The Society for the Protection of Nature (SPNI) on Thursday called on the Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority (INNPPA) and Kibbutz Ein Gedi not to sign the agreement on water allocation in the Ein Gedi Reserve.

Arguing that it would endanger the Ein Gedi Reserve, the SPNI slammed the agreement, which would allocate a much larger amount of water to the bottled mineral water production plant, partly owned by the kibbutz, than it had originally received.

The agreement states that the kibbutz, the biggest consumer of water in the area, will be allocated 120,000 cubic meters of water annually.

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This amount can be increased to 350,000 cubic meters a year, on condition that the kibbutz channel flood water from the David Stream and the Arugot Stream back into the Ein Gedi Reserve. The collection system from Nahal Arugot is already in place.

When the bottled water plant was established a decade ago, its allocation was 6,000 cubic meters of water a year. That number has now risen to an annual 100,000 cubic meters.

The INNPPA says the new agreement will ensure that a larger amount of water flows to the nature reserve, which will enable the rehabilitation of its natural flora. However, according to nature protection scholar Dr. Uzi Paz, the amount of spring water pledged to the reserve is insufficient to rehabilitate the oasis.

"There is already not enough water in the summer," the director of the SPNI, Gershon Peleg said. "The amount of water they manage to collect in Nahal Arugot is only half of what they initially thought, and water use in the mountains, from where the springs get their water, might increase in the future." Peleg notes that in that case, it will be difficult to go back on the amount of water the bottled water plant has been allocated. As a result, there will be insufficient water for nature.

Peleg proposes allocating water from the national water supply for the Ein Gedi area, both for the kibbutz and for nature.

Kibbutz Ein Gedi said in response that it is still working on the agreement with the INNPPA, and that it will meet all of its conditions. In addition, the kibbutz said it would see to it that people will benefit while not harming nature, as it has always done.