The National Outline Plan team for water will submit its desalination plan in two weeks. The plan favors concentrating desalination facilities at five locations at Ashkelon, Ashdod, Palmahim, Hadera and in the north. The team is submitting its plan for desalination in two weeks, due to the urgency of the subject, while the rest of the water plan will be submitted later.
The plan assumes that 750 million cubic meters of water a year will be desalinated by the target date of 2020, mostly for urban consumption. 400 million cubic meters of water will be desalinated by 2004, and 20 million cubic meters will be added each year thereafter.
The first facility at Ashkelon, under construction by the VID consortium, will produce 150 million cubic meters of water a year.
Mekorot National Water Company’s Ashdod facility will produce 150 million cubic meters of water a year. The facility currently produces 45 million cubic meters of water a year.
The facilities at Palmahim are scheduled to produce 250 million cubic meters of water a year, including 100 million cubic meters of water at a year facility to be built by the Dan Region Sewage Reclamation Project (Shafdan). The Shafdan facility will be in addition to water produced by its recycling facility.
The team recommends building a facility at Hadera to produce 200 million cubic meters of water a year. The facility currently planned for the site is scheduled to produce half that amount.
The Carmel consortium is due to build a small facility in the north to produce 30 million cubic meters of water a year. The team recommends increasing its capacity to 50 million cubic meters of water a year.
The National Outline Plan does not rule out the building of small local desalination facilities near large cities, such as a 25 million cubic meters a year facility on the Tel Aviv shore. If such a facility is built, the contractor will have to submit a detailed plan that meets environmental criteria.
Any such facilities will be part of the national plan to desalinate 750 million cubic meters of water a year. Plans to import water from Turkey, if implemented, would be included in the general water plan.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on November 17, 2002