Water desalination

European Investment Bank (EIB) Vice President Gelsomina Vigliotti (right) with Alan Tavir, CEO of IDE Technologies Group and European Union Ambassador to Israel Dimiter Tzantchev announce EIB support for Western Galilee desalination project, June 25, 2023. (Courtesy)

EU financial arm to invest €900m in Israel, including Western Galilee desalination

European Investment Bank allocates €150 million for water facility plus €500m in Bank Leumi credit to encourage green business projects, and assesses €250m for Tel Aviv light rail

EU financial arm to invest €900m in Israel, including Western Galilee desalination

By Sharon Wrobel

June 25, 2023, 9:28 pm

EU financial arm to invest €900m in Israel, including Western Galilee desalination

European Investment Bank allocates €150 million for water facility plus €500m in Bank Leumi credit to encourage green business projects, and assesses €250m for Tel Aviv light rail

By Sharon Wrobel

Screen capture from video of desalinated water being released from production plants to flow into the Sea of Galilee, December 28, 2022. (Twitter. Used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

December 28, 2022, 11:36 am

Pioneering plan inaugurated to top up Sea of Galilee with desalinated water

In world first, water produced from the sea will be pumped into Israel’s largest freshwater lake to maintain levels even in parched years

By ToI Staff and Sue Surkes

A view of the Shafdan water treatment plant in Rishon Lezion of Mekorot, Israel's national water company. (Mekorot)

June 20, 2022, 12:15 pm

Italy scouts for Israeli water tech as drought concerns mount

Largest delegation of Italian water utility companies wraps up visit to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to learn from Israel’s water successes

By Ricky Ben-David

Illustrative: A bulldozer carries a new pipeline by Israel's national water company near Kibbutz Ravid, west of Sea of Galilee on March 16, 2022.(Menahem Kahana/AFP)

April 15, 2022, 11:05 pm

To combat climate threats, Israel to top off Sea of Galilee with desalinated water

Freshwater lake depleted by droughts, rising temperatures and over-pumping, but authorities hope project will help keep reservoir full, while boosting ties with thirsty neighbors

By Daniella Cheslow

This file photo taken on October 23, 2020 shows a view of the Abdelmoumen dam, some 60 kilometres from Morocco's coastal city of Agadir. (FADEL SENNA / AFP)

March 23, 2022, 1:51 pm

Morocco fears severe water shortages amid worst drought in 40 years

Minister says decline in supply is result of environmental factors, high demand and over-exploitation of groundwater for farming, with reservoirs at just 11% of annual average

By Ismail Bellaouali

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed at Al Salam Palace in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, June 24, 2019. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool, File)

November 25, 2021, 9:08 am

Saudis attempted to block UAE-Israel-Jordan deal on energy, water — report

Riyadh said to have proposed its own deal, which would exclude Jewish state, after being left out of largest-ever Jerusalem-Amman deal brokered by Abu Dhabi

By ToI Staff

L-R: Energy and Water Resources Minister Karine Elharrar, UAE Climate Change Minister Mariam Almheiri and Jordan Water and Irrigation Minister Mohammed Al-Najjar sign a water agreement at a Dubai Expo event on November 22, 2021, as US Climate Envoy John Kerry and UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed look on. (UAE Foreign Ministry/Twitter)

November 22, 2021, 6:15 pm

Israel, Jordan sign huge UAE-brokered deal to swap solar energy and water

Largest-ever Jerusalem-Amman deal will see UAE firm build plant in Jordan from which Israel will buy electricity; desalination plant in Israel will send water to Jordan

By ToI Staff and AFP

National Security Adviser Eyal Hulata speaks during the IISS Manama Dialogue in the Bahraini capital Manama on November 21, 2021. (Mazen Mahdi/AFP)

November 21, 2021, 3:18 pm

National security adviser confirms solar, water swap deal with Jordan

Energy ministers will sign agreement in the UAE on Monday; Eyal Hulata says pact enabled by the Abraham Accords

By AP and ToI Staff

Part of a new 15 million euro solar plant during its official inauguration at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, on November 13, 2017. (AFP Photo/Khalil Mazraawi)

November 17, 2021, 2:54 pm

Israel, Jordan, UAE reportedly set to sign massive solar, water swap deal

US climate envoy Kerry expected to be on hand for Monday signing of biggest regional cooperation project Israel’s ever reached with its neighbors, after helping move talks forward

By ToI Staff

A picture taken on July 11, 2021, shows a pipe system used to transfer water from Israel to Jordan by Mekorot, Israel's national water company, near Kibbutz Masada by the border with Jordan (background), south of the Sea of Galilee, or Lake Tiberias, one of the main water sources in Israel. (MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP)

August 31, 2021, 9:05 am

Israel-Jordan ties boosted by rare alignment in interests on water, energy

Amman and Jerusalem could be poised for an unprecedented boom in cooperation amid Amman’s drought concerns, Jerusalem’s need for solar power

By Ben Simon

King Abdullah II of Jordan, right, meets with US Vice President Joe Biden, at the Husseiniya Palace in Amman, Jordan, March 10, 2016. (AP/Raad Adayleh)

July 9, 2021, 8:54 am

Amid signs of fragility, Biden and Bennett move to shore up Jordan’s Abdullah

Water shortage, tensions in royal family, economic woes push nervous US and Israel to show of support for king, fearing fall of key ally could have disastrous effects on region

By Lazar Berman

Residents of the Western Galilee call for a new desalination plant to be located in an existing industrial zone in coastal Acre, rather than on agricultural land. (Stop the Western Galilee Desalination Plant Campaign, Facebook)

December 17, 2019, 2:08 am

Panel approves sixth desalination plant to sate Western Galilee

Local protesters fail to have planned facility moved within existing industrial zone in coastal Acre, rather than on agricultural land

By Sue Surkes

Inside the Sorek A Desalination Plant, November 2015. (Yossi Zamir/FLASH90)

December 12, 2019, 7:46 pm

Desalination plant that lied about salts to save cash escapes criminal probe

Sorek A ordered to provide NIS 60m worth of water without charge; former official says ‘sum should be much higher’

By Sue Surkes

September 3, 2019, 2:16 pm

Two desalination plants faked water quality data to cut costs

Energy Ministry inquiry reveals that Sorek plant manipulated chloride amounts before daily samples were taken; workers at Palmachim facility doctored lab reports

By Sue Surkes

A demonstration against the construction of a desalination plant on the coast in the Western Galilee, July 30, 2019 (Yuval Hadar)

July 30, 2019, 3:58 pm

Hundreds protest planned desalination plant on coast in Western Galilee

Local residents say facility would unduly damage the environment, when it could be constructed in a nearby industrial zone instead

By Diana Bletter