6%.⁵ Domestic use rose sharply from the 1980s, while farm use showed no clear trend. In the 1960s the new National Water Carrier supplied 60% of the country’s water.¹² Household use fell from 100 m³ per person in 2000 to 90 m³ in 2013.²³

From fresh water to effluent

The first shift was technical: from the mid-1970s farms moved almost entirely to pressurised irrigation. Field efficiency rose from 40–50% to 80–95%.¹² The second shift was forced by drought, as dry years from the late 1980s cut freshwater allocations to farms and treated effluent filled the gap. Around 2010 agriculture used 1,045 MCM a year, of which effluent supplied 38%, brackish water 14% and potable water 42%. The national target is 26% potable by 2050.²² Within a decade, farm use of potable water fell by more than half.⁴

By 2013 national consumption stood at 2,187 MCM, with agriculture taking 58%, households 35% and industry 7%. Of the farm total, 744 MCM was recycled or brackish water, and by 2014 effluent made up half of agricultural allocations.²⁴ By 2023 total supply had reached 2,556 MCM. Agriculture took 1,261 MCM (49%), households and industry 1,041 MCM (41%), Jordan and the Palestinian Authority 211 MCM (8%) and nature 43 MCM (2%). Only 35% of farm water was potable.¹³

The sea replaces the lake

As desalination grew (see Infrastructure), pumping from the Sea of Galilee collapsed, from 513 MCM in 2001–02 to 25 MCM in 2018–19, and under the 2025 refill plan only 20 MCM was to be drawn.^25 7 In October 2025 Israel began what the Times of Israel called the first attempt anywhere to top up a freshwater lake with desalinated seawater.⁷ A new Reverse Carrier system pumps desalinated Mediterranean water inland into the Sea of Galilee through the Tsalmon Stream. By March 2026 it was pumping about 4,000 m³ an hour, in addition to roughly 1,000 m³ an hour flowing since December 2025, to help maintain the lake’s water level.²⁶

Use by sector

Withdrawals over time

FAO’s AQUASTAT estimates put Israel’s freshwater withdrawals at 1,543 million m³ in 1970 and 1,530 million m³ in 2021. Agriculture’s share of the total moved from 77% in 1974 to 48% in 2021.

Effluent has become the biggest single supply for farms. The State Comptroller wrote in January 2024 that about 600 million m³ of wastewater enter the sewers each year, with over 80% of it used for irrigation after treatment.²⁸ The Water Authority gives 490 million m³ used for irrigation in 2022, from 620 million m³ of sewage.¹³ The OECD says the Shafdan plant alone supplied 16.7% of all farm water in 2021.²⁹ Agriculture’s total use and the potable share are under Water use. The Water Authority’s planning assumes fixed use of 500 million m³ of fresh water and 250 million of brackish water by farms, and infrastructure to use up to 1,100 million m³ of treated water by 2050.¹³ No official volume of desalinated water applied to crops was found.

Area and methods

FAO’s estimate for 2004 is 225,000 ha equipped for irrigation, with localised irrigation, mostly drip, supplying over 75% of it.¹ The Central Bureau of Statistics counted 17,417 active farms in its 2017 census; most irrigate with drinking water and drip is the commonest method.³²

Policy

Farmers receive water through a quota system; all consumption is metered and charged.²⁹ The Water Authority gives farm prices of about US$0.54 per m³ for potable water, 0.28–0.32 for effluent and about 0.4 for Shafdan effluent.¹³ Allocations were cut in 2024 because of drought, by 22% in the north, and the OECD reports that further cuts of 22% and 31% in the north and centre were foreseen for 2025–26 if the dry year continued.²⁹ In March 2025 the Knesset passed a law to reduce the price of treated wastewater from Shafdan and to spend NIS 3.5 billion over ten years on treatment, storage and pipelines; the OECD reports that it could cut farmers’ effluent costs by 22% within three years.²⁹ The Comptroller found in 2024 that the Ministry of Agriculture and the Water Authority had no master plan for water for agriculture.²⁸

Effluent quality

The Comptroller found that 40 of the 87 largest treatment plants, 46%, did not treat to tertiary level in 2021, which unrestricted irrigation requires, and that about 8% of effluent in 2020 went to irrigation in areas of high hydrological sensitivity.²⁸ It also found that the Ministry of Health had not assessed the risks of micropollutants for public health.²⁸ Plants and Shafdan are covered under Infrastructure; irrigation and reuse projects across the region are on the Agriculture & Food hub.

Israel runs one integrated national system. The National Water Carrier, inaugurated in 1964, moves water from Lake Kinneret and the aquifers to the crowded centre and the arid south.⁴ Planners expected potable demand to grow from about 1.2 billion m³ a year to 2.45 billion by 2050.²⁴

Tracked projects

Open the project database for Israel

Desalination

The decision to desalinate at scale came in 2000, as scarcity grew.¹ Installed capacity was about 440,000 m³ a day in 2002.¹ Large plants followed as concessions under government decisions from 2001, such as Sorek, a build-operate-transfer plant of 150 million m³ a year.²⁴ Large-scale desalination began at Ashkelon in 2005.²³ The Water Authority’s 2010 master plan counted on 750 million m³ of desalinated seawater.⁴ By 2011 three plants supplied 320 million m³, about 42% of domestic needs.⁴ By 2015 four large desalination plants were running: Ashkelon at 120 MCM a year, Palmachim at 90, Hadera at 127 and Sorek at 150. A fifth, at Ashdod, was under construction.²⁴ A 2018 cabinet plan set output at 1,100 MCM by 2030.³³ The Water Authority records government decision 3886 as a capacity of 1,100–1,200 MCM by 2030.¹³

Seawater desalination rose from 277 million m³ in 2010 to 609 million m³ in 2019. It then fell by 11%, to 540 million m³ in 2022.³ In 2019 the Times of Israel reported that some 70% of drinking water came from the coastal desalination plants.²⁵ By 2022 five main plants shared the output: Sorek 28.6%, Hadera 25.1%, Ashkelon 15.6%, Ashdod 15.4% and Palmachim 15.4%.³ The Water Authority’s 2025 listing puts Ashkelon at 115 MCM, Hadera at 137 and Ashdod, producing since 2015, at 100.¹³ The Water Authority’s 2025 base scenario adds Sorek II at 200 MCM, Western Galilee at 100 MCM and a plant at Emek Hefer. It targets 1,400 MCM of capacity by 2031, 1,750 MCM by 2050 and 2,750 MCM by 2075.¹³ Sorek II missed its planned start in early 2024, partly because of the war, and began operating in 2025.^34 35

Wastewater and reuse

Since 2000, 62 major reclamation projects have added about 142 million m³ a year of reclaimed water.³⁶ The Shafdan plant for Greater Tel Aviv reuses all its effluent, sending it by pipeline to the Negev.³⁶ The Dan Region plant at Shafdan alone treated about 130 million m³ a year, the OECD reported in 2011.⁴ Policy set tertiary treatment as the target for all plants from 2010; the same Water Authority slides report 41% tertiary treatment in 2012.³⁶ About 85% of wastewater was reused in 2012;³⁶ Spain, the next best in the OECD, reused 17–18%, according to a 2013 Times of Israel report.²³

In 2022, 574 million m³ of wastewater was treated, 51% more than in 2000.³ That year 90% of domestic wastewater was recycled for agriculture and urban irrigation, by the national report’s measure.³ The Water Authority’s February 2025 presentation counts differently: of 620 MCM of sewage in 2022, 94% was treated and 85% was reused.¹³

Networks and security

By law, all water supply must be metered.⁴ The OECD put losses from national and urban pipelines at 10–20%, from leaks, theft and faulty meters.⁴ Water Authority data show non-revenue water falling from 14% in 2010 to 7.8% in 2023.¹³ Mekorot reported a water loss rate of 4.07% in 2024, calculated as total water loss divided by total water use.³⁴ A Water Authority report from about 2011 said that automated meter reading had replaced all manually read meters in ten towns, the largest with 76,000 units, and that a national roll-out was under way.³⁷ In April 2020 an alleged Iranian cyberattack on six Water Authority facilities tried to raise chlorine levels in the supply.³⁸

Dams and reservoirs

Salt was an early water-quality problem for Israel. Before 1964 chloride in the Sea of Galilee reached 400 mg/L.⁵ The saline water carrier, completed in 1967 with the national carrier project, diverts saline springs from the western shore to the lower Jordan. It removes about 70,000 tonnes of salt and 15–20 MCM of water a year, and chloride in the lake fell to 236 mg/L by 2006.⁵

The lake still runs close to its limits. Between 2000 and 2009 the two seasonal chloride standards were breached in 29 and 30 of 48 months, and the cyanobacteria limits in 15 and 34 months.⁴ In the 2017–18 drought the Water Authority pumped 17,000 tonnes of salt out of the lake.³³ Nutrients are the second pressure. Draining the Hula wetland in the 1950s raised nutrient loads and triggered potentially toxic cyanobacteria. The 2013 UN-ESCWA inventory estimated that more than half of the lake’s nutrient inputs came from the Hula Valley and its surroundings.⁵

The coastal aquifer

Groundwater has fared worse. Nitrate in the coastal aquifer rose from 30 to more than 60 mg/L over 60 years, above the 50 mg/L drinking limit. Both nitrate and salinity climbed sharply after 2000.⁴ Over-pumping, seawater intrusion and chloride in irrigation effluent all contribute, and the OECD judged 6% of the aquifer polluted by industry. Between 1998 and 2014 Israel closed 199 drinking-water wells: 107 for nitrate, 24 for chloride, 21 for volatile organic compounds, 18 for EDB and 14 for perchlorate. Industrial pollution accounted for 30% of the closures, almost all on the coastal aquifer.³⁹ The mountain aquifer’s Yarkon–Taninim basin, with nitrate of 5–25 mg/L, has become the main drinking source.⁴

Supplied drinking water is tightly controlled by comparison. Microbiological non-compliance fell from 6.5% in 1991 to 0.2% in 2008.⁴

The reported indicators

On the latest values each country reports for SDG indicator 6.3.1, Israel’s 95% (2024) ranks joint 3rd of the 17 countries covered here that report it; years differ by country. The regional comparison is in the wastewater and reuse dashboard.

A contest older than the state’s borders

Water was a front line before it was a treaty subject. In 1951 Israel began draining the Hula marshes, which lay partly inside the demilitarised zone with Syria. The work led to the first of many clashes between the two.⁵ In 1953 Israel began the National Water Carrier with an intake at Jisr Banat Yaqub, also in the zone.⁴⁰ Syria attacked the works and complained to the United Nations, and the intake moved to the lake’s north-western shore.⁵

Washington tried to settle the basin in the same years. In 1955 the plan of US envoy Eric Johnston divided 1,503 MCM a year. Jordan would get 720 MCM, Israel 616, Syria 132 and Lebanon 35. The riparians accepted the plan on technical grounds, but in October 1955 the Arab League Council voted against ratification, since signing implied recognising Israel.⁵ The plan was never implemented, yet it remains the most authoritative reference for Jordan basin allocations.

The carrier opened in 1964. Arab states then began diverting the Hasbani and Banias headwaters towards the Yarmouk. Israel bombed the diversion site in 1965, and some authors count the dispute among the causes of the 1967 war.⁵ In June 1967 Israel took the Golan Heights, the West Bank and Gaza, and with them the Jordan headwaters and major groundwater. In 1969 Israel raided Jordan’s East Ghor Canal on suspicion of over-diversion.⁵

The agreements of the 1990s

The 1994 peace treaty with Jordan set out water in Annex II. Israel may pump 12 MCM from the Yarmouk in summer and 13 MCM in winter. It may take a further 20 MCM in winter, in exchange for 20 MCM of Jordan River water delivered to Jordan in summer. Both sides undertook to cooperate in finding another 50 MCM a year of drinkable water for Jordan. A Joint Water Committee of three members each oversees the annex.⁴¹ Since 1997 Israel has transferred an interim 25 MCM a year. Since 2010 it has also sold Jordan up to 20 MCM at the price of desalinated water.⁴² Deliveries to Jordan reached 53.2 MCM in 2013.²⁴ Several provisions had not been implemented as outlined, the UN-ESCWA inventory noted, and the committee lacked a mechanism to settle disputes.⁵ In July 2021 Israel agreed to sell Jordan an additional 50 MCM a year, and the deal was signed that October;⁴³ that arrangement expired in late 2025.¹⁶

The 1995 Oslo II Interim Agreement recognised Palestinian water rights in the West Bank. Their definition was left to permanent-status talks. The agreement put future Palestinian needs in the West Bank at 70–80 MCM a year and set out 28.6 MCM of additional supply for the interim, part to be provided by Israel and part developed by the Palestinians.⁴⁴ Israel’s Water Authority says it supplied 60 MCM in 2014, against an obligation of 31 MCM.⁴² The UN-ESCWA inventory gives a different account. It finds that the Joint Water Committee’s consensus rule, with no mechanism to settle disputes, let Israel veto Palestinian requests for new wells, and notes that Palestinians have no access to the Jordan River.⁵ The Water Authority says most Palestinian and Israeli project applications are approved.⁴² The permanent-status talks never produced an agreement.⁴⁵

The northern headwaters

Israel controlled the Hasbani during its occupation of southern Lebanon from 1978 to 2000. In 2002 Lebanon prepared a pumping station at the Wazzani springs. On 10 September Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called the plan a casus belli. The Hasbani supplies an estimated 20–25% of the inflow to the Sea of Galilee.⁴⁶ US, UN and EU mediators failed to agree quotas. Lebanon completed the station, but the crisis set firm de facto limits on its plans.⁵

Since 2020

In 2021 cooperation with Jordan turned to a water-for-energy plan. On 22 November 2021 Israel, Jordan and the UAE signed a declaration of intent in Dubai. Jordan would export 600 MW of solar power to Israel, and Israel would examine exporting 200 million m³ of desalinated water to Jordan.⁴⁷ At COP27 in November 2022 the two states added a declaration on restoring the Jordan River.⁴⁸ In November 2023 Jordan said it would no longer sign the proposed water-for-energy agreement.⁴⁹

The record

Shared river basin

The agreements

Joint bodies

• Joint Water Committee between Israel and Palestine (JWC4)Jordan · 1995 · Israel, Palestine Territories
• Joint Water Committee between Jordan and Israel (JWC3)Jordan · 1994 · Israel, Jordan

Shared aquifers

• Arava Valley / Wadi Araba Alluvial AquiferJordan · data moderate
• Coastal Aquifer BasinEgypt, State of Palestine · data good
• Eastern Mountain AquiferState of Palestine · data good
• Eocene AquiferLebanon · data limited
• Northeastern Mountain AquiferState of Palestine · data good
• Sinai–Negev BasinEgypt · data moderate
• Western Mountain AquiferState of Palestine · data good

The Water Law, first enacted in 1959, declares all water resources public property under state control.⁴ There are no private water rights, and water may be used only under permit.⁴ In 2004 nature was added as a legitimate use of water.⁴ The Water Authority, created in 2007, regulates the whole cycle from supply to recovery.⁴ Decisions rest with the eight members of the Water Authority Council, drawn from the authority, five ministries and the public.⁴ Mekorot, the national water company founded in 1937, transports and supplies about 64% of the country’s total water supply, including water supplied to Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, and accounts for about 78% of household water consumption (2024).³⁴ A 2001 law set up municipal water and sewerage corporations, and a special Water Tribunal hears disputes under the Water Law.⁴

Prices and plans

A 2010 reform raised domestic tariffs by about 40% to cover full costs.²⁴ It introduced two blocks. The OECD gave the rates as US$2.5 per m³ below 3.5 m³ per person a month and, from March 2011, US$4 above;⁴ the Water Authority gave them in about 2015 as US$2.3 and US$3.7, including VAT.²⁴ Domestic tariffs were then cut by 15% in 2014–2015.²⁴ For farms, the plan was to replace price subsidies with direct support, and to release freshwater quotas in exchange for effluent.²⁴ Climate adaptation runs through Government Resolutions 4079 of 2018 and 1902 of 2022, and a Climate Bill passed its first reading in April 2024.¹⁵

Desalination and reuse now meet much of Israel’s demand, but the climate margin is narrowing: the projections under Geography & climate point to less rain, and the coastal aquifer has already been damaged by seawater intrusion (see Water quality).¹⁵ Desalinated output has fallen as well as risen, and the system has faced cyberattack attempts and war delays (see Infrastructure).

Regionally, Water Authority planning includes desalinated supply to Jordan and the Palestinian Authority.¹³