Israel’s government on 20 June 2010 approved construction of the Sorek desalination plant, which could end up as one of the largest in the world.
Prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu said at a weekly cabinet meeting that the seawater reverse-osmosis plant, which will be sited south of Tel Aviv, will supply 150 million m³/year. “That’s about a quarter of the shortfall of water in the state of Israel each year,” he added.
The plant will cost about ILS 2 billion (US$ 525 million) and is scheduled to come on line in 2013. It will eventually expand to 300 million m³/year.
Sorek Desalination Ltd, a joint venture between IDE Technologies and Hutchison Water, owns the project.