10
Monitoring Lake Kinneret and Its Watershed:
Forming the Basis for Management of a Water
Supply Lake
D. Markell, U. Shami~
I Kinneret Lake & Watershed Monitoring Task Force, Water Commission,
Ministry of National Infrastructure, Upper Galilee Mall, P.G. Box 143, 10531,
Israel.
e-mail: w_dmarkel@mail.gov.il Tel: +972-4-680-1858.
Fax: +972-4-680-1856.
2 Water Research Institute, Technion, Haifa 32000 Israel, and Chair, Kinneret
Lake & Watershed Monitoring Task Force e-mail: shamir@tx.technion.ac.il
Tel: +972-4-829-2239 Fax: +972-4-822-4246.
Abstract
Lake Kinneret is the only large water surface source in Israel, with an area of 167
km 2 in a watershed of 2730 km 2 , and supplies some 30% of the country's
freshwater. Monitoring water quantities and qualities in the lake and its watershed
provides the basis for current operation and for decision making in planning
management of the watershed, the lake, and proposed engineering projects. This
chapter describes the physical setting, the management issues, the structure of the
monitoring system and the way in which it has been operated and developed,
mainly in the last 3 years. The Monitoring Task Force, set up by the Water
Commissioner in 1998, coordinates the monitoring work of all organizations and
guides improvements of the monitoring system, by introducing new sampling and
analysis techniques.
1 Introduction
Lake Kinneret is the only freshwater lake in Israel, from which about 30% of the
country's potable water is supplied. The lake also sustains a large private and
commercial
fishery
with
an
annual
yield
of
2000
tons
(http://marine.ocean.org.il/about.html). In addition, the lake is a prime tourist
attraction, as well as a religious site. Since 1964, when the National Carrier began
transferring water from Lake Kinneret to the center and south of the country,
water supply for urban and agricultural consumers has become the main role of
H. Rubin / P. Nachtnebel / 1. Fuerst / U. Shamir
Preserving the Quality of Our Water Resources
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2002
Monitoring Lake Kinneret and Its Watershed:
Forming the Basis for Management of a Water
Supply Lake
D. Markell, U. Shami~
I Kinneret Lake & Watershed Monitoring Task Force, Water Commission,
Ministry of National Infrastructure, Upper Galilee Mall, P.G. Box 143, 10531,
Israel.
e-mail: w_dmarkel@mail.gov.il Tel: +972-4-680-1858.
Fax: +972-4-680-1856.
2 Water Research Institute, Technion, Haifa 32000 Israel, and Chair, Kinneret
Lake & Watershed Monitoring Task Force e-mail: shamir@tx.technion.ac.il
Tel: +972-4-829-2239 Fax: +972-4-822-4246.
Abstract
Lake Kinneret is the only large water surface source in Israel, with an area of 167
km 2 in a watershed of 2730 km 2 , and supplies some 30% of the country's
freshwater. Monitoring water quantities and qualities in the lake and its watershed
provides the basis for current operation and for decision making in planning
management of the watershed, the lake, and proposed engineering projects. This
chapter describes the physical setting, the management issues, the structure of the
monitoring system and the way in which it has been operated and developed,
mainly in the last 3 years. The Monitoring Task Force, set up by the Water
Commissioner in 1998, coordinates the monitoring work of all organizations and
guides improvements of the monitoring system, by introducing new sampling and
analysis techniques.
1 Introduction
Lake Kinneret is the only freshwater lake in Israel, from which about 30% of the
country's potable water is supplied. The lake also sustains a large private and
commercial
fishery
with
an
annual
yield
of
2000
tons
(http://marine.ocean.org.il/about.html). In addition, the lake is a prime tourist
attraction, as well as a religious site. Since 1964, when the National Carrier began
transferring water from Lake Kinneret to the center and south of the country,
water supply for urban and agricultural consumers has become the main role of
H. Rubin / P. Nachtnebel / 1. Fuerst / U. Shamir
Preserving the Quality of Our Water Resources
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2002