Fourth day without water: Netaim residents demand a solution
Despite official claims that the crisis is subsiding, residents of Netaim remain without water for the fourth consecutive day. Local officials and residents have criticized Mekorot's handling of the situation, citing a lack of effective action.
Despite the fact that some desalination plants have returned to operation, and contrary to statements that most of the crisis is "behind us," this morning (Thursday) the residents of the moshav Netaim in the center of the country woke up without water in the taps — this is the fourth consecutive day.
"I want water, there is no water in the State of Israel," said the head of the regional council. "Mekorot says there is no problem and that they are handling it — we are not familiar with such handling." The announcement yesterday by the Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, Eli Cohen, according to which "most of the shutdown of the desalination plants is behind us," caught the residents of Netaim by surprise.
Personnel from the Mekorot company arrived at the moshav to deal with the malfunction. The head of the Gan Raveh regional council, Mira Ben-Ari, addressed the staff in a video:
"I want water, there is no water in the State of Israel. Israel 2026 and there is no water for babies and to brush teeth. This situation has not been possible since the 50s. I call on the ministry to handle this exceptionally right now. It cannot be that this is the situation. A solution is needed now."
Dani Nudelman, who is responsible for the water economy in the moshav, said: "Yesterday I walked home with buckets of water that they placed in the center of the settlement. I don't understand how they said yesterday that the crisis is behind us. Unfortunately, we are still inside a water crisis. Mekorot promised this morning 'in 10 minutes the water will return' and I am still waiting."
Five out of the six desalination plants on the Mediterranean coast were shut down during the week, and the source of the crisis is still being investigated. The chairman of the Water Authority, Hezi Lipschitz, said yesterday that this is an unprecedented event:
"We are still examining the event. There are over 1,000 drillings and there is the Sea of Galilee which Mekorot operates, and that is how we managed to supply water to all the homes of Israel when we shut down the desalination plants. As of now, despite the unprecedented event, not a single house and not a single industrial facility is suffering from a water shortage. This is a certificate of honor for all water suppliers in Israel."
It should be noted that a significant part of the water consumption in the country is from seawater desalination. As a result of the shutdown, the flow of water to farmers in the Negev was stopped and local authorities were instructed not to water public gardens. On normal days, the daily water consumption in the summer is about 3.9 million cubic meters. The shutdown of the desalination plants caused a potential shortage of about 85 thousand cubic meters per hour, and the water cut for agriculture amounted to about 300 thousand cubic meters per day.
