Wetlands Lost and Found in the Levant - Restorative Redevelopment of Devastated Ecocultural Landscapes - page 61

FIGURE 6.10 ( Continued ) Impressive array of walkways to immerse visitors in the pre-

served wetlands.

Excavation of the new lake and wetland complex, the 1 km 2 Lake Agmon (Hebrew
for bulrush and also inferring a small lake), began in 1993, followed by reflooding
due to release of water which had been constrained within the many small drain-
age channels (as has also been the case in southern Iraq). The ongoing supply of
water is from the Jordan River and a major peat drainage canal through inflow chan-
nels of rock dissipaters (Figure 6.13). An underground barrier was constructed at the
southern end to prevent downstream nutrient leakage (Hambright and Zohary 1998).
Water in the restored lake-wetland complex is reused locally for agricultural irriga-
tion. Attention was paid to the creation of wildlife habitat in the form of islands and