Weeping Willow - A tourist guide in Eilat is pained by the oil spill, the death of animals, the drying of plants and the poisoning of water sources

 Ein Evrona Reserve hosts a population of Negev deer, a grove of palm trees and rare desert plants. Now everything is in danger 

The Evrona reserve extends from the north of the (northern) salt ponds to the vicinity of the new (and unnecessary) airport that is being built between the Jordanian border in the east and Highway 90 in the west.

The reserve contains one of the most densely populated Shit groves in the Arava and Negev, which supports a healthy population of Negev deer. In the eastern part of the reserve, there is a brackish strip with unique vegetation such as: Yamloch, Haga, Yanbot, Ochem, and more. There are also a few date palms, perhaps a remnant of an ancient settlement, and a well (Ein Evrona) that was recently renewed and filled with water.

The richness of the vegetation and the proximity to water sources (in the agricultural fields) attracts to the area thousands of birds that pass through in the autumn and spring migration. As a continuation of a well from the Arab period and an agricultural farm that was watered by chain wells (pogrots), an agricultural farm was developed in the 80s to the south of the reserve. The vegetation, the well and agriculture rely on aqua (brackish water) close to the ground which for many years supplied Eilat with water.

All the uniqueness and beauty described is in danger due to the criminal negligence of criminals, since Eilat stinks and this time there is no stench from the open garbage containers nor the cattle rustler. The stench is an oil stench as a result of a break in the Katsa pipeline a little south of the Ora well. Following the rupture, thousands of cubic meters of crude oil flowed eastward. Because of the north wind, the stench clouds reached Aqaba and from there dozens of casualties are reported.

In the first stage, road 90 was flooded and closed, the oil continued to flow and created huge puddles in the Evrona reserve. Stream channels where seasonal floods flow were filled with the black pulp. The gruesome photos are published in all media so that even those who are not in the know can understand the magnitude of the disaster. The immediate harm is to the animals caught in the black pulp, even those who "just crossed" the puddles carry the poison and will eventually die.

The immediate damage to the vegetation close to the flow channels and the black puddles will show that in the coming days the plants will dry out, later on plants far from the pulp will dry out as the roots of some of the desert plants extend over a large area. Later the toxic pulp will seep deep into the ground and rains will deepen the seepage until the oil reaches the water from which most of the acacia trees draw their water, the acacia trees will dry up.

Deeper is the place where the oil will reach, they pump water to Eilat and the surrounding settlements and it will be necessary to purify dozens of wells to allow the continuation of the water supply.

The area that is still green today will turn yellow and black and the deer and other creatures will become extinct. Migratory birds that relied on the green forest will remain without shelter and food. The wells of the chain (the slack ones) some of which had moisture will be filled with the black sewage, my colleague and I have led trips to the area and we probably won't be able to do that in the foreseeable future.

The people of the Ministry of the Environment and the Authority are already in the field in attempts to stop the spread of the disaster, later work will begin to remove the oil and purify the land which will last for many years and prevent only a small part of the damage. All this because of criminal negligence.

The police are obliged to charge criminals. The Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Parks Authority, the Municipality of Eilat and the Eilot Regional Council, tourism organizations and operators of desert tours (in jeeps),
Mekorot (water supply) company and all water users. All of them together and each one individually must file a tort claim against the managers of Katsa, the employees who caused the damage and anyone involved in the environmental crime, charging the company and those responsible on its behalf to bear all the costs of cleaning up the waste water, a heavy penalty for the pollution of the soil and water sources, heavy prison sentences and high financial fines.
In this way, it may be possible to mitigate some of the damage and clean up a little of the pollution, all of this should be done in a quick and abbreviated procedure, so that the criminals will be punished immediately and so that those who transgress by force will see and be seen.