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Israel desalination fails – lack of minerals.

Rinat 12 – (Zafrir, writer for Haaretz, long-running Israeli newspaper, 3/23/12, “Is desalination the solution for Israel's water problems? Depends who you ask”, http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/is-desalination-the-solution-for-israel-s-water-problems-depends-who-you-ask-1.420278)/ab

Increasing desalination can improve water quality and save the economy some NIS 500 million a year, according to a new survey commissioned by the Israel Water Authority. Experts from the Environmental Protection Ministry, however, believe desalination plants' costs outweigh their benefits. Desalination systems account for a fifth of the freshwater used in Israel and, according to existing plans, by the end of the decade that amount will be doubled. Recently the Water Authority commissioned an economical value survey through Adan Technical & Economic Services. The study focused on the benefit of decreasing the amount of salt and scale in desalinated water, since until recently the amount of scale in groundwater supplied to customers was high. The study inspected the quality of water supplied to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, who have recently received desalinated water distilled with other sources. According to the study, the amount of salt and scale in the water decreased by 25 percent in the past five years, and a further 30-40 percent decrease is expected within three years, when the desalination plant being built south of Rishon Letzion will become operative. The main benefit to households is the energy saved as a result of less scale in the pipes, and expenses saved for energy that otherwise would have been spent on reducing scale. As for agricultural use, lower salt levels would increase the crop. All in all, the study estimates that the total economical benefit would be NIS 0.45 per metric cube. Today the cost of a metric cube of desalinated water is NIS 2-3, and the total yearly benefit would be NIS 185 million, eventually reaching an annual sum of NIS 500 million. Adan's study did not take into account further possible benefits, such as the lack of dangerous cancerous chemicals in the water, or pollution by residues of medicines and hormones. Another benefit would be the longevity of household electric appliances following the decrease in scale. On the downside, desalinated water does not include magnesium, which has many health benefits and exists in water from other sources. The government recently decided not to add magnesium to the water system due to prohibitive costs. The results of the study are expected to strengthen the existing trend in the Water Authority, which tends to support further desalination. However, a steering committee dealing with climate change in the Environmental Protection Ministry recently presented a different and critical view. The ministry has, so far, refused to publish the complete report by the committee, which consisted of water and environmental experts, but several of its conclusions were presented last month in a University of Haifa convention dealing with climate change. Prof. Nurit Kliot, one of the members of the ministry's climate change steering committee, said that the committee did not specify desalination systems as a preferred policy move. "These systems produce large amounts of water, but their benefits do not justify their high costs - including the environmental costs, which nowadays aren't taken into consideration," Kliot said. While she failed to specify the costs, it is assumed that Kliot was referring to the fact the systems occupy much coastal space, use a lot of energy and emit to the sea huge concentrates of salt and chemicals used during the desalination process. Kliot recommended that the amounts produced by desalination should be determined every so often according to the varying conditions and needs. The committee is set to recommend steps encouraging water preservation, prevention of leaks, purification of polluted wells and use of gray water (which is already done in some 30 countries ). Kliot also mentioned purification of sewage and planning of building sites in a way that would allow rainwater to seep in. The committee estimates that these steps could save some 100 million cubic meters a year, and probably even more.

Israel desalination is not thought through – leads to potential environmental destruction

Kuttab 13 – (Columnist for Al-Monitor's Palestine Pulse, Palestinian journalist and media activist, former Ferris Professor of journalism at Princeton University, currently the director general of Community Media Network, columnist for The Jordan Times, Al-Quds and The Daily Star in Lebanon, Al-monitor, 12/16/13, “Israel-Jordan water agreement not worth the hype”, http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/12/aqaba-jordan-desalination-water-israel-palestine.html)/ab

A $400 million agreement to create a desalination plant in Aqaba and to pump brine water to the Dead Sea is a far cry from what is being hyped by Israel as an “historic agreement.” The memorandum of understanding signed at the World Bank on Dec. 9 by Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian officials calls for the creation of a desalination plant in Aqaba that would supply clean water to Aqaba and Eilat and pump sea water into the shrinking Dead Sea. In return, Israel would give Jordan 50 million cubic meters of water from the Sea of Galilee free of charge and sell to the Palestinians 20 million to 30 million cubic meters of water. Jordan would supply Eilat with 30 million cubic meters of water and make the same amount available to its own southern population. Israeli Minister of Energy and Water Silvan Shalom, hailing the agreement as “historic,” said it reflected what he called unprecedented regional cooperation. His Palestinian counterpart, Shaddad Attili, said that the Palestinian government supports the Jordanian project, which would for the first time free up a decent quantity of water for supply to Palestine outside the framework of the Oslo Accords. This largely Jordanian endeavor is a far cry from the multibillion dollar Red Sea-Dead Sea channel that has been part of the discussions steered by the World Bank. Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME), a regional environmental organization, has slammed the agreement as insufficient and lacking any real environmental impact studies. In particular, there is concern about mixing saltwater with the Dead Sea’s water, potentially resulting in an extremely bad odor. What is most surprising is that the agreement contradicts the recommendations made by experts as well as the World Bank itself, as pointed out by FoEME. FoEME is now calling on the World Bank to announce publicly that unless the Israeli and Jordanian governments halt projects which preempt the outcome of the feasibility study and social impact assessment, the World Bank will withdraw from the study process. Plans to commence development of a Red Sea-Dead Sea water conveyance before the potentially serious social and environmental impacts of such an action are understood not only render the World Bank's study meaningless, but are also likely to cause untold environmental destruction. Such action is irresponsible and amounts to a slap in the face to the World Bank and the international community which have committed resources to studying (albeit as part of a somewhat flawed process) the feasibility and anticipated impacts of the water conveyance. While the potential environmental problems of the water pipeline have been repeatedly emphasized, many have failed to deal with the cause of the water problem: Israel’s theft of water. The simple fact is that the dangerous decline in the the Dead Sea's water level is due to the rerouting of Jordan River waters — which flow into the sea — for use almost exclusively by Israel. The Israeli national water carrier's diversion of Jordan River water to the Negev desert deprives the Dead Sea of a steady supply of water. The Israelis' actions have been dubbed water "theft" by the Palestinians, experts and major international media outlets. The hype this latest agreement has received in Israel, where it has been hailed as a fulfillment of the dream of Zionist founder Theodore Herzl, is far from the reality. It is little more than a Jordanian desalination plant in Aqaba and a 112-kilometer underground pipeline that would help lessen the decline of the water level of the Dead Sea with questionable environmental consequences.

Israel’s desalination coordination is awful – counterplan would be largely ineffective

Kedmi 06 – (Sharon, Co-founder & CEO at Demeter AWE Chairperson of the committee on economic cooperation and integration at United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Past Director General at Ministry of Economy Senior Economic Adviser to the Minister at Ministry of Energy, Water and National Infrustructures, Haaretz, 5/10/06, “State completely fails to desalinate water as promised”, http://www.haaretz.com/business/economy-finance/state-completely-fails-to-desalinate-water-as-promised-1.187306)/ab

The state has failed miserably in its plans to promote water desalination. In 2000, the government resolved to build seven plants by 2004. So far one is ready to troll and only one more is being built. The seven desalination plants were supposed to supply 315 million cubic meters of water per year - some 30 percent of the country's water consumption. The government decided that large plants would be constructed by private companies in Hadera and Ashkelon, and that Mekorot would build one at Ashdod. Four smaller ones were supposed to be built by private companies in undecided locations. The only plant working now is the one at Ashkelon, which produces 100 million cubic meters of water per year. It was opened at the end of 2005. Another plant is expected to open at Palmahim at the end of 2006, which will supply 30 million cu. m. of water per year. The report criticizes the actions of the state in its dealings with VID, the company which built the Ashkelon plant. VID demanded compensation from the government due the a delay in issuing the permits necessary for running the plant. The government brought forward the purchase of 79 million cubic meters of water and made an advance payment of NIS 92 million. The report says this was done without seeking a legal opinion on VID's claims. The report further criticizes the planning of the tender for the construction of the Hadera plant, and the government's attempts to find private companies to build three smaller ones.

Israel doesn’t solve – destroying minerals

Askenazi 07 – (Eli, writer for Haaretz, long-running Israeli newspaper, 11/9/07, “Desalinated water can harm crops, researchers warn”, http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/desalinated-water-can-harm-crops-researchers-warn-1.232848)/ab

Israeli researchers are calling for a reassessment of the use of desalinated water for irrigation, warning in an article published in today's issue of Science Magazine that desalinated water adversely affects some crops, such as tomatoes, basil and certain varieties of flowers. Israel's use of desalinated water for agriculture is the highest in the world, so the new research is arousing considerable interest among scientists. Much of the water produced in Ashkelon's desalination plant is used for irrigation. This is the world's largest seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) plant, producing some 100 million cubic meters of desalinated water a year. Dr. Jorge Tarchitzky, head of the Agriculture Ministry's department of soil and fertilizer usage and one of the article's authors, says the plant produces more water than required for urban use, and half of it is funneled to agriculture. The article says that the water's the low mineral content, once believed to be an advantage, is bad for the crops. Calcium shortage, for example, causes physiological defects, while magnesium shortage damages the plant's development. If the crops are grown in sand or off the ground, the damage is even worse, because the soil cannot provide the missing elements. Frequent changes in the water's composition hurt the crops still further. "One morning we woke up and found that only desalinated water was flowing through the pipes," said another co-author, Dr. Uri Yirmiyahu of the Gilat Research Center. "We gradually began to see the problems. For example, a shortage of magnesium damaged the development of tomatoes and caused defects in basil." Added co-author Dr. Asher Bar-Tal of the Agricultural Research Organization - Volcani Center: "The problem is the irregular water composition. Sometimes the desalinated water is adulterated and sometimes it isn't. The damage is reflected in the crops' quality." "The Agriculture Ministry gave farmers a solution - a system that reports changes in the water's composition," Yirmiyahu said. "But the farmer must be prepared for such changes at any given moment. The changes used to be seasonal, which they could handle. Now, the change could take place within a few hours and the water's quality must be checked all the time." The tender for the desalination plant set criteria only for the quality of drinking water. The researchers are calling for new standards that would also require the desalinated water to be suitable for farming, by requiring it to contain some of the nutritional elements vital to crops. "Israel is first in the world in setting criteria for desalinated water and has managed to raise this water's quality. Now the water quality must be improved for both farmers and urban consumption," said a fourth co-author, Dr. Ori Lahav of the Technion.