The stream and the city

The condition of Israel's streams, in open spaces and within the city limits, has deteriorated over the years. This natural resource, which is one of the country's unique landscape, has become an environmental hazard - a route for sewage discharge and waste disposal. The Ministry of Environmental Protection and the government authorities outlined a policy of planning and restoration for the rivers and directed the attention of planning institutions to this fundamental issue. However, the planning institutions deal with streams in open spaces. The urban streams "fall between the seats" and do not receive the proper treatment from the planning institutions and the city's entrepreneurs, because it is in a vague place in terms of areas of specialization and knowledge. The purpose of this work is to shed light on the special issues of the urban stream and the advantages inherent in it, and to place them on the agenda of the central planning bodies and decision makers. The trends identified in this work indicate the desired direction in the field of stream restoration, seek to turn the stream from a burden into an asset, and are actually the first step on the way to a better future for urban streams in Israel.