New-York tribune., 1911-02-19
HOLY CITY Up TO DAE
Municipal Ownership Feature d
New Water Plans.

Not long ago II was announced that r.,.
sus. tho ancient Asia Minor city whers :,
Paul was born, had installed an elects
lighting system. This step toward ma
ern convcniences is about TO be duplica,.A
in Jerusalem. which is planning a nav
water system.
Jerusalem to-day, with it's eighty ,hon.
sand inhabitants. depends almost en,ir.l,
on rain for it's water supply, the rsinf,,l
averaging about twenty-seven inches (,
year." writes Deputy Consul Whltin,
Water thus collected and stored IL soox
as long as roofs and cisterns are ken,
clean. in the houses Of the better 10 A.
classes these cisterns are large enouss
to store an ample amount OF water. wits
the poorer people the case is the reverb
Most OF the cisterns OF their houses ar,
small. and the houses often are 50 over.
crowded that frequently before the sum,
mer is over the water has given out ana \,
supply has TO be purchased at high price
from noighboring cisterns
AT various times since the days u
King Solomon efforts have been made IA
secure water supply on which the cit,
could depend About seven and one.h,f
miles 10 the south. little by west, of
Jerusalem, on the carriage road to Iiebros.
are three enormous reservoirs known q
Solomon's Pools. These were constructsd
I'm the bed of a valley, across which hea,,
walls we're thrown and cemented and ars
large enough 10 contain 100000 galIou
of water. They were filled during t>
rainy season with water from the sur
rounding hills. and this was augmented b,
the inflow Of a small spring little higher
IN the valley, known as the Sealed Foun.
tain and some other small springs. From
these pools there was a masonry aIuedrcs
built said to have been the work Of Solo.
mon, which, winding around the hillsides
carried the water TO the temple in Jer.
salem At one point this conduit went
through a mountain by a tunnel.
In the sixteenth century Of our era III.
Mahometans remodeled this squeduct by
replacing the open trough with pottery
pines. portions Of which are still in use
In the second century the Romans began
TO carry out a most ambitious schem,
for bringing a large water supply into the
Holy city but which they seemingly wers
never able TO finish Their source o, sup.
ply was Ain Arroub, large fountain
which is also on the road 10 Hebron and
about twice as far from Jerusalem as the
Pools of Solomon. whose water was led
into the middle OF Solomon's Pools, ami
also Bir ed-Derej in Wadi el-Byar. whose
waters were led through large conduit,
-t, in
through a tunnel TO a point above the
Pools OF Solomon.
These waters were led 10 the city by
two aqueducts. the lower one carrying the
water accumulated in all the pools, BY hs
aqueduct already mentioned, in great wind.
ings among the hills, altogether about
twenty miles long, and the upper one con.
veying the waters of the Sealed Fountaia
and of the Bir ed-Derej. by an aquedut,
partly hewn in the rock and partly con.
structed of masonry. and which, near
Rachcrs Tomb. descends into the VALLEY
and then rises again, running throu22
stone siphon pipes. These were made d
solid blocks of stone about three fset
square and two feet thick, pierced BY a
hole fifteen inches in diameter. Each ors
was made with a shoulder on one side and
a fiange on the other, by which they fitted
into one another and were cemented tr.
getlor Pdrt or TINS ancient Work u Stif
TO be seen, but number or the stone
blocks have been carried away as relies
During the first session Of the new
parliament i'm Constantinople a concession
was granted to the municipality or Jeru-
salem TO appropriate the hides of all sni-
mails slaughtered in Jerusalem as a tax 70
produce a fund with which water supply
for the city could he secured. The nu-
nlcipaity proposed 10 make loan large
enough to enable the city TO lay large
pipe from Ain Arroub and to repay the loan
and interest thereon in instalments each
year from the tax on hides and the money
received from the sale of the water.
"A Bremen firm, hearing OF this project
sent it's director 10 look over the situation
He made proposition that his firm would
put I'm a plant to pump water Into Jersua-
lem at its own expense, piping the water
into each house and charging for the sans
1.25 francs q franc 1873 cents a cubic metre
or to any one paying in advance l,W
francs. an agreement would be made 70
give one cubic metre day for thirty yeas
Also. seventy-flve cubic metres OF water
would be allowed the municipality free for
drinking fountains and street sprinkling.
any further amount required by the munici-
pality TO be supplied at half price. AT the
end of thirty years the complete water
works were to be handed over 10 the mu'
nicipality."