Yarkon River Authority and Tel Aviv Launch Project to Reopen Blocked Estuary

The Yarkon River Authority and the Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality launched a joint project to deal with the sandbar blocking the Yarkon's outlet to the Mediterranean, which harms water exchange and quality, wildlife and plant life, and boating at the river mouth. When the river's flow was stronger, and later when cooling water from the Reading power station streamed through the area, sand arriving from the sea was pushed away from the outlet; since the station stopped operating, sand has accumulated into a shifting bar shaped by waves and tides. Alongside a research program run with the estuary research center, the Ruppin faculty of marine sciences, the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research institute and the Zuckerberg water research institute at Ben-Gurion University, an engineering operation will open the sand barrier and restore flow between river and sea. Data collected before and after the intervention will guide how and when to treat the bar in the future, so the river stays healthy and navigable for residents and visitors.