Egypt to lead world in water recycling once Hammam Water Treatment Plant is inaugurated in year

CAIRO – 12 April 2022: Once al-Hammam Water Treatment Plant in the North Coast is inaugurated, Egypt would be the world’s most water-recycling country, according to the minister of irrigation.

Mohamed Abdel Aaty, the minister of irrigation, said on Tuesday the project aims to reclaim new plots of agricultural land in Western Delta using treated agricultural drainage water. A total of 26 percent of the project has been completed.  

The world’s largest wastewater treatment plant of Bahr al-Baqar, located in eastern Port Said, a Suez Canal city, was inaugurated in September 2021. Hammam plant is going to be even larger than Bahr al-Baqar, where both projects turn high-salinity and drainage water from a problem to a development opportunity, Abdel Aaty said.

He added that the two water projects are exemplary in comprehensive development, water recycling, and creating thousands of jobs.

The Ministry of Irrigation’s plan is to treat 1.5 million cubic meters of water daily in 2025 and 6.4 million cubic meters in 2050. Hammam plant will treat water coming from farms in Northern Delta, transported along 120 kilometers, to establish new farms over 500,000 feddans in Western Delta. The project is planned to be inaugurated in a year's time.