“I’m very proud of how Mekorot operated throughout the war,” says Amit Lang, CEO of Mekorot, Israel’s national water company, in an interview marking nearly two years of war and a complex military operation against Iran, during which Israel’s home front faced serious threats from ballistic missiles.
“There was no disruption to the water supply,” Lang notes. “Not to households and not to agriculture — even when hundreds of our employees were called up for reserve duty.”
Lang, formerly Deputy Budget Director at Israel’s Ministry of Finance and CEO of the Ministry of Economy, explains the importance of a strategic approach that combines deep knowledge of the field with multi-year planning. “Mekorot has always been prepared for emergencies, and emergencies aren’t just security-related — they can be climate-related as well,” Lang says. “In recent years, we’ve had many difficult climate events.
“Whether it’s a severe winter storm knocking out parts of the power grid or shutting down desalination plants, or extreme heat waves in the summer overwhelming electrical systems, we’ve handled it quite well,” he notes. “But we’ve never had to deal with all of these events together and for such an extended period. We’ve had experience in military operations such as Operation Protective Edge, but not for this long, especially with so many employees in the reserves. Even so, water supply continued as usual in 99% of cases, and in affected areas, we restored service very quickly.”
“I see that as a great success, and now we’re looking forward,” Lang says, explaining that several major projects that had been on hold during the conflict are moving forward, including the continued development of the national water grid.
“There’s a possibility that by 2030, we’ll be dealing with a surplus of desalinated water,” cautions Lang. The government is advancing an additional desalination facility in the Western Galilee and planning another in Emek Hefer, which is expected to go to tender soon, alongside existing facilities that already meet demand. The issue, Lang explains, is not the quantity of the water, but infrastructure: “You can’t deliver this water to the places that need it most.” This is due to an outdated concept that relied on the abundance of natural water in the north and prioritized extending infrastructure to the south.
But the aquifer is drying up, and the forecasts for the north remain dry. “It’s not just that there’s less rain,” Lang explains. “It’s coming down so intensely that it doesn’t have time to seep in — it runs off into the sea. We must build as many pipelines as possible to the north, including the Golan Heights, the Jordan Valley, and the Arava, and connect them to the national system.”
Lang says this necessary shift might lead regulators to consider increasing Mekorot’s annual development budget from NIS 1.5 billion to NIS 1.6 billion, then to NIS 1.7 billion, with the goal of reaching NIS 2 billion per year by the end of the decade. “We’ve warned before that we can’t rely solely on wells,” Lang says. “I think that message is starting to sink in, and things are starting to move faster. Areas like the Golan Heights dried up this year. The Druze living there had to uproot orchards due to a lack of water.”
Lang says Mekorot is also looking to expand its role in sewage treatment. “Currently, we manage Shafdan (Greater Tel Aviv’s regional sewage treatment plant), but the state realizes that the private sector can’t meet demand. This is blocking the development of new neighborhoods — you can’t build them if there’s no sewage infrastructure.”
Mekorot is exploring an economic model that would allow it to build and operate new sewage treatment plants, with costs offset through water tariffs. “The current plants are overloaded. Some will need to be replaced with larger facilities, and we know how to do that.”
Lang, who spoke about Israel’s water sector at The Jerusalem Post Conference in New York, says the company’s strengths have turned it into an international focal point. “Most global water suppliers rely on a single source — either desalination or a river,” he says. “In Israel, we use a combination of several different sources — including Lake Kinneret, groundwater wells, desalination plants — all mixed at different quality levels and delivered to consumers as high-quality drinking water.”
Mekorot’s planning and technological expertise have generated international interest. It operates in Azerbaijan, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Jordan, Bahrain, and is in early talks with Abu Dhabi. “Sometimes we advise. Sometimes we help draft regulations. Even wealthy countries lack our experience,” Lang says.
He emphasizes that innovation is embedded in the company’s culture. “Innovation isn’t just about technology — it’s about how you do things. Like the bold idea of the National Water Carrier, which became the backbone for countless other capabilities, we try to solve problems in creative and efficient ways.”
Mekorot has an internal innovation unit with three tracks:
- Scouting – identifying promising technologies and running pilots;
- Internal innovation – employees propose ideas, the best of which are implemented;
- Collaboration with startups – some of which integrate into Mekorot’s systems or receive investment.
Recently, a new national control room was completed, monitoring all of Mekorot’s systems: water, cybersecurity, physical security, and IT. “This is the company’s nerve center. Every water flow, every malfunction, every cyber or physical breach — it all funnels there. If something happens, we have backup capabilities in place. Within hours, we can restore systems. That’s the mindset — not if we’ll be attacked, but when.”
This innovation, along with the company’s wide-ranging activity, has made Mekorot an international brand with many future partnerships on the horizon, including in the Gulf. “Even though Mekorot isn’t the biggest company, our uniqueness is attracting the world’s largest suppliers,” Lang concludes.
This article was written in cooperation with Mekorot.
Translated by Alan Rosenbaum.