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The water situation in Israel is at its worst in 80 years, the head of the country’s water authority said this week.

Uri Shani, the director of the Israel Water Authority, said Israel’s major sources of drinking water, including the Sea of Galilee, are below their “red lines,” meaning water should not be drawn from them.

To alleviate the crisis, the Water Authority has started to pump water from tributaries that empty into the Sea of Galilee — water that was not expected to reach the sea or be used until 2010. — jta