Of
the
thesis
entitled: From
Mountain
to Maleh:
Water
as
an
Agent
of
Negotiation
in
the Kidron Valley
/
Wadi
an-Nar
Abstract:
In
a
site
with
significantly
fractured
political,
social,
and
environmental governance,
it
comes
as
no
surprise
that
the
West
Bank’s
water
network
is fraught
with
issues.
Over-pumping
of
groundwater,
inadequate
sewage
treatment, and contamination
of
surface
and
groundwater
are
by-products
of
the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict.
The
West
Bank’s
Mountain
Aquifer
system
generates more
than
a
third
of
Israel’s
yearly
water
intake
(600-700
million
cubic metres)
but
is being
heavily
pumped, supplying
significantly
more
water
to
Israelis
than
Palestinians.
A recharge
area
of
4700
square
kilometres
allows
polluted
wastewater
from
over two
million
Israeli
and
Palestinian
inhabitants
of
the
West
Bank and
Jerusalem area
to
enter
groundwater. Over
time, levels
of
nitrate
and
micro-biological
contaminants
from
inadequate
sewage treatment,
dumping,
and
agricultural
runoff
have
increased,
compromising
future drinking
water
quality from
springs
and
wells.
One
valley in
particular,
Nahal
Kidron/Wadi
an-Nar,
receives
a
significant
amount
of pollution.
It
is
one
of
the
only
cross-border
streams
between
Israel
and
the Palestinian
West
Bank
to
not
have
an
environmental
remediation
plan
in place. Framed
within
the
parameters
of
the
current
Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, research
on
the
impact
of
unmitigated
surface
and
groundwater
pollution,
as well
as
social
inequity
between
communities
in
the
Kidron/Wadi
an-Nar,
has inspired
this
thesis‘s
design
of
architecture
and
landscape
treatment stewarding
environmental
and
social
agency.
The
thesis first
examines
the
existing
context
of
the
water
network
and
political boundaries
of
the
Kidron/Wadi
an-Nar.
Cultural
history
and
urban
theory
inform the
analysis
of
the
site,
further
explaining
how
water
and
land
are spatially negotiated
and
governed
in
a
state
of
conflict.
Finally,
this
thesis
proposes architecture
and
landscape
interventions
at
three
locations
along
the Kidron/Wadi
an-Nar.
These
installations
operate
at
varying
scales,
from
a
small community
park
to
large
landscape
installations,
in
order
to
serve
as interfaces
for
independent
water
sourcing,
distribution,
and
treatment
outside of
the
existing
de
facto
West
Bank
water
infrastructure
network.
These installations
do not
propose
a
solution,
however
desperately
needed,
to
the
long-held conflict
in
the
region,
but
instead
set
up
a
series
of
architecture
and landscape
interventions
which
shape
how
the
sites
would
be
managed
in
the future.
This
thesis
draws
methodological inspiration
from
existing
EcoPeace
Ecoparks;
design
inspiration
from
the
Arava Institute’s
sewage
disposal
units
for
rural
Palestinian
towns,
as
well
as
from preventative
planting;
and
an implementation
structure
from
the
existing
Kidron Action
Plan
steering
committee,
as
well
as
the
Arava
Institute's
Centre
for Transboundary
Water
Management.
These
groups
and
projects
harness
respective communities‘
agency
over water
within
their
broader
watershed.
The examining committee is as follows:
Supervisor:
Lola Sheppard, University of Waterloo
Committee Members:
Rick Andrighetti, University of Waterloo
Suzy Harris-Brandts
External Reader:
Fadi Masoud,
University
of
Toronto
The
committee
has
been
approved
as
authorized
by
the
Graduate
Studies
Committee.
The
Defence
Examination
will
take
place:
Monday
April
10,
2017
9:00
AM
ARC
2003
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.