When in San Diego recently month over the winter break, I learned that an Israeli company is undertaking a desalination project in San Diego that will be the largest desalination project in the Western Hemisphere.

Israel, a country which has had a chronic shortage of water is a global leader in desalination—turning salt water into fresh water.

The $922 million Carlsbad Desalination Project—a partnership between the American subsidiary of Israel’s IDE Technologies Ltd., Poseidon Resources and the San Diego County Water Authority—will consist of a 204,412-cubic-meter seawater desalination plant in the San Diego area.

To read more, click here: http://www.jpost.com/Enviro-Tech/Israelis-to-design-San-Diego-area-desalination-plant

Also as Ben Sales of JTA writes, Israel is set to open the Largest Desalination Plant in the World
(Israel to Open the Largest Desalination Plant in the World.)

Water drawn from the Mediterranean 4,000 feet off of Israel's coast flows through pipelines to a series of filters and purifiers until it gets to the faucets of Tel Aviv.

Set to begin operating next month, Israel Desalination Enterprises Technologies' Sorek Desalination Plant will provide 7 million gallons of potable water to Israelis every hour. At full capacity, it will be the largest desalination plant of its kind.

The new plant and several others along Israel's coast are part of the country's quest to provide for the nation's water needs and solve the problem of drought.

In Israel, desalination provides about 40% of the country's total water needs. That number will jump to 80% when Sorek opens and other plants expand in 2014.

The company's U.S. subsidiary is the one designing a new desalination plant in San Diego.