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Source: https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/byglyzedzl
Israel's Desalination Crisis Threatens Vegetable Crops
(Calcalist) Nurit Kadosh - Five of the six desalination plants along Israel's southern coastline have been shut down because of unusually high turbidity in seawater, caused in part by microalgae drifting from the Nile region of Egypt. The shutdown is threatening 5,000 acres of vegetable crops in Nitzana near the Egyptian border, an area that produces 2 million tons of vegetables a year. Dozens of farmers in Nitzana rely on desalinated water for 80-90% of their supply. Farmers completed planting tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and eggplants over the past two weeks and now require 1,500 cubic meters of water per hour for irrigation. They only received 300-500 cubic meters per hour Tuesday morning. Eran Doron, head of the Ramat Negev Regional Council, warned, "The entire season will collapse. There will be no vegetables, the cost of living will rise, and dozens of farming families will enter a huge economic crisis, following loans they took out towards the start of the season."