In July 2019, The Jerusalem Post reported, citing Channel 13, that about 1,000 people living in Acre and in the Mateh Asher region had protested against the site of a planned desalination plant and blocked a junction. They did not reject the plant itself but its location on farmland close to homes. An Interior Ministry committee had examined 20 sites and chosen two. The plant was to become Israel's largest, cover 200 dunams and stand 3.5 km inland from the sea.
The report showed that in Israel in 2019 the dispute over new large plants centred less on need than on land use, weighing farming, housing and coastal protection.
Source: The Jerusalem Post