De-Salting to Quench Dry Throats

Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu De-Salting to Quench Dry Throats

Water Authority director Prof. Uri Shani announced Tuesday night a new project to set up five temporary desalination plants with a $300 million price tag to relieve the water crisis.

The plants, unlike larger projects that are underway but will not be completed for three to five years, will be in operation by next year, which still leaves Israelis with the threat of strict rationing this summer. The cost of building temporary plants to desalinate water from the Mediterranean Sea is double the price of more efficient operations but will give Israel a relatively quick fix to the growing water shortage.

The temporary facilities will be deactivated after the long-term plants begin pumping water starting in 2012. Smaller plants already are in operation but provide only a small fraction of the increasing demand for water.

The Neviot bottled mineral water firm also is affected by the drought and has warned investors that profits may be adversely affected by the recent halt in production due to a drop in water quality from higher than desirable contamination in depleting natural springs.

"The company's sole business and only source of revenue is the production of mineral water and beverages based on mineral water, and the spring at Ein Zahav is the sole source of water used by the company for mineral water used to make its products," it stated.

"The company currently has no alternative solutions to the ongoing damage to the water quality at the spring."

Meteorologists are poring over weather maps that indicate a massive winter storm is headed for Israel late Friday and may drop 2-4 inches of rain before it moves out on Monday. Snow may fall in Tzfat, and there is a chance of a second rain system arriving in mid-week.

However, it will take half a dozen more storms before Israelis can count on watering gardens and washing cars at will this summer.