Egyptian minister urges removing building violations on Nile waterways as higher flood expected

CAIRO – 17 September 2020: Minister of Water Resources Mohamed Abdel Aaty urged officials to continue efforts to remove building violations on waterways, especially those of the Nile River, as the ministry expects a higher-than-average floods this year.

In a meeting officials, Abdel Aaty also urged removing illegal structures on the Nile’s northern branches of Damietta and Rashid, which he says obstruct the water network’s capability to contain excess water in the times of emergency and during annual Nile floods.

Earlier this month, Egyptian committee concerned with following up on the flow of the Nile River have reviewed procedures to monitor and assess the extent of the Nile flood this year.

The meeting, which was headed by Abdel Aaty, came as part of a series of meetings of the committee to follow up on the situation of rain on the Blue Nile and ways to deal with the flowing water.

The flood of Nile River this year will likely be higher than the average according to the committee affiliated with the Water Resources Ministry last month.

The initial indicators were based on the incoming water flow during August; however, it is still too early to make a final judgment on the type and size of this year’s flood, pending the months of September and October; the Committee said.

According to an official statement issued by the ministry, the committee reviewed the position of the Nile flood, and the measures taken by the Nile Water Affairs Sector and the Ministry's Planning Sector Forecasting Center, including monitoring, analysis and evaluation of the flood situation, and the quantities of water expected to arrive until the end of the current water year 2021-2022.

The statement pointed to the unprecedented high rates of rainfall in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, and the high level of water in the waterway, explaining that coordination is taking place Egypt and Sudan in a framework of mutual cooperation, exchanging of data and information, and joint measurements in some measurement stations.