Watershed moment: Israelis, Palestinians, Bedouin team on Negev water quality

Photo: Arava Center for Transboundary Water Management

Clive Lipchin (top) and Bart Johnsen-Harris knee and arm deep in sludge near Be’er Sheva.

By Clive Lipchin

In a time of ever-decreasing global water supply, Israel is working to ensure that its future water needs are secure. Responding to this mandate, the JNF Parsons Water Fund has partnered with the Center for Transboundary Water Management (CTWM) at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies to restore the Besor-Hebron-Be'er Sheva watershed, whose untreated wastewater directly affects JNF's Be'er Sheva River Park project.

A little earth science lesson: Watersheds are the areas of land where all of the water that runs under it or drains off it collects at the same place. The Besor-Hebron-Be’er Sheva watershed includes areas of Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza (Sde Boker in the south, Hebron in the northeast, and Gaza in the west), ultimately draining into the Mediterranean Sea. Because it includes both Israel and the Palestinian Authority, it is considered a transboundary watershed.

Extreme makeover Be'er Sheva River Park: From garbage dump to eco-wonder

The city of Be'er Sheva, whose population in the greater municipal area is close to half a million, is fast overcoming an image problem. The city had been long regarded by Israelis as a sleepy, run-down development town, a dusty pit stop on the way to Eilat.

That is no longer the case. In the past few years, the city has experienced a makeover that almost defies belief. Museums, theaters, high-rise upscale apartment buildings, high-tech parks, giant malls, and new parks and restaurants have appeared around the city. The former dilapidated town is gradually undergoing an aesthetic gentrification and the city's outer suburbs are nestled on green hills dotted by cool water fountains.

Nothing demonstrates this transformation as dramatically as the Be'er Sheva River Park. As if by magic, the park was created in an area described once as the "armpit" of the city, in what was a dry riverbed near the southern entrance of the city piled with wrecked cars, garbage, and sewage. It took months of cleanup with trucks going in and out to dispose of the rotting trash that had accumulated over decades.