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🇮🇩 Indonesia /Environment & Climate

Rare microalgae bloom shuts down almost all of Israel's drinking-water facilities

From Republika · () Indonesian

Translated from Indonesian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Five of Israel's six coastal desalination plants temporarily stopped operating after a widespread microalgae bloom in the Mediterranean, according to national water company Mekorot.
  • Several plants have partially resumed operations, but only one was running at full capacity on Thursday.
  • Desalination supplies at least 65% of Israel's drinking water, raising concerns over the country's dependence on coastal facilities.

A massive bloom of microalgae stretching for miles across the Mediterranean forced five of Israel's six coastal desalination plants to stop operating on Sunday. The shutdown temporarily threatened a primary source of drinking water for the country.

Mekorot, Israel's national water company, said several privately owned and operated facilities had since resumed partial operations. By Thursday, however, only one plant was operating at full capacity. “An event like this has never happened before in Israel. This is a very rare occurrence,” Mekorot spokesperson Lior Gutman said.

An event like this has never happened before in Israel. This is a very rare occurrence.

· Lior GutmanThe Mekorot spokesperson described the unprecedented disruption to desalination plants.

The incident began over the weekend with what water researcher Edo Bar-Zeev described as “a widespread and sporadic contamination event along the Israeli coastline.” Further testing by Bar-Zeev and other scientists identified the cause as microalgae, microscopic organisms that use sunlight, carbon dioxide and nutrients in the water to survive and multiply rapidly.

A widespread and sporadic contamination event along the Israeli coastline.

· Edo Bar-ZeevThe water researcher described how the problem first appeared along the coast.

Bar-Zeev said the bloom extended for more than a dozen miles and was believed to have begun in Egypt's Nile Delta before moving north with ocean currents toward Israel's coast. “This is the first time I have seen a phenomenon of this magnitude,” said Bar-Zeev, an associate professor at Ben-Gurion University who has tested coastal water for 20 years.

Desalination provides at least 65% of Israel's drinking water. Most of the plants sit along the Mediterranean coast and use reverse osmosis, pre-treating seawater to remove larger contaminants before pumping it through membranes that filter out salt, bacteria and other molecules. The article also highlights the severe water shortages in Gaza, where it says damaged water infrastructure and restrictions on aid have sharply reduced access to clean water.

This is the first time I have seen a phenomenon of this magnitude.

· Edo Bar-ZeevBar-Zeev discussed the scale of the microalgae bloom after testing coastal water.
About this summary

Originally published by Republika in Indonesian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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