IN STEREO

Basically, this is the area that has entered the UNESCO [World Heritage list], because of the [terraced] region. There is another important item, which is the irrigation system in our region. Battir has seven springs. This is the main one. Of course, we can’t irrigate with bought water. This spring is ours and without paying the [high] price of water. This spring is constant. So the water that amasses at night, instead of it being lost, we collect it in the pond. At morning, it’s full. The water here is distributed in an old, traditional, classical way – very fair, I mean. The area consists of eight families. Every family [gets] 24 hours, night and day. When there’s no water, you [can] see the bottom of the pond is not flat – there is a slope. This is why its [volume] in the morning is large. In the evening it decreases.

This is why it becomes that, for example, this week I had water in the morning. Next time, at noon. The water after this is in the evening, you see? In order to find justice, the one whose proportion is in the evening, they [also] give him an additional proportion. I mean, when there is little water, it’s distributed like this. At the moment there is a lot of water; there is no need to distribute it precisely. But when the water is [lower], a hollow stick is placed at a certain point in the pond. It’s like sugar cane, maybe you know it. We call it sakarun. An old man from the family, who knows [how], goes down to measure with this stick the height of water. He distributes it to his own family, according to each person's property. The land is divided into portions, and water is distributed in portions. – Abu Wisam