Israel’s government this week awarded local desalination specialists IDE a tender to build a IS5.25bn ($1.5bn), 548,000 m³/d capacity seawater desalination plant at Sorek for 2023 start-up. IDE already operates the Sorek1 624,000 m³/d desalination plant at the same location on the Mediterranean, 15km south of Tel Aviv, as well as the 525,000 m³/d Hadera plant to the north and a 396,000 m³/d plant at Ashkelon further south (see map).
The new plant will be the country’s sixth, and will hike Israel’s desalination capacity 26%, to 2.6mn m³/d (see table). All make use of more efficient reverse osmosis technology. Desalination is vitally important in Israel, providing the population with 85% of the country’s drinking water. (CONTINUED - 415 WORDS)
