Poleg

The Poleg area forms an open space between the northern part of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area—including Herzliya, Ra'anana, and Kfar Saba—and the Netanya metropolitan area.[1] Its combination of natural and agricultural land provides an open-space and recreation resource for hundreds of thousands of nearby residents.[1] The drainage basin is also identified with the name Wadi Faliq, and the stream runs generally from southeast to northwest.[4]

The stream originates partly in the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria.[5] It leaves the Sharon Coast planning area near Moshav Udim and reaches the Mediterranean between the Wingate Institute and the Ramat Poleg neighborhood in southern Netanya.[4] Its winter connection to the sea depends on sufficient freshwater flow during the rainy months.[5] In summer, sand can block the outlet, leaving polluted stream water unable to drain into the sea.[6]

Two distinct reserves occupy parts of the stream corridor: Poleg Gate Nature Reserve lies east of the coastal highway near Yakum and Udim, while Nahal Poleg Nature Reserve lies west of the highway, largely beside the seashore.[6] Farther inland, the Poleg swamp lies south of Netanya and east of Kibbutz Yakum, within the river’s floodplain.[2]

Within Poleg Gate Nature Reserve, Tel Poleg stands on the middle of the three kurkar ridges along the southern Sharon coast. Researchers estimate that a Canaanite settlement was established there during the Bronze Age, and a ditch along the tel’s northern side carries Nahal Poleg.[7]

Nahal Poleg appeared among six large parks in the Sharon Plan, officially published in 1951 as “Physical Planning for Israel.”[3] Architect Arieh Sharon, then head of the Planning Department of the Prime Minister’s Office, drafted the national plan, which set out building areas and “green lines.”[3] The six parks were selected for their stated historical, biblical, or archaeological significance.[3]

By 2013, most of the stream had been engineered into a straight channel, with embankments on both sides intended to prevent flooding.[1] A proposed regional plan sought to restore the stream and associated natural systems by recreating bends, slowing the flow, and allowing flooding along its margins.[1] The Interior Ministry and Israel Nature and Parks Authority were advancing the plan to preserve natural and landscape values while providing opportunities for recreation.[1]

Seasonally flooded land beside Nahal Poleg retains water into early summer, extending the availability of wetland habitat beyond the winter flow season.[1] Waterbirds include ibises, ducks, and herons, while stream frogs, tree frogs, and toads depend on the wet conditions.[1] Crustaceans and other invertebrates form part of the wetland food web.[1]

In 2022, the Poleg swamp was described as the sole remnant of a wetland that once extended across thousands of dunams.[2] It contained hundreds of animal and plant species, including endangered species, and provided a stopover for migrating birds.[2] The swamp was identified as Israel’s second-largest wetland and as part of a local and national ecological corridor allowing animals to move between built-up areas.[2] Its wildlife included endangered swamp cats and other predators attracted to the wetland’s birds.[2] An estimate published in 2022 placed the decline in Israel’s wetland area from 250,000 dunams to 8,000 dunams.[2]

The estuary was identified in 2010 as a nesting site for green and loggerhead sea turtles.[5] During winter, when the river flowed into the sea, gray mullet travelled upstream to spawn.[5] The nearby municipal iris reserve is associated with the critically endangered coastal iris, described in 2021 as growing only in Israel, and with one of the country’s remaining seasonal ponds.[8]

Substantial pollution problems persisted in Nahal Poleg in 2010, despite improvement from an earlier period of extreme pollution.[5] Sewage and other waste continued to enter the river, and heavy rainstorms could carry rubbish, debris from citrus orchards, and pollution from upstream settlements toward the sea.[5] A disposal-system failure at the Abir Brewery in Ramat Poleg sent industrial waste through the smaller Nahal Udim tributary into the river.[5] A safeguard system was subsequently installed in Nahal Udim to prevent similar incidents from reaching Nahal Poleg.[5]

In November 2020, wastewater entering the stream and reaching the sea prompted a Health Ministry warning against bathing near the stream mouth and nearby beaches.[9] A pipe carrying sewage to the Kolhei HaSharon treatment plant had collapsed, causing sewage to bypass the plant.[9] An inspection identified an old pipe that had broken previously as the pollution source.[9] The Environmental Protection Ministry monitored efforts to bypass the failed section and investigated whether enforcement measures were warranted.[9]

Restoration proposals have addressed both water quality and the physical form of the stream.[1][5] Rehabilitation was estimated in 2010 to cost nearly NIS 30 million, with little funding having come from government ministries at that time.[5] The regional restoration proposal described in 2013 instead emphasized the channel’s bends, slower water movement, and renewed seasonal flooding as means of recovering natural systems.[1]

Poleg Gate Nature Reserve covers 136 dunams between Kibbutz Yakum to the south, Udim to the north, and Highway 2 and the Wingate Institute to the west.[7] It encompasses the second of three kurkar ridges along the southern Sharon coast.[7] Tel Poleg stands on the ridge, with a ditch on its northern side carrying the stream.[7] West of the ridge are an abandoned kurkar quarry and Yakum Lake, which fills with water in winter.[7]

Poleg Beach, also sometimes called the Green Beach, is an organized bathing beach with lifeguards, showers, restrooms, a restaurant, and accessibility for visitors with disabilities.[6] The adjacent Nahal Poleg Nature Reserve occupies land west of the coastal highway, most of it near the shore.[6]

A walking route described in 2026 links the Udim–Poleg Gate reserve with Nahal Poleg Nature Reserve.[10] Approximately two kilometers long, with an estimated walking time of 2.5 to 3.5 hours, it follows a kurkar ridge cut by the stream and passes seasonal pools and sand dunes overlooking the sea.[10] Seasonal flowers along the route include cyclamen, retama, crimson iris, Israeli lupine, and anemones.[10] Possible wildlife sightings include tortoises, birds, and gazelles, as well as animal tracks.[10]

A 2002 compromise agreement, given the status of a legal ruling in 2003, called for planning the coastal area as a whole and considering environmental impacts and alternatives.[8] It preserved and expanded the iris reserve, ended plans for residential construction closer to the shore, and ultimately led to a wildlife underpass between a winter pool and the iris reserve.[8] A separate estuary marina and hotel proposal was on hold in 2010 following opposition from environmental organizations.[5]

The 2013 Poleg case study identified dozens of illegal structures and activities, including uses near sensitive habitats, and associated pressures such as noise, lighting, wastewater, and imported ornamental plants.[1] Construction beside the channel could restrict flood-management and restoration options between Batzra and the outlet.[1] The Shdot event venue stood less than ten meters from the stream corridor and tens of meters from the swamp reserve; legal proceedings were underway while its owners sought planning approval.[1] An event venue and horse farm near the outlet had been demolished following enforcement, but the site remained unrestored.[1]

A 613-dunam beach development plan approved in 2013 included six hotels of eight to eleven stories, shopping, parking, and a beach-soccer field.[8] By 2021, residents were challenging plans for approximately 2,100 hotel rooms and 150,000 square meters of hotel and commercial space, alleging harm to reserves and inconsistency with the earlier settlement.[11] The municipality disputed that characterization, citing enlarged protected and public open spaces, reduced hotel areas, removal of rights for more than 400 shoreline homes, and an ecological corridor.[11] Critics considered the proposed corridor—about 700 meters long, 25 to 70 meters wide, and reaching neither reserve—too narrow and interrupted to function effectively; coastal-planning approval included conditions for shorter, unlit paths and fencing.[8]

In 2022, a proposed 60-meter-wide public-transport road between Netanya and Shefayim drew opposition from the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and environmental groups.[2] Opponents did not object to additional railway lines in the associated infrastructure plan, but raised concerns about wetland damage and alleged that the road proposal lacked the required environmental survey and examination of alternatives.[2] Those objections were not a final ruling on the proposal.[2]