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Neighbors of the Yarkon

Shalom! We are Neighbors of the Yarkon, an NGO (aka, non-profit) working to recover the Yarkon River in Israel. Each member is a volunteer who helps in their own way to recover the river. Our vision is to make the Yarkon the second shoreline of Tel Aviv.

Dead fish in the Yarkon due to pollution

The Yarkon River is a historical site that dates all the way back to the times of the Bible. It spans all the way from Rosh Ha-Ayin to the Mediterranean Sea. Over the last 70 years, since the establishment of the state of Israel, the Yarkon River has been degraded by the government’s siphoning of water from Rosh Ha-Ayin (the source of water for the Yarkon) to the Negev for drinking water and water for agriculture. With the input of poorly treated effluent from the South Sharon water treatment facility, the Yarkon has become a river of sewage rather than a healthy, water-filled river.

We are a group of volunteers that are collectively putting pressure on parts of the government that control the health of the stream in order to have them improve its health. In addition, we are raising the issue on the public agenda through the different media channels.

Neighbors of the Yarkon

We have been told time and time again that the government has made the Yarkon safe and healthy, and yet it is not safe for swimming and boating according to sampling results. The river authority received about 100 million shekels since its establishment, most of which disappeared or got spent on gardening around the edges of the river, which improves the aesthetics of the area but does not fix the real problem of the health of the Yarkon.

We believe that in order to improve the health of the stream, all that needs to be done is to add more water to the stream from its source in Rosh Ha-Ayin. The stream currently has 1.6% of the flow measured in the 1950s, and according to research, the river will be able to recover itself if that flow returns to 32% of its original amount, which can also be measured as 70 million cubic meters per year.

We have received national and international attention media for the concern relating to the river that we have raised with the public. From time to time there have been issues of mass fish deaths or white foam coating the surface of the water resulting from a chemical reaction with the effluent. We held several protests along the river on different occasions to help raise awareness for our cause.

With public concern increasing and awareness of the situation with the Yarkon river, we are hoping that together we can improve the health of the Yarkon and make it the second shoreline of Tel Aviv.

Our vision: make the Yarkon the second shoreline of Tel Aviv metropolitan area