The cabinet will face two major decisions on the future of the Israeli water system at its weekly meeting this morning: increasing the amount of water desalinated every year to 750 million cubic meters, and increasing the use of recycled waste water by another 100 million cubic meters.
National Infrastructures Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer will present two proposals for the country's water shortage; he seeks to find solutions for future years as well as this year's drought.
The proposals for desalinization include building either two new desalinization plants similar to existing ones, or one large one.
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The proposals are part of the ministry's national emergency plan for water, and are estimated to cost around NIS 2 billion over five years.
The plan includes cutting water quotas for farmers and compensating them in return. Sewage purification plants would be upgraded, with a new one built for recycling waste water for agricultural use.
The cost of the plan includes buying the additional desalinated water. The state's water saving plans also include increasing public awareness and encouraging the conservation of water. These include public campaigns, limiting the watering of public and private gardens, and increased enforcement of violations.
Prices will also be part of the plan, meaning higher prices to discourage water use.
On Thursday, Ben-Eliezer said the Water Authority's forecasts for rain last year were wrong. "We must not base ourselves only on natural resources; we need to take responsibility into our own hands and guarantee the continuous supply of water to citizens," he said, speaking at the closing of the financing deal for the new Hadera desalinization plant.
Israel currently has two operating desalinization plants: one in Ashkelon producing 100 million cubic meters of freshwater a year, and a smaller one in Palmahim with a capacity of 30 million cubic meters a year. Within three years another such plant is scheduled to start operating in Hadera, with a capacity of 110 million cubic meters.
Just last year the cabinet decided to increase the volume of desalinated water produced in coming years to 505 million cubic meters annually by building two more plants. It will increase the output of existing plants by 75 million cubic meters.
The newly approved plants are operated by Mekorot near Ashdod, and a private one is to be built near the Shafdan waste treatment plant. The minimal conditions for the tender for the latter plant were published a month ago.
Ben-Eliezer also said he is examining the possibility of doubling the size of the Shafdan plant to 200 million cubic meters.
The financing deal for the new Hadera desalinization plant closed last Thursday, and Elad Tshuva stole the show, quoting Deuteronomy 11: "Love the Lord your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always - then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains."
H2DE, the franchisee that won the tender to build the plant in 2006, has a 25-year BOT contract: It will build, operate and transfer the plant to the state after 25 years. H2DE is 50% owned by IDE, which is owned by Yitzhak Tshuva's Delek and Israel Chemicals. The other half of the venture belongs to Housing and Construction.
The plant will be built on the site of the Israel Electric Corporation's Orot Rabin power station, and produce about 110 million cubic meters of freshwater a year.
The company won the tender by offering the lowest price per cubic meter of desalinated water, NIS 2.56. The plant must be finished within 30 months, according to the terms of the tender.
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