News Brief00:48 AM

(IsraelNN.com) The level of the Kinneret has declined by 36 centimeters (slightly more than 14 inches) since reaching its seasonal peak in May and now stands at 211.26 meters below sea level. The water level rose slightly more than two meters (slightly more than six and a half feet) during the winter, leaving it lower than at the same time last year.

Water Authority Council official Prof. Uri Shani recently stated that a water shortage looms if Israel does not start producing more desalinated water. The Cabinet took his warning to heart Sunday and voted to more than double the amount of desalinated water by 2013.

The lake has not filled to flood levels since the heavy rains in 1991 and 1992 and has not overcome the shortage resulting from the 1999-2002 dry spell. In addition, the underground aquifer system has been drying up.