"The water shortage can be solved by technology," says Minister of National Infrastructures Benjamin Ben-Eliezer. He added that if desalination production is boosted to 525 million cubic meters a year, it would supply 70% of Israel's household water consumption, thereby solving the water crisis.
The Ministry of National Infrastructures will shortly publish a tender for a 100 million cubic meter a year desalination facility at Soreq and a tender to boost output by current tenders by 75 million cubic meters a year, which Ben-Eliezer says will solve the water problem. He also hinted that had the Ministry of Finance approved the desalination facilities in time, "it is doubtful that we'd be faced with such a severe crisis today."
Ben-Eliezer added that Ministry of National Infrastructures was also working hard on the reuse of treated wastewater, maximizing exploitation of rainwater, and upgrading treatment facilities, which would enable greater use of water. "Despite the crisis, Israel is the Silicon Valley of water," he said.
Ben-Eliezer's comments are contradicted in large part by data published by the Water Authority Council yesterday, which show that Israel's water shortfall already exceeds 900 million cubic meters a year, caused by four years of drought, and that the 2007-08 winter was the driest in the past decade.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 25, 2008
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