- project with students from the "Art, Sustainability, Society and Education" course at David Yellin College, Jerusalem,
April 2014 at "Gan HaBeit", Harduf
sketch of the wetland system
In the beginning of April I conducted a concentrated workshop at the "Gan HaBeit" organic vegetable garden of Kibbutz Harduf with a group of students I am teaching at David Yellin Teacher College in Jerusalem. The aim of the project was to construct an organic water purification system for treating grey water. The system consists of a settlement tank for separating solids, a pond with layers of basalt aggregates, wood chips and water plants and a collection tank for storing the purified water.
excavating for the pond and the tanks
preparing and leveling the excavated hole for the pond
The site was prepared by excavating for the pond and tanks. The excavated hole for the pond was then lined with geo-technical fabric and pond-liner. At the same time drainage pipes had to be laid for conducting the grey water to the site.
laying drainage pipes
The lined pond was then filled with layers of river boulders, basalt aggregate and wood chips. The grey water would filter through these layers from the bottom to the top.
filling the first layer of river boulders
filling a layer of wood chips
A large plastic container was installed for collecting the purified water after flowing off from the gravel pond.
installing the collection tank
Finally, the pond was planted with special water plants which provide a oxygenated environment around their root system for the bacteria which break down the organic matter in the grey water.
planting inside and outside the pond
the complete wetlands
The following video clip gives an impression of the collective effort in creating this project, which was completed within four days. During this time the students also did some landscape drawing under my guidance.
The "wetlands team" poses for a group photograph:
Mediterranean Water Garden
- Alonei Abba, Galilee, Israel
In continuation of my blog from September 2013 where I introduced this project of a private garden in Alonei Abba in the Galilee region of Israel - here are pictures of the completed garden. The project started a year ago with an overall plan of the layout.
Following the client's wish for a water feature I designed the garden around a water course which utilized the natural slope of the site. The design of the water course also includes two ponds and a wetland area which functions as a biological filter.
The garden design includes a rich variety of Mediterranean vegetation, paved paths, local rock placements and a gravel garden. The design was skillfully implemented by Guy Spielman.
This video clip gives an overview of the various aspects of the garden:
