A dwindling water supply in the Sea of Galilee is pushing Israel to increase its use of desalination plants, with plans to expand two facilities and build two more by 2010. The biblical body of water is 16.2 feet below its lower "red line," which marks the point at which it is ecologically inadvisable to draw water, according to the Israeli Water Authority.
Yet Israel continues to draw water from Galilee, to drink and to irrigate crops, said Uri Shor, a Water Authority official.