Kinneret still below bottom red line despite heavy rains

The Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) has ended 2025 below the bottom red line despite heavier than average annual rainfall so far this fall/winter, the Kinneret Authority reports. Much of the heaviest rain has been in the center and south of the country. The lake has risen five centimeters over the past five days and is ending 2025, 4.585 meters from its maximum level of 208.80 meters below sea level, according to the Kinneret Authority, and 38.5 centimeters below the bottom red line, beyond which water is not pumped out. The Kinneret is only 1.50 meters above the black line, below which irreversible ecological damage would occur.

At the end of 2024, the Kinneret was 2.415 meters from its maximum level. The situation worsened after 2024/25 was one of the driest rainy seasons on record.

However, the Kinneret is in no actual danger. In 2023, Mekorot Israel National Water Co. and the Israel Water Authority launched the «Reverse Water Carrier» project in the north. The project will allow desalinated water from the Mediterranean Sea to flow inland to the Kinneret to maintain the level of the lake in dry and low rainfall years. Moreover, Israel no longer need the Kinneret for its water, which is supplied by six desalination plants along the Mediterranean coast.

This winter so far Safed has received 158 millimeters of rain, according to the Israel Meteorological Service, 25% of its average annual rainfall. Haifa has received 324 millimeters of rain, 50% of its average annual rainfall. Tel Aviv has received 229 millimeters of rain, 40% of its average annual rainfall, Jerusalem 268 millimeters of rain, 48% of its average annual rainfall, and Beersheva 162 millimeters of rain, 82% of its annual average rainfall.

More torrential rain is forecast throughout the country for tomorrow and Friday morning.

Published by Globes, Israel business news — en.globes.co.il — on December 31, 2025.