The Sorek desalination plant. File photo by Mark Neyman, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
2013Water and farming
The Sorek desalination plant south of Tel Aviv is announced fully operational.
On 22 October 2013 IDE Technologies says the plant can produce 624,000 cubic metres of drinking water a day.
The story in numbers.
624,000 m³
drinking water a day, at full capacity
SourceWastewater Digest
540,000 m³
a day first supplied to the network
SourceWastewater Digest
$400million
financial scope of the project
SourceWastewater Digest
Here is how it happened.
2010
IDE and Hutchison team up to win the tender for the first Sorek plant.
The two companies bid together. IDE later leaves the partnership to bid for a second Sorek plant.
SourceGlobes
Visitors drink desalinated water at the Sorek plant. File photo by Mark Neyman, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
22 October 2013
IDE Technologies announces that the plant is fully operational.
It can produce 624,000 cubic metres a day, with provisions for future extension. Of that, 540,000 cubic metres a day are being supplied to Israel's water distribution system.
SourceWastewater Digest
2013
The plant uses large membranes in a vertical arrangement.
IDE says this is done for the first time in a large-scale facility, using 16-inch membranes. It means fewer pressure vessels, pipes and controls, and a smaller footprint.
SourceWastewater Digest
26 May 2020
IDE and Bank Leumi win the tender for a second Sorek plant.
Their bid is NIS 1.45 per cubic metre, which Globes says is NIS 0.65 below the lowest price paid for water in Israel at the time. The plan calls for 200 million cubic metres a year.
SourceGlobes
2024
IDE lists Sorek II as commissioned.
The plant runs on a 25-year build, operate, transfer contract for the State of Israel. IDE gives its capacity as about 670,000 cubic metres a day.
SourceIDE Technologies
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Here is why it matters.
Sorek was built to ease Israel's water shortage, and its owners said it would save the local water market money. A second Sorek plant followed, with a bid price below any water price then paid in Israel.
Three more milestones to read next.
2005
The Ashkelon plant starts turning seawater into drinking water.
Read the story
2024
Israel reclaims over 80 percent of its wastewater, Spain about 30.
Read the story
The National Water Carrier near Kadarim. File photo by Hanay, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
1964
The National Water Carrier brings Galilee water to the Negev.
Read the story
Where each fact was read.
Sources read on 1 November 2026.