Israelis, especially in the south, have been drinking desalinated water from the tap for the past two years, but increasingly, that trend is not catching on in the rest of the country as the perception that tap water is unhealthy continues to take hold. The desalination plant in Ashkelon produces much of that region’s water, and is one of the most technologically advanced facility of its kind in the world.

“The quality of desalinated water in our taps is increasing every year,” says Jacobo Sack, a veteran official at Israel’s National Water Carrier, Mekorot, and now a water and wastewater quality consultant. The increasing awareness of Israel’s acute water resource shortage has put the issue of drinking water at the forefront of the national agenda. Increasingly, Israelis will rely on desalinated water, both for drinking and irrigation, and the number of desalination plans in the country is slated to increase.

But there seems to be a vast disconnect between the contention by experts that desalinated tap water is clean and healthy, and the perception of just the opposite by large segments of the population. While there are no hard figures showing how many people refuse to drink tap water, preferring instead the bottled option, the phenomenon is quite prevalent, especially in the greater Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem areas. Some of the most common reasons given for not drinking tap water are: inconsistent water quality testing, frequent Health Ministry warnings for certain areas, the perception that water-carrying pipes are old and rusty, and, finally the taste. Continue reading →