Egypt joins with EU to protect water security
Egypt is tackling its water crisis in cooperation with the European Union, which has pledged to finance irrigation-development projects and improve the country's water management system.
CAIRO — Egypt’s Water Resources and Irrigation Minister Mohamed Mohamed Abdel Aty announced in a July 24 press release that an agreement had been reached with the European Union (EU) to finance an irrigation-development project and improve the country's water-management system. The Egyptian government has been seeking to expand cooperation with international partners to address the threats to Egyptian water security.
Egypt suffers from water scarcity, with a water deficit of 20 billion cubic meters (16.2 million acre feet) a year. The government has been trying to overcome the increasing pressure on water resources with an emergency plan that runs through 2021. The plan includes measures aimed at increasing water-use efficiency, reusing treated wastewater, expanding water desalination in coastal cities and reducing cultivation of water-intensive crops, such as rice.
