engineering

Mekorot

Mekorot is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mekorot rather than just read about it. In short: Mekorot (Hebrew: מקורות, lit. "Sources") is the national water company of Israel and the country's top agency for water management. Founded in 1937, it supplies Israel with approximately 80% of its drinking water and operates a cross-country water supply network known as the National Water Carrier of Israel.

Key takeaways

Mekorot belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mekorot to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mekorot from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mekorot (Hebrew: מקורות, lit. "Sources") is the national water company of Israel and the country's top agency for water management. Founded in 1937, it supplies Israel with approximately 80% of its drinking water and operates a cross-country water supply network known as the National Water Carrier of Israel. Mekorot and its subsidiaries have partnered with numerous countries around the world in areas including desalination and water management.

History Mekorot was established as the "Ḥevrat ha-Mayim" ('Water Company') on 15 February 1937 by Levi Shkolnik (later Eshkol, Prime Minister of Israel between 1963 and 1969), water engineer Simcha Blass, and Pinchas Koslovsky (later Sapir, Minister of Finance between 1963 and 1968).

Water supply system Mekorot supplies approx. 80% of Israel's drinking water and approx. 65% of its water supplies. Mekorot supplies over 1.7 billion cubic meters of water to homes, agricultural fields, & industrial plants throughout Israel. The company provides water & services to the private & public sectors in Israel & to the Palestinian Authority & the Kingdom of Jordan, through political agreements. The company operates about 13,000 km of pipelines, 3,000 production & supply facilities, 1,200 drillings, 1,000 water reservoirs & pools and 20 desalination facilities. The company has accumulated investments of NIS 1.5-2 billion per year, & a three-year development plan. Mekorot's water supply system unifies most of the regional water plants, the National Water Carrier and Yarkon-Negev plant, and draws water from the Sea of Galilee, aquifers, boreholes, seawater, desalinated water, and brackish water.

WaTech Center In 2004, the company established WaTech technological entrepreneurship center For technological entrepreneurship and collaborations between Mekorot and start-up companies, entrepreneurs, academia and investors in the field of water technologies in Israel and around the world, with the aim of promoting and developing water technologies in Mekorot and in the State of Israel, to increase the group's export capacity, and to assist the company in managing the water system in a more efficient, cost-effective and sustainable manner. As of 2024, Mekorot has contracted with nearly 10 startups and operates R&D centers in the water field. Within the framework of the activities of WaTech, projects were carried out with start-up companies or mature companies that develop innovative and original technologies and Mekorot serves as an alpha, beta or demonstration site for these technologies.

National Water Carrier

Mekorot's National Water Carrier, known in Hebrew as המוביל הארצי Hamovil ha'artzi, runs from Lake Kinneret (also known as The Sea of Galilee) in the north to the northern Negev Desert in the south. The system has been expanded to pipe water from desalination plants on the Mediterranean coast. Groundbreaking national project for transferring water throughout Israel, in all directions and collecting water from desalination facilities that were established along the coastal strip in the west of the country, to cope with the increased demand for water in the country.

2004–2015 – The New National Carrier Groundbreaking national project for transferring water throughout the country, in all directions and collecting water from desalination facilities that were established along the coastal strip in the west of the country, to cope with the increased demand for water in the country. 2007 – Launching of the National Filtration Plant As part of its commitment to water quality, Mekorot builds the main filtration plant at the Eshkol site in the Beit Natofa Valley to improve the water of the Sea of Galilee before its flows into the National Carrier pipeline system. 2022 – Inauguration of the fifth water supply system to Jerusalem Inaugurated with the aim of expanding the scope of water supply to Jerusalem and the surrounding towns, including meeting future water needs in the region. 2023 – Launching of the National Carrier Flow Reversal Project Delivery of surplus desalinated water to their destinations: strengthening the Sea of Galilee, increasing water supply to northern towns and continued compliance with Israel's obligations to Jordan in the east.

Water Tariffs Water tariffs are set by the Water Authority. Tariffs are updated every six months according to changes in the Consumer Price Index, electricity rates and the average wage index. The rates vary according to use: domestic, consumption and services, industry and agriculture. Rates for industrial and agricultural use are lower than those for domestic consumption and services. The bulk water tariff is the same throughout the country, regardless of the difference in supply costs.

Water Treatment In 2008, Mekorot established a central water filtering plant for water pumped from Lake Kinneret (The Sea Of Galilee). The company also improved quality control. As a result, water quality has improved and less chlorine is added to the water as a disinfecting agent. During the years Mekorot established at the site the National Laboratory, which can assist and monitor water quality. Mekorot's operations achieved maximum utilization of the mix of water resources through various means. In the field of Desalination Mekorot supplies desalinated seawater, and operates 23 desalination facilities, including in the desert, which produce more than one million cubic meters of desalinated water a day. In the field of water recycling, the company operates nine waste treatment and water reuse facilities, which provide 85% of the water for Israel's agriculture. In addition, the company operates more than 1,000 wells nationwide, some of which reach the depth of up to 1.5 km, to produce water from aquifers and treat it for drinking and agriculture. In other areas of Israel, Mekorot developed innovative technologies for capturing floodwater in different geographical regions.

Integrated Water Solutions The company provides an integrated package of water solutions, thanks to the company's specialization in a wide range of areas, including advanced models for water management & operation, the optimal combination of different water types, seawater & water desalination, wastewater processing & water recycling for agricultural uses, improving water resources to the proper quality, security of water sources & more.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mekorot

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mekorot claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mekorot before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mekorot ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mekorot

In research: Mekorot appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mekorot in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mekorot is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Government-owned companies of Israel, Hydraulic engineering, Utilities of Israel, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mekorot outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mekorot in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mekorot means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mekorot out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mekorot in simple terms?

Why does Mekorot matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mekorot?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mekorot.