Scientists in 'Egypt Can 3' tackle water shortage crisis

CAIRO – 25 February 2018: Egyptian scientists abroad are invited to simplify and reach solutions for crisis of water shortage the country faces, said Minister of Immigration Nabila Makram on Sunday.

This was during the two-day-conference “Egypt Can…with the Sons of the Nile” that kicked off Sunday in Luxor under the auspices of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi;the conference is attended by Prime Minister Sherif Ismail and other six ministers.

Makram added that the conference aims to stress Egypt’s strategy to keep its connections with Egyptian expatriates abroad, enabling them to effectively participate in building their country,especially that many Egyptians have achieved great scientific successes in many fields.

The conference is organized by the Ministry of Immigration and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the participation of many Egyptian experts living abroad.


Minister of Military Production Mohammed el Assar during "Egypt Can...with the Sons of Nie"-Mohammed Zahr

During the two days, Minister of Agriculture Abdel Moneim El Banna, Minister of Military Production Mohammed el Assar, Minister of Irrigation Mohammed Abdel Ati, Minister of Immigration Makram and Luxor’s Governor Mohammed Badr will deliver speeches. Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarekel Mola will be among the attendees.

The Ministry of Immigration invited Egyptian experts in different fields such as irrigation, agriculture and water resources to attend the conference.

On the first day of the conference, a session entitled “System of Water, Food and Energy Security and its Effects on Sustainable Development”will be held. It will be attended by Minister of Irrigation Abdel Ati, and Minister of Higher Education Khaled Abdel Ghaffar.

Also, the “Chance to use Renewable Energy in Irrigation and New Communities” session is included in the first day’s program along with a session entitled “Mechanisms to Benefit from Available Water Resources,” which will be attended by Minister of Military Production Assar.

Furthermore, sessions on“Application of Space Technology in Water and Agriculture” and “Investment and Local and International Companies in Drinking Water” will be held on the second day.


"Egypt Can...With the Sons of Nile"-Mohammed Zahr

This year witnesses the third session for “Egypt Can” conference;the first edition was held in December 2016 under the title “Egypt Can…with its scientists” while the second one was in July 2017, titled “Egypt Can…with its females.”

This conference comes amid a water scarcity problem faced by Egypt due to the uneven water distribution, misuse of water resources, inefficient irrigation techniques and growing population.

Egypt annually needs at least 90 billion cubic meters of water to sufficeit 90 million citizens. However, it currently has only 60 billion cubic meters, of which 55.5 billion cubic meters come from the Nile and five billion cubic meters come from non-renewable subterranean water in deserts; therefore, Egypt suffers from a water deficit of 30 billion cubic meters.

Further decrease in Egypt's water resources is expected in the future as a result of building the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which will affect Egypt’s share of water.

Despite the latest negotiations between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan to resolve the technical issues of the dam, Egypt is keen to expand its desalination projects to overcome any water scarcity problems in the future.

Consequently, the mega-facility, Al-Yusr Plant in Hurghada, was inaugurated in January 2018 to provide the Red Sea governorate with fresh water instead of current pipelines from the Nile.