Egypt Nile Water Pollution on the Rise

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Egypt Nile Water Pollution on the Rise

An intensive media and political momentum is taking place in Egypt in regard to theconflictwith Nile headwaters countriesover securing Egypt's annual share of the Nile waters

At the same time, the pollution of the Nile River remains a pending issue that is being underscored in Egypt with every water poisoning incident caused by the dumping of hazardous waste in the river. The debate usually ends when the government reassures the public, and emphasizes that the water is safe and suitable for human consumption, without establishing long-term policies to resolve the crisis

On April 22, a barge managed by an Egyptian army-owned companycapsizedin Upper Egypt, spilling 500 tons of phosphate. In the two weeks following the incident, the armed forces worked to recover the barge and clean theNile Riverof phosphate. Hossam Moghazy, the minister of water resources and irrigation, said in a statement, "Theentire spillage was removed; maybe there is still some sediment, but it is neither infectious nor harmful."

This is not the first incident of its kind. The Ministry of Environment has recorded several pollution incidents in the Nile waters: theleakage of wastewaterin the area between theHigh Damand Aswan reservoir, thedumping of dead animalsand the release ofindustrial solid waste.

The Egyptian parties concerned with the Nile lack a comprehensive understanding of the quality of the Nile waters, despite the manyincidents of pollutionfrom Aswan to the Damietta and Rosetta branches; there are only a few official reports on pollution incidents and the deterioration of the water quality in specific locations in the southern governorates.

Although asupreme committeefor the Nile River, under the tutelage of the prime minister, was formed during the Hosni Mubarak regime— and although river water protection measures against pollution were partly tended to— the responsibility for the water management of the Nile in Egypt is still distributed among three ministries: the Ministery of Water Resources and Irrigation, which is responsible for the distribution and delivery of water to agricultural lands and farm water that is often directly discharged with pesticides into the river; the Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Development, which is in charge of delivering water to the drinking water and wastewater treatment plants; and the Ministry of the Environment, which is in charge of monitoring the river's water quality.

Kareem Khaled, a water-quality researcher at the University of Duisburg-Essen, spoke to Al-Monitor about the water quality in Egypt. He said, "The absence of a single administrative body in charge of water management and quality improvement from the High Dam to the riverbed, and up to the point where it [water] is delivered to people's homes, is the reason behind water pollution in Egypt."

Khaled added, "The state of the Nile water still needs to be precisely and scientifically defined, and we need to find out what pollutants are in the water.The river is subject to all forms of pollution, the most dangerous of which is the untreated, solid industrial waste, which is causing an accumulation of heavy metals in the aquaculture and drinking water, and therefore causes many health problems."

Based on thefindings of the studies he conducted, Khaled said, "The mostdangerous pollution ratesare found in Egypt's Delta region. In most of the Delta villages there is high population density and weak sanitation services — or lack thereof. The use of untreated water for irrigation is another threat affecting the quality of agricultural products."

Although officials in charge of drinking water in Egypt say thewater is safeand suitable for human consumption, based on their analyses of the quality of the drinking water, media reportsindicate thatwater poisoning incidentscontinue to exist because of polluted drinking water.

"The water samples are often taken right from the exit pipes of the drinking water stations. Yet the water may get polluted while being delivered to homes because of the deteriorated water distribution networks and pumping stations. Water chlorination is used by some drinking stations to kill the harmful bacteria. This process, however, causes health problems," Khaled said.

The negative impact that the deterioration of the water quality has is not only limited to citizens' health. Fish die in large numbers from poisoningbecause of the high levels of ammonia and lead, as happened in January in theRosetta branchin the Nile Delta.

The minister of the environment, Khaled Fahmy, told Al-Monitor, "The government is adopting strict measures and penalties to prevent hazardous materials and pollutants from being dumped or leaking into the Nile." He said, "The Nile water is completely safe and factories are subject to periodic inspections to make sure that the water is treated before being dumped into the river. We have started to take measures to review the river's water transport system and identify the hazardous materials that cannot be transported across the river."

Source: Al-Monitor


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