Mekorot National Water Company CEO Ido Rosolio has outlined the company's emergency plan to produce 73 million cubic meters of water over three years from new wells. The Ministry of National Infrastructures will have to expedite the statutory procedures mandated by law to carry out the drilling, and the ministry's legal department has begun working on this.
Last week, Minister of National Infrastructures Benjamin Ben-Eliezer convened a meeting on the status of water projects with ministry director general Hezi Kugler and Water Authority director general Uri Shani. Shani said that the Water Authority has increased its desalinated water production target to 200 million cubic meters, at least half of which would be achieved within two years, as part of its emergency plan.
Shani said, "25 million cubic meters of desalinated water will be obtained by extending the operating hours at the Ashkelon and Palmachim desalination plants. An additional 100 million cubic meters of water will be obtained from transportable desalination facilities placed at a number of sites that we've selected, including Ashkelon, Hadera, Palmachim, Ma'agan Michael, and Ashdod." He outlined the plan for establishing these facilities.
An additional desalination plant at Soreq near Ashdod remains on schedule for 2012. Mekorot is also set to publish tenders for its own desalination plant in Ashdod.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 26, 2009
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