The White House is expected within the next week to authorize negotiations for a formal agreement between Israel and the United States on a three-point desalination program of far-reaching importance to the Middle East and this country, Rep. Benjamin S. Rosenthal (D.N.Y.) said today. Rosenthal chairman of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee, authored the legislation approved earlier by Congress which provides $20 million for the planning, design and construction of joint desalinating projects.
An aide to Rosenthal told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that negotiations would include a time-table for the program, costs to both countries, and the input on technology. Israel was described by Rosenthal as “the only country with the commitment and technical capacity to effect a breakthrough in converting unusable salt water into fresh water.” With American and Israeli experts having approved a memorandum of understanding here on Nov. 3 at the technical level on a desirable program, the Department of State and Interior and the Agency for International Development (AID) are reviewing the details before submitting them to Pres. Nixon.
According to Rosenthal, who has hailed the understanding as a “significant step toward solving the worldwide shortage of usable water,” the program under the agreement involves: a plant at Eilat desalting one million gallons a day which Israel expects to complete next Nov. at an estimated cost of $3 million to be paid by the Israeli government; U.S.-Israeli construction of a similar demonstration plant at San Diego, Calif., which would produce 11/2 million gallons of fresh water daily at a cost of about $2 million; and a plant producing 11 million gallons daily at Israel’s Mediterranean port city of Ashdod by 1977.
Bradshaw Langmaid, director of AID office of Near Eastern Affairs, told JTA that the Eilat plant would run for about a year for operating experience before the San Diego facility is undertaken. Once the California project is successfully underway for additional experimentation, the Ashdod construction would start. He indicated the San Diego work could be short since the testing materials are already available.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
