Egypt fines farmers for wasting water as Nile dam crisis drags on

Alaa Omran

Feb 4, 2021

Egyptian farmer Mohamed Omar (C), 65, supplies his farmland with water from a canal, fed by the Nile river, in the village of Baharmis on the outskirts of Egypt's Giza province, northwest of the capital Cairo, on December 1, 2019. - Egypt has for years been suffering from a severe water crisis that is largely blamed on population growth. Mounting anxiety has gripped the already-strained farmers as the completion of Ethiopia's gigantic dam on the Blue Nile, a key tributary of the Nile, draws nearer. Egypt vi — Egyptian farmer Mohamed Omar (C), 65, supplies his field with water from a canal fed by the Nile River in the village of Baharmis on the outskirts of Egypt's Giza province, northwest of the capital Cairo, on Dec. 1, 2019. — KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images

CAIRO — Egypt is fining farmers for wasting water as Ethiopia approaches the second phase of the filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), built on one of the main tributaries of the Nile River, which Cairo fears will affect its share of water.

On Jan. 28, the Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Mohamed Abdel-Aty, instructed the ministry’s agencies to begin collecting fines for wasting water from farmers who fail to adhere to modern irrigation systems.