The shutdown of five of Israel's six major desalination plants has raised concerns about a water shortage and even sparked rumors that it was caused by a cyberattack.
However, according to the Israel Water Authority and the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructures, this has been an environmental-driven event due abnormal turbidity in the seawater that is preventing the facilities from operating without endangering their filtration systems. The incident began last weekend, but the Water Authority's first official announcement was only made on Monday. As of today, after most of the facilities were restarted overnight, they were shut down again due to a renewed increase in turbidity. What are the implications and who will be affected by any temporary water shortage?
What exactly happened?
Abnormal levels of turbidity were measured in the seawater pumped into the desalination plants along the coast. As a result, five of the six largest seawater desalination plants in Israel were temporarily shut down: Ashkelon, Ashdod, Palmachim, Sorek A and Sorek B. The Hadera plant continued to operate at least partially throughout the event. On Monday evening, an attempt was made to restore some of the facilities to operation, but on Tuesday morning, the Water Authority and the Ministry of Energy announced that most of them had been shut down again, after the turbidity had risen again.
What is turbidity in seawater?
Turbidity is a high concentration of particles and substances suspended in water, including sand, silt, organic matter and tiny algae. In the first official announcement, the Water Authority attributed the phenomenon to the unusual weather. Later, it was estimated that microalgae that had drifted from the Nile Delta region contributed to the event, but at present this is still an assessment that is being tested, and not a final conclusion published in the Water Authority's announcement.
Why does turbidity disable a desalination plant?
Desalination plants in Israel operate using the reverse osmosis method. Before the seawater reaches the membranes, it undergoes pre-treatment and filtration designed to remove particles and organic substances. When the particle load is abnormal, pretreatment systems have difficulty coping with it, filters and membranes may become clogged, system pressure increases, and water output decreases. Therefore, shutting the plants down is primarily a protective measure: it is better to stop pumping for a limited time than to cause damage that will require prolonged cleaning or replacement of expensive components.
How were five plants damaged almost simultaneously?
All six major Israeli desalination plants draw seawater from the same wide strip of the Mediterranean Sea, between Ashkelon and Hadera. When an environmental phenomenon spreads over a large area and moves with the currents, it can reach several points one after the other. The differences in the location of the facilities, the depth of the suction pipes, and local conditions explain why they are not shut down and returned to operation at the same time. At the beginning of the incident, the damage was concentrated south of Hadera, so the Hadera facility remained the only one of the six major facilities that continued to operate
Is the water in taps safe to drink?
Currently, no announcement has been made about the quality of the drinking water being damaged, and there is no instruction to boil water or avoid drinking it. The problem lies in the raw water that returns to the sea, before the desalination process, and the plants were shut down precisely to prevent damage to the production process and water quality. If there were a health concern about the water supplied to the public, the Ministry of Health and the Water Authority would to publish appropriate instructions
Are water shortages expected in homes?
The Water Authority and the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructures insist that water supply to homes will continue. However, some localities have already reported a drop in water pressure and localized disruptions, due to, among other things, the state of local reservoirs and transmission limitations in the network. So there is currently no official scenario of a national shortage of drinking water, but local malfunctions may occur as long as most desalination plants are not operating. In such a case, instructions to residents will come from the local water corporation or the local authority
Who is affected first by any temporary shortage?
The state gives priority to the supply of drinking water and domestic use. Therefore, the Water Authority initially ordered a reduction in the supply of fresh water to agriculture in the south, and in some councils it was even stopped for a limited time. Authorities and water corporations were subsequently instructed to reduce irrigation of gardens and parks and non-essential public uses. Farmers who use recycled wastewater do not directly depend on the desalinated water and are less affected by the situation.
Where does water come from when the plants are shut down?
Mekorot is increasing production from other available sources, including the Sea of Galilee, groundwater wells, local facilities and water reservoirs. The national system was designed to be able to combine several sources, so the shutdown of a single facility is not necessarily an exceptional event. The difficulty this time stems from the fact that five large facilities were shut down simultaneously, while the alternative production capacity, reservoirs and transmission pipelines also have limitations.
Is this a cyberattack?
According to the National Cyber Directorate, the Water Authority and industry professionals - no. No indication of a cyber incident was found, and the shutdown was attributed to abnormal turbidity in the seawater. The rumor spread mainly because several facilities were shut down almost simultaneously, but in this case the common denominator among them is the source of the seawater and not a damaged computer system.
To what extent is Israel dependent on desalination plants?
There are six large seawater desalination facilities operating in Israel: Ashkelon, Palmachim, Hadera, Sorek A, Sorek B and Ashdod. According to the Water Authority, their annual production capacity amounts to about 797 million cubic meters.
The figure that desalination provides 70%-80% of the water in Israel requires precision: it generally refers to domestic and municipal consumption, and not to all water consumed in the economy, which also includes agriculture, industry and wastewater. The exact weight of the desalinated water varies from year to year depending on production from the Sea of Galilee and groundwater
When did the malfunction begin?
The facilities in Ashkelon and Ashdod were shut down over the weekend, and the problem later spread to other facilities. The official announcement on the Water Authority website was published on Monday, August 31, after the incident had already affected most of the desalination plants and it was decided to cut the supply of water to agriculture.
The Water Authority's director, Yechezkel Lifshitz, explained that shutdowns of plants for maintenance or due to malfunctions occur routinely and are not always brought to the public's attention, but he acknowledged that the current situation is exceptional.
When will the facilities return to full operation?
There is currently no definite date. Each facility will be able to resume operation when the quality of the seawater at its intake point reaches threshold values and remains stable long enough to allow safe operation. The fact that several plants returned to operation overnight and were shut down again in the morning illustrates that the improvement is not necessarily continuous. Even after the return to production, it takes time for the reservoirs to fill and for the water pressure in the network to stabilize.
What does the exceptional event teach us about the water sector in Israel?
On the one hand, the water sector has backup sources and is able to divert water from the Sea of Galilee, from wells and from reservoirs to protect domestic consumption. On the other hand, the event demonstrates the risk of relying on several large facilities concentrated along the same coastal strip and exposed to the same environmental phenomenon.
In a 2024 report, the State Comptroller already warned that pollution or changes in the quality of seawater could damage the facilities and stop production.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 1, 2026.
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