שאלה | Israel’s large-scale seawater desalination program currently comprises 6–7 desalination plants that were constructed at different times. Why did the government issue the tenders sequentially—at different times—and not all at once?

Israel’s large-scale seawater desalination program currently comprises 6–7 desalination plants that were constructed at different times. Why did the government issue the tenders sequentially—at different times—and not all at once?

		Because financing such a large-scale program all at once was impossible.
		The freshwater demand was not as high in the early years, and the program was gradually adapted to the country’s growing water demand.
		Transferring large amounts of water was impossible in the early years of the program, and a gradual increase was enabled by constructing the National Water Carrier.
		The large-scale reverse osmosis seawater desalination process was new in the early years; therefore, sequential construction of the sites enabled improving the technology and reducing the following plants’ investment risks.