Israel's Water Crisis: Sorek Desalination Plant Stops Again

Israel's ongoing water crisis has led to the temporary shutdown of the Sorek desalination plant, which had only recently resumed operations. Two other desalination facilities, a second plant in Sorek and the Palmachim plant, are also operating at reduced capacity. This means three of the country's six desalination plants are currently offline, with two more functioning partially. The disruptions are attributed to high turbidity in the seawater caused by microalgae originating from the Nile region, a phenomenon affecting the Israeli coastline.

To mitigate the reduced output of desalinated water, the national water company Mekorot is pumping four times the usual amount of water from the Sea of Galilee. All of the country's water boreholes are also operating around the clock to maintain supply. The situation had already caused significant water supply issues on Tuesday, with reports of low pressure and local outages in Jerusalem and Beersheba.

Authorities have prioritized supplying households by reducing water allocations for public landscaping and agriculture. This measure exacerbates the challenges faced by farms, especially in southern Israel and the Negev region.