The Dan River is flowing heavily again, and an emergency plan to massively uproot orchards in the north for lack of water has been shelved.
Achikam Bar-Levy, Director of the Galilee Development Company and Chairman of the Hatzbani-Dan Association, says farmers in northern Israel are breathing easily following February’s heavy rains. The recent precipitation may not have filled the Kinneret, which is still 4.6 meters below optimal level, but it did saturate the nearby brooks and rivers that are needed for local water supplies.
Rain and Snow Increase Dan's Flow
Though the most familiar water-measuring standard is the level of Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), farmers and water experts in the north also closely track another measure: The water flow from the Dan River, the main source for agricultural irrigation in the Galilee. Measured twice each month by the Water Authority, the Dan's flow is a function of the winter rains and the melting of snow on Mt. Hermon.
Bar-Levy explained that the Dan's flow generally rises sharply from January to April, and then gradually drops the rest of the year. This year, however, after four straight years of little rain, the flow did not rise in January, and actually dropped to a historic low of 2.8 cubic meters per second. This, in contrast with the average flow of 7.7 cubic meters per second.
Up to 7, Hoping for 9
Just as plans were being made to cut back water quotas even more drastically, and to uproot many dunams [quarter-acres] of orchards, the heavy rains of February arrived, bringing relief to the entire north. The Dan River’s flow jumped from 2.8 to 7 cubic meters per second last month – the sharpest monthly rise in the past five years.
The Dan is currently flowing more heavily than it did a year ago last February, when the level was 6.7 cm/sec.
The year’s rainfall now stands at 80 percent of the yearly average, and another round of rain is expected this week. Water experts in the Galilee say there is room for hope that the Dan flow will reach the March average of 9 cm/sec by the end of this month.
Golan, Too
The Golan Heights, too, experienced a great improvement in water supply this past month. Its aquifers, built to hold 40 million cubic meters, were measured at only 5 million before the recent heavy rains. Within a week, however, some 20 million cubic meters of runoff had been added – a result of the heavy rains. The fear of massive uprootings of apple and cherry orchards has now passed, and the existing water quotas will suffice for the trees’ irrigation.
To avoid nearing such a critical point in the future, Bar-Levy says water sources are being drilled in Sde Shamir for the production of 5 million cubic meters of water per year – the equivalent of a flow of 0.9 cm/sec. Two more drillings will be carried out afterwards, with the hope of quadrupling the water supply.
Green Once Again
Bar-Levy is very optimistic: “The added water supply, and the desalination plants that are being built, will lead to a drop in the amount of water drawn from the Kinneret, which will become full once again.
"The hysterical cuts in water quotas will come to an end, and the Galilee will once again become green and beautiful - the pride of the residents, farmers, tourists, and the entire State of Israel.”