The National Water Carrier of Israel, Israel's main water line, is one of the most basic physical manifestations of the Zionist vision. The route of the water carrier, 130 kilometers long, that carries water from the north of the country to the center and the arid south, enables the founding of new towns in places where before, the difficult geographical conditions made it much harder and even impossible to do so.
Plans to use the waters of the north in order to "make the south bloom", began before the founding of the State of Israel. Walter C. Lowdermilk, the renowned soil conservationist, published a book named "The Land of Israel, the Promised Land" in 1944, in which he proposed the idea. The book prompted the leaders of the Jewish Agency to ask the American engineer, James Hays, to develop a plan that would utilize the Yarmouk, Jordan and Litani rivers for the benefit of the Negev. Hays' plan and Lowdermilk's book were used by the Zionist establishment as professional substantiations of the claim that the future state of Israel had the capacity to absorb many immigrants, and that the Zionist vision was realistic.
In 1951, Ben Gurion made the decision to begin laying the water carrier, a decision that stemmed from two main aspirations: the founding of a modern society on the foundation of advanced technology, and the desire to disperse the population all over the country, including the Negev.
The laying of the water carrier began in 1953 and ended in 1964. The project cost 420 million Israeli lira, and more than 4000 workers took part in it.