Water sustainability throughout Jerusalem's history

• Published date: 30 September 2021
• Author: SUSAN DE LA FUENTE
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

On August 8, 2019, after Nadav Shragai of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs visited this First Temple reservoir, he reported on its dimensions: 4.5 meters high, 5.5 meters wide and 12 meters long, with an estimated capacity of 250 cubic meters. His article also noted the 19th century mapping of 49 cisterns and 42 aqueducts on the Temple Mount by the famous British engineer Sir Captain (later General) Charles Warren of the PEF (Palestine Exploration Fund), founded in 1865 by Queen Victoria.

Warren was the first researcher to excavate today's City of David hill, south of the Temple Mount, in 1867. He entered the tunnel through the Gihon Spring. Warren's shaft is a related discovery that the engineer already described in 1865. Many of us have waded through the waters of the nearby man-made Siloam Tunnel, also called Hezekiah's Tunnel. Shragai also mentions mapping similar to Warren's by Italian engineer Ermete Pierotti, an employee of the Ottoman governor in the late 1850s, that was published posthumously in 1888.

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Over 2,000 years ago the Hasmonean kings also actively constructed aqueducts in Jerusalem. The writer visited a section of the water tunnel in Armon Hanatziv a few months ago on a walking tour that followed the aqueduct's underground route in that area, marked by patterns of blue tile and grids. After meeting our guide from the Eshkolot organization, we began our walk on the sidewalk adjacent to the promenade. This tunnel section, part of the Lower Aqueduct to Jerusalem, though usually locked, is made accessible to the public at certain times and holidays. It was a 20-minute single file, one-way walk through a low narrow dark tunnel carved out of the rock – best undertaken by slim people equipped with cellphones or flashlights for illumination, and definitely not recommended for those susceptible to claustrophobia. After exiting, there is a short climb back toward the promenade.

The aqueduct was discovered in April 2015 when the Gihon water company prepared to lay new sewer pipes in two adjoining neighborhoods of East Jerusalem — Umm Tuba and Sur Baher. Surprised to discover a section of Jerusalem's lower aqueduct, they called in the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) to excavate the area.

"The aqueduct operated intermittently until about 100 years ago," said Ya'akov Billig, director of the excavation. He...