Water Supply Disruptions Reach Central Israel Amid Desalination Plant Outages

Residents of Givatayim in central Israel were alerted on Monday to potential disruptions in their water supply, including reduced pressure and possible outages, due to issues affecting the national water network. The advisory comes as five of Israel's six desalination plants have been shut down. According to the Water Authority director, Yitzhak Lipshitz, severe turbidity in seawater, which began over the weekend and is moving north, is preventing the plants from filtering water and operating normally.

The Water Authority estimates the turbidity is linked to rough seas in the eastern Mediterranean and possibly significant algae runoff from the Nile region. A specialized ship has been dispatched to collect water samples to analyze the substance causing the turbidity. Initially, the impact of the shutdown was felt primarily in southern Israel and the agricultural sector. Farmers in the Eshkol Regional Council were instructed to immediately reduce their use of fresh water for agriculture and gardening, and in Ramat Negev, a temporary halt to agricultural water supply and reduced irrigation in gardens and public areas were implemented.

In response to the shortages caused by the desalination plant shutdowns, the Mekorot water company has been directed to increase production from available wells and boreholes within the national network. The Water Authority anticipates that some desalination plants may resume operations within hours as the sediment settles and the seawater clears.