Egypt suffers from water scarcity, aims to make up for shortage through wastewater treatment: minister

CAIRO - 28 December 2022: In a meeting with the Senate's Irrigation and Water Resources Committee Tuesday, Minister Hani Sweilam showcased that overpopulation coupled with the steadiness of water resources incurred that the individual's water share became 560 cubic meters per annum, which is below the water scarcity line by 44 percent.

On that front, the minister of irrigation presented the measures taken to handle the crisis. One is the lining of canals with total lengths of 20,000 km at a cost of L.E. 80 billion by mid-2024, as per the instructions of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.

The minister clarified that the lining of 6,470 kilometers of canals has been finished already, and the lining of 3,776 kilometers is still in progress. He added that part of the work is carried out within "Decent Life" initiative aimed at development in the countryside.

Sweilam explained that waterways in Egypt extend on 55,000 kilometers, including 33,000 kilometers of irrigation canals and 22,000 kilometers of wastewater canals. He added that the ministry spent LE270 million to remove 4.1 million cubic meters of water from those waterways. As for wastewater treatment, the largest plant, which is Bahr Al Baqar, is finished by 31 percent at a cost of LE23 billion. The plant's capacity is 5.6 billion cubic meters per day, while that of Mahsama, which transports treated water to Sinai for land reclamation, is 1,000 million cubic meters per day.

The ministry is currently digging the canal to be transporting wastewater to under-construction Hammam treatment plant, consisting of 12 units. The cost and capacity of the canal, completed by 45 percent, is LE 60 billion, and 7.5 million cubic meters per day.

The plant's capacity is planned to be 14.1 million cubic meters per day, as the country aims to recycle 21 billion cubic meters per annum to make up for the shortage in water resources.