Egypt establishes desalination plant in Hurghada

CAIRO - 14 December 2017: Egypt has established a desalination plant of the sea water in Hurghada on the shores of the Red Sea, the costs of which are LE 825 million and LE 200 million for operating expenses, as an alternative for providing the governorate with fresh water, instead of the pipe lines from the Nile, which cost significantly more.

“Al-Yusr desalination plant has been established according the international high standards,” chief of the National Authority for Drinking Water and Sanitation, al-Sayed al-Ashry told the press during the visit of housing committee of the House of Representatives to Hurghada City.

Hurghada city gets its fresh water from two sources, a line extended between it and Qena governorate and the other from Kuraimat village in Giza. However, these only provide the governorate with 50 percent of its water needs, according to president of the Red Sea’s Water Company, Yehia Seddik.

Seddik affirmed that the water prices will stay the same for citizens, and a price hike will only be applied for touristic villages and investors. He added that more desalination plants will be founded in all coastal governorates that face a water shortage.

The desalination process consists of extracting the salt from the water with no human interference, to guarantee sterilization.

Egypt may face great water shortages after the building of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in the Nile basin, which will limit the amount of Nile water that reached Egypt. The dam has created tensions between the two countries, Egypt and Ethiopia.