British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume I - Page 418

CHAPTER X.

yet been fully explored; seven trial boreholes have been drilled only two of which showed any promise. It is conceivable that, if slightly saline water is found in large quantities at economical depths, it might be diluted with less saline water pumped from the river and the mixture might not be inordinately expensive.

83. Wadi Fari'a scheme, The Wadi Fari'a is the largest water course on the western side of the Jordan between Beisan and the Dead Sea; the flow, though perennial, varies in quantity. Cultivation in the upper parts of the valley could be improved and increased by a fuller utilization of the existing supplies of water but the greatest possibilities for development are in the plain lands where the valley debouches on to the Ghor. Wadi Fari'a is at present not thickly populated and malaria is prevalent in the cultivated parts.

The discharge of water in spring-time is double that in the autumn. If fully utilised, the water in the lower part of the wadi is enough to irrigate continuously about 4,500 dunums at the scale now used in Jericho plus a further 10,000 dunums of winter cultivation for which a lower rate of water per dunum will suffice. Under present conditions there is wastage but a start has been made with the construction of concrete channels to carry the water to the good cultivable land without loss.

If, on completion, the part of the scheme at present under construction is found to be successful, a second one is to be considered in the upper part of the valley with the aim of putting the water of the upper groups of springs to better use.

84. Sahl el Battauf. The Sahl el Battauf is a bowl-shaped valley of 30,000 dunums in the bills between Haifa and Lake Tiberias. Two-thirds of• the plain are usually submerged each year under collection of rain-water. The soil, though fertile, is thus lost to winter cultivation and can only be used for spasmodically-grown summer cereals. There is no perennial irrigation so far but the winter rainfall, between 600 mm. and 700 mm. per annum, would be sufficient for winter grain crops.

The Water Commissioner's Department has recently completed an examination and contour survey which shows that the land could be kept free of standing water by the construction of a main drain. This is a drainage and reclamation project; evidence so far available suggests that water cannot be obtained in large quantities in this valley except at exorbitant cost. A trial borehole 88 metres deep made by Government for the purpose of examining the underlying geological formation yielded no water.

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