Four bills of quantities (booklets printed on specially designated forms specifying work procedures, materials, and costs), prepared by the British Mandatory authorities as part of the process of expanding the pumping stations on the water line to Jerusalem. February-March 1946. English.
The water line bringing water from Rosh Ha'Ayin to Jerusalem was the product of one of the most ambitious engineering projects of the British Mandate period. In the course of the project, the springs of Rosh Ha'Ayin were diverted toward collection pools, and from there the water was forced up the mountainside to Jerusalem using advanced pumping technology. The new water line was perhaps the most important factor in solving Jerusalem's age-old water shortage. It functioned until Israel's War of Independence, whereupon, in the course of the fighting, it was cut off by the Jordanian Arab Legion.
The present four bills of quantities were drafted as part of the preparations for the expansion of the four pumping stations along the route of the water line: Rosh Ha'Ayin (Ras al-Ein), Latrun, Sha'ar HaGai (Bab al-Wad), and Saris (the former Arab village, replaced today by the Israeli village of Sho'eva, whose name was inspired by the pumping station).
The bills of quantities were either typewritten or mimeographed, and the cost figures were written in by hand. In the bill of quantities for the Latrun station, details were also given for an additional, adjacent project, namely the construction of housing units for soldiers.
Two of the bills of quantities are bound with the official booklet covers of the British Mandate Governmemt, with both printed and handwritten titles.
Pagination varies (total roughly 120 pp.), approx. 33 cm. Overall good condition. Stains. Tears to edges of some leaves. Minor blemishes. Bill of quantities for the Latrun station in good-fair condition, with open tears to edges of some leaves (not affecting text).