Netayim Residents Endure Fourth Day Without Water Amidst System Failures

Residents of the moshav (agricultural village) of Netayim in central Israel are entering their fourth day without running water, despite official assurances that the broader water crisis has largely been resolved. The disruption began earlier in the week when five out of six desalination plants along Israel's Mediterranean coast were shut down, with the exact causes still under investigation. Although some plants have since resumed operations, many homes, including those in Netayim, remain without supply.

Energy and Infrastructure Minister Eli Cohen had stated on the previous day that "most of the disconnected desalination plants are already behind us." However, on Thursday morning, the situation in Netayim had not improved. Technicians from Mekorot, Israel's national water company, were on-site attempting to fix the malfunction.

Mira Ben-Ari, head of the Gan Raveh Regional Council, expressed her frustration in a video message, stating, "I want water. There is no water in Israel. Israel, 2026, and babies have no water and nothing to brush their teeth with." She urged the ministry to address the issue urgently, emphasizing the unprecedented nature of the problem since the 1950s.

Dani Nudelman, responsible for water affairs in Netayim, recounted having to collect water in buckets from temporary cisterns. He expressed disbelief at the minister's earlier claims of resolution, noting that Mekorot had promised water restoration "in 10 minutes" that morning, a promise yet to be fulfilled.

Hazi Lifshitz, chairman of the Water Authority, acknowledged the event as unprecedented but asserted that, thanks to Mekorot's management of over 1,000 wells and the Sea of Galilee, no homes or industrial facilities are currently experiencing water shortages. He credited the professionalism of all water suppliers for this outcome. The shutdown did lead to a halt in water supply for agricultural producers in the Negev and a recommendation against watering public gardens. Under normal summer conditions, Israel consumes approximately 3.9 million cubic meters of water daily. The desalination plant outages created a potential hourly deficit of about 85,000 cubic meters, with agricultural supply reductions reaching around 300,000 cubic meters per day.