In an extremely rare move, the Water Authority announced on Monday that five out of Israel’s six desalination stations have temporarily shut down due to “severe turbidity” in seawater caused by weather conditions.
The desalination plants provide up to 80 percent of Israel’s drinking water and are considered a strategic asset in the drought-prone, water-scarce Middle East.
Sources told Hebrew media that there were no fears that this was a cyber attack following several recent instances of attacks on water facilities and power plants in the US and the UK that have been blamed on Iran and Iran-linked hackers.
The authority issued instructions to reduce the supply of potable water used for agriculture in the south of the country, while the Mekorot water company sought backup sources.
The only station working as of midday Monday was in central Israel’s Hadera. Those temporarily closed were to the south — Soreq A and Soreq B, Palmachim, Ashkelon and Ashdod.
