Towards a more sustainable management of water resources in Egypt

 Hi everyone!


Now that the GERD has become an undeniable fact and the filling has started, I would like to focus on what Egypt can do to ensure it has enough freshwater resources for the years to come. Indeed, while the GERD might cause water losses during the filling or drought periods, and a loss of power generation at the HAD, Egypt will also suffer from the combined impacts of climate change and population growth. All of these will accentuate the pressure on water resources, and a long-term strategy is needed in order to face these threats.


Around 85% of water consumption in Egypt goes towards agriculture. Water access is therefore heavily linked to food production. There are three main ways for Egypt to increase the efficiency of its agricultural systems. The first one is to change crops and crop patterns. For example, rice is very water intensive, and replacing it with less intensive crops could save up to 1 bcm annually. Crop rotation is also crucial to maintain soil fertility. Abd and Aly (2007) suggest a 4 year rotation, with 1 year left for cattle grazing to let the soil regenerate. Other suggestions include planting windbreakers that will protect crops against strong winds that dry the land. Secondly, exploring new locations for agriculture could help reduce Nile water usage. Groundwater in the Western desert area could be used in order to plant new crops. Finally, most of Egyptian agriculture relies on irrigation, but the systems could be vastly improved. Replacing open canals with pipes would reduce water losses due to seepage and evaporation by up to 42%. Overall, agriculture in Egypt needs to be modernised in order to fulfil food production needs without putting unbearable pressure on water resources. However, modernisation requires investments and time.


The other main way to keep up with an increasing demand would be to explore new sources of water. The Nubian Aquifer System (NAS) is a large fossil aquifer shared by Egypt, Libya, Sudan and Chad. There is a large amount of good quality water available, which Egypt could and already does make use of. Ibrahem (2019) has found that with current groundwater extraction levels, the East-Oweinat area in South-Western Egypt could keep cultivating crops for around 170 years. However, the risks are also well understood. Extraction levels doubled every 10 years between 1970 and 2012, which, although not an issue yet, could become a problem in the future, as the aquifer receives very little recharge. Extraction also decreases the depth to water, making it ever more difficult and expensive to drill wells and extract water. Moreover, it is a transboundary resource, and while extraction only depletes the immediate surrounding area in the short term, mass extraction, near-border developments or simply long-term extraction will lead to overall depletion of the NAS. It is easy to imagine then how conflicts between the 4 riparian countries could emerge. 




Overview of the transboundary Nubian Aquifer System (Voss & Soliman, 2014)



Two other potential sources are desalination, which Egypt has already started, but is an expensive way to generate freshwater, and reuse of drainage or treated wastewater, which is also already in use and being expanded. However, these developments are criticised by part of the population which sees them as a sign of the failure to secure Nile water in the GERD negotiations. 


Egypt would have needed to manage its water resources better with or without the GERD. Population growth and climate change are two significant challenges, and only a long-term strategy with considerable investments in improving agricultural systems and expanding access to more diverse water sources can enable Egypt to face these issues and move towards sustainable water management in the future.

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