Governing desalination in Spain and Israel (1990–2020): lessons on institutional coherence and infrastructure performance

Abstract

This article compares Spain and Israel (1990–2020) to explain why similar legal reforms and investments in seawater desalination yielded divergent outcomes. Israel consolidated a centrally coordinated model with near cost-recovery and broad uptake, whereas Spain’s installed capacity has experienced lower and more uneven utilization alongside recurrent debate. Using a most-similar systems design, the analysis explores four policy dimensions: tariff design, social acceptance, governance arrangements and legal coordination. Findings show that durable performance depends less on structural pressures than on coherent tariffs, availability-based contracts, integrated network operations and sustained outreach, with post-2020 developments discussed qualitatively to assess external validity.