Israel’s Water Crisis Deepens as Nearly All Desalination Plants Shut Down Again

Most of Israel’s desalination plants were shut down again Tuesday morning, after an effort overnight to gradually bring them back online. The renewed shutdown was caused by a murky wave that arrived in recent hours from the Egyptian coast and affected seawater quality. As a result, operators were forced to nearly completely halt activity at facilities along the Mediterranean coast. At this stage, the desalination plant in Hadera is the only one continuing to operate normally.

The National Emergency Authority published a warning Tuesday morning that disruptions and even water outages may occur in the Jerusalem area, Judea and Samaria, Maale Adumim, and Beit Shemesh. In a joint announcement, the Water Authority and the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure said they had decided to reduce public landscaping and agricultural activity, as well as cut back public water use.

Authorities clarified that water supply to homes will continue. However, in places where a localized problem is identified, the scope of activity will be reduced, and incidents will be handled through the Water Authority’s operations center. It was also reported that the source of the turbidity is still being investigated, while Mekorot is reinforcing the available water production measures.

The effects of the crisis are already being felt in the south. At 7:00 a.m., residents of Sderot received a notice about low water pressure throughout the city and the suspension of water supply for irrigation. “The circumstances are still under review at this stage,” the municipality said in its announcement, calling on residents to prepare for the possibility of further disruptions during the day.

The incident began yesterday, when weather conditions affected seawater quality and led to the shutdown of some desalination plants south of Hadera. Residents in the Shfela, central Israel, and the south were consequently instructed to prepare for possible water outages. In Givatayim, Jerusalem, and Rishon LeZion, the public was even asked to reduce consumption as much as possible and use water only for essential needs.

When the malfunction first began, concerns also arose that it might be a cyberattack targeting Israel’s water infrastructure. However, industry officials and the National Cyber Directorate ruled out that possibility, clarifying that the facilities were shut down because of seawater turbidity, not a cyber incident.

Beyond its impact on households, the crisis is also affecting agriculture in the south, after water supply to the sector was reduced. The situation is raising concern among farmers in moshavim near the Egyptian border. Shai Kasa, a farmer from Kadesh Barnea, warned that shutting down the desalination plants could harm Israel’s food security and cause investments totaling millions of shekels to go to waste.