The Clean Yarkon project was greenlighted in 2023 after 20 years of efforts to reduce pollution and sewage in the Yarkon River. Yet it’s unclear when the project will be completed and if any the river will ever open to swimmers
Zafrir Rinat Jul 15, 2025
Two weeks ago, Parisians celebrated a historic milestone: Residents were finally allowed to swim in the Seine for the first time in a century, after decades of pollution had kept them out. In Berlin, locals are also hoping to return soon to the waters of the Spree. In Israel, the most likely candidate for a similar revival is the long-polluted Yarkon River. But could such a transformation really happen in the foreseeable future?
About a year and a half ago, the Yarkon River Authority – a statutory body under the Environmental Protection Ministry – approved a plan to halt the discharge of effluent water into the river and replace it with clean water from alternative sources. Work is already underway, mainly at sewage treatment plants, but it remains unclear when the project will be completed and which stretches of the Yarkon will ultimately be safe for swimming.
he Clean Yarkon plan was approved in coordination with the Water Authority and builds on a cabinet resolution that was approved nearly 20 years ago. Under the plan, the amount of fresh water diverted into the river from local groundwater wells will rise to 21 million cubic meters per year, from 14 million. At the same time, effluent from nearby municipal sewage treatment plants will no longer be discharged into the river.
- A quiet place: an eerie visit to the empty Jordan River
- Settlers and soldiers unite to deny Palestinians water in the West Bank’s Jordan Valley
- Ultra-rare otters spotted in northern Israel
The fresh water will flow downstream and be collected at a facility built by Mekorot, Israel’s national water company, near the Sheva Tahanot site by the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv. From there, it will be redirected for agricultural irrigation and watering urban gardens.
The western section of the Yarkon, which is fed by seawater, is unlikely to change significantly despite the increased flow of fresh water in the river’s eastern stretch.
“What we want, and what should go without saying, is for a clean river to flow through the heart of Israel’s most densely populated metropolitan area,” Ilan Rosenblum, the CEO of the Yarkon River Authority, told Haaretz.
For many years, the Yarkon River was heavily polluted with raw sewage. In recent decades, effluent water has made up about 60 percent of its flow. While water quality has improved and the river’s ecosystem has begun to recover, it still falls short of the standards needed for safe swimming. These standards are based mainly on the concentration of fecal bacteria, which must not exceed 400 colonies per 100 milliliters of water.
This is also the situation in other rivers in Israel that run through urban areas, including the Kishon on the outskirts of Haifa, and the Lachish River in Ashdod, but only the Yarkon has an approved plan for replacing its water in order to create conditions that will facilitate a full recovery of the ecological system and activities such as swimming.
These days, clean water from aquifer drilling, without treated waste water, only run in the Yarkon’s easternmost segment, where swimming has also yet to be formally approved. In point of fact, the area is visited by many people on weekends, with some swimming in the water.
“The Water Authority is supposed to advance a plan that will create the infrastructure for directing treated waste water for agriculture in the area, rather than into the Yarkon. This includes setting up pipelines and pumps,” Rosenblum said. “There is already a decrease in the quantity of treated water arriving from the Kfar Sava and Hod Hasharon sewage treatment facility, and there is a plan to connect the Ramat Hasharon sewage treatment facility to the Gush Dan [Greater Tel Aviv] joint sewage pipe system.
“When we get to a point when no more treated water is arriving, we will have to isolate the river’s tributaries so that they will not bring in waste due to malfunctions. This isolation will rely on a monitoring system capable of identifying pollution and on dams. That way, it will be possible to drain the pollution before it reaches the Yarkon itself.”
Another significant source of pollution in the Yarkon is the flow of surface runoff water (flood water) after early rains. Every year, this runoff absorbs the pollution that had accumulated on the ground over the summer, afflicting the Yarkon with a hit of pollution that greatly undermines its situation. Over the last two years, places in the Yarkon basin have been scouted where it will be possible to pool flood water and to greatly reduce the amount of polluted water arriving into the river.
The Water Authority has priced the plan at 150 million shekels ($45 million). Funding is supposed to be included in the national master plan for treated water, currently under review by the Water Authority and the Energy Ministry. Even though the plan sets a summer 2028 deadline for designating the Yarkon a clean river, Rosenblum declines to commit to a timetable.
The implementation of the plan is dependent on numerous engineering projects, and these are often delated for budgetary reasons or the need to obtain the approval of planning committees. In addition, there are large disparities between local governments in their ability to manage their sewage systems and prevent the leakage of contaminants that would harm water quality once the river is clean.
Even if the day finally comes when the Yarkon carries only clean water, the question of whether or not to permit swimming in it will likely be a difficult one. The swimmers themselves could pose a hazard to water quality and the ecosystem. The main concern is the introduction of contaminants including human waste with traces of medicine that are damaging to animal life as well as turbidity caused by the disturbance of bottom sediment.
“There is a lot of understandable demand for swimming in various bodies of water, but the activity of a lot of people may cause disruption,” says Prof. Avital Gazit, a zoologist at Tel Aviv University who specializes in river ecology. “The Yarkon is not the Seine, it has far less water. The Seine has enough water to wash away pollution created by swimmers. In the Yarkon, it is feared that a large number of swimmers will result in damage to the ecosystem, and therefore also to water quality.”
Paris adopted a cautious approach, and for now the Seine is only open for swimming in a few locations and under supervision. Gazit believes that a similar solution may be considered for the Yarkon, but is concerned that swimming restrictions will be difficult to enforce. He says it is best to allow swimming downstream. This will limit negative impact to its western part, rather than all along its course.