As the closure of two desalination stations and the limited operations of three others entered a ninth day, Energy Minister Eli Cohen on Monday provided an upbeat review of what authorities were doing to keep potable water flowing.
Cohen told a press conference that the everyday Israeli “hasn’t lacked for water and won’t lack for it in the future,” that Israel has access to almost twice the drinking water it needs for all of the country’s households, and that the water infrastructure is “proving its resilience.”
Six desalination stations provide around 80 percent of Israel’s drinking water.
On August 29, five of them were shut down to protect their sensitive membranes from algal blooms. The taps were temporarily turned off for southern farmers, and local authorities nationwide were told to stop irrigating parks and gardens.
The two stations still shuttered are the southernmost, located in Ashkelon and Ashdod. Three a little further north, at Soreq and Palmachim, are now working partially. The sixth, in Hadera, has operated at full capacity throughout, while authorities have ramped up pumping from groundwater and the Sea of Galilee to keep the water flowing.
