The National Water Carrier near Kadarim. File photo by Hanay, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
1964Water and farming
A pipeline carries Sea of Galilee water south to the Negev.
The National Water Carrier starts pumping in June 1964 and runs about 130 km from the lake toward the dry south.
The story in numbers.
Here is how it happened.
From 1948
Planners set a goal of carrying Galilee water south.
They want to convey hundreds of millions of cubic metres a year from the Sea of Galilee, to make mass settlement of the Negev possible.
Pipe sections and earth-moving machinery on the Sharon plain, June 1959. File photo by COHEN FRITZ, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
1959
Construction begins, and a large share of the workforce joins in.
About one of every 14 able-bodied people in the country is digging, welding or fitting pipes. Much of the funding comes from German reparations.
SourceYnetnews
June 1964
The carrier starts lifting water out of the Sea of Galilee.
A pressure pipe raises the water from 213 metres below sea level to 44 metres above it, where an open canal takes over.
SourceWikipedia
After 1964
The inhabitable southern edge of the country moves from Rehovot to south of Beersheba.
Galilee water reaches the northern Negev, where farming and settlement can grow.
SourceYnetnews
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Here is why it matters.
Planners wanted to move hundreds of millions of cubic metres a year from the Galilee to the south, so that people could settle the Negev. The carrier made that possible.
Three more milestones to read next.
Drip irrigation at work in Rishpon. File photo by Juandev, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
1965
Netafim is founded on a small Negev kibbutz.
Read the story
2005
The Ashkelon plant starts turning seawater into drinking water.
Read the story
The Sorek desalination plant. File photo by Mark Neyman, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
2013
The Sorek desalination plant reaches full operation.
Read the story
Where each fact was read.
Sources read on 1 November 2026.