Facing an unprecedented water crisis, Israel is speeding up plans to desalinate even larger amounts of seawater than it had already planned. The National Infrastructure and Finance Ministries say in early January they will issue a build-operate-transfer tender for the largest reverse osmosis desalination plant in the world, to be built 40 kilometers south of Tel Aviv.
In an effort to speed up the construction of other badly needed plants, the Israeli government has also decided to exempt state utility Mekorot Water from the usual tender process for its planned 100 mcm desalination plant at Ashdod. The government has also asked operators of existing facilities to price expansions of those plants.