Algae bloom that crippled Israel's desalination plants raises water security concerns

A recent outage of nearly all of Israel's major desalination plants has sparked concern over the country's future water security, with experts warning the war in Gaza is making the situation worse.

A vast bloom of microalgae in the Mediterranean Sea that grew to 100km (62 miles) long and 7km wide at its peak clogged the filters of five of the six major plants that convert seawater into drinking water.

While they are now up and running again (although only at up to 50% capacity) the microalgae remains present after almost three weeks and there is real concern that something similar could happen again.

The microalgae is thought to have originated from the Nile Delta, with experts pointing to a northerly current around the coastal eastern Mediterranean that then swept it up to Gaza and Israel. Feeding off sunlight as well as nutrients in the water, it has since spread rapidly, driven by higher-than-normal temperatures in the Mediterranean Sea.

Some academics have suggested Israel's destruction of Gaza's sewage treatment plants in the war with Hamas is partly to blame.

"It's early days, but we know that sewage is a nutrient and algae blooms at great rates when there's lots of nutrients in its vicinity," says Gidon Bromberg of the EcoPeace Middle East environmental group.

Copyright for this text belongs to BBC.