2022 Cat A - Estuary Relations
The estuary is a unique area of ecological, environmental, and spatial value and home to complex relationships. Due to growing populations and pressures of urbanization and industrialization, the intense human interference produces an environment that doesn’t support this natural confluence or enhance its qualities. What relationship do we want to establish that will accentuate this extraordinary meeting point?
We decided to explore this issue in the Western Galilee Area, in Nahal ‘Yasaf’ estuary, one of the estuaries in Israel that remains natural and part of a mosaic of landscapes. Located adjacent to agricultural settlements and an abandoned caravan settlement that is protected from intensive development, the estuary spills over a pristine beach with impressive abrasion platforms, ‘kurkar’ sandstones and high-groundwater areas. A future desalination plant is being planned alongside this living mosaic, threatening the integrity of the space and its unique values. In the desalination process, brine is pumped into the sea. This brine contains twice as much salt as sea water, sinks to the bottom there creating extreme living conditions, thus threatening the local marine ecosystem. This challenging relationship gave rise to an opportunity to create a new environment. We propose using the brine water to create a system of pools in the abandoned settlement which will produce a variety of habitats. This while augmenting regional tourism, education, development and research. The project focuses on this estuary and its surroundings to create a space that supports and is supported by the estuary area locally, regionally, and even nationally.
