Issues and Challenges in Spatial and Temporal Water Allocation in the Nile Delta

Abstract

"Egypt is a gift of the Nile," wrote Herodotus, and indeed, without the Nile there would be no Egypt as the world knows it. Egypt is mainly dependent on the flow in the Nile River (with an agreed share of 55.5 BCM) and it receives about 1.3 BCM rainfall annually (mainly along the north coast). The overall water use efficiency is already high, due to e.g., water scarcity and reuse of drainage water. Egypt's water resources are managed by the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI), with agriculture as by far the largest user of irrigation water, with a share of about 85%. The purpose of the paper is to discuss the major issues and challenges in the spatial and temporal allocation of water, in relation to a free cropping pattern and the characteristics of the irrigation system. We conclude that the current world-wide call for "crop-demand-based precision irrigation supply" will not be easily attainable in Egypt. Instead, "water security" in the form of "guaranteed or agreed" water supply may be a preferred water allocation aim for various reasons, including lack of large storage possibilities, impossibility of fine-tuning supplies in the system, and the needed capacity to deal with (future) droughts. Although the paper concentrates on technical issues, it is increasingly realized that the challenges are not only of a technical nature and that there is a need for integration of policies as well as a need to establish effective science-business-policy interfaces at the national level.

Ecological risk assessment of heavy metal pollution in sediments of Nile River, Egypt

“…On the basis of the index results, Cd registered the highest pollution ranking, whereas Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, and Ni had the lowest effect. In another context, southern sites represented will continually decrease to 392 and 342 M 3 in 2037 and 2050, respectively, and according to the United Nations, this is less than the water-poverty criterion of 1000 M 3 /year (Wolters et al, 2016). Also, Egypt faces a rapidly increasing deterioration of its surface water and groundwater because of the increasing discharge of heavily polluted domestic and industrial effluents into its waterways.…”

Availability and Feasibility of Water Desalination as a Non-Conventional Resource for Agricultural Irrigation in the MENA Region: A Review

“…Moreover, it is not only crop production that is affected by water pollution, but also soil quality, aquaculture, lake biodiversity, and, most importantly, human health. Furthermore, it has been documented that drainage water contains high quantities of untreated wastewater, municipal waste and fertilisers that are a hazard to the quality of potable and irrigation water [65][66][67]. Additionally, salinity of drainage water is considered a major concern for water quality used in agriculture, particularly in arid regions.…”

Assessment of agricultural drainage water reuse for irrigation in El-Behira Governorate, Egypt

“…Drainage water is recycled officially by the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI) and unofficially by farmers. Official drainage water reuse by pumping drainage water back into the Nile River, irrigation canals, and to recharge the shallow groundwater in the Nile Delta (Wolters et al, 2016). Unofficial drainage water reuse was observed, especially along Bahr El-Baqar, Bahr Hadous, Gharbia, Edko, Mouheet and Umoum drains (Gabr, 2018;Sallam, El Shewy, & Dawoud, 2014), its amount ranges from 2.8 BCM to 4 BCM per year (Tanji & Kielen, 2002).…”

“…Unofficial drainage water reuse was observed, especially along Bahr El-Baqar, Bahr Hadous, Gharbia, Edko, Mouheet and Umoum drains (Gabr, 2018;Sallam, El Shewy, & Dawoud, 2014), its amount ranges from 2.8 BCM to 4 BCM per year (Tanji & Kielen, 2002). Drainage water reuse increased the freshwater budget of Egypt by about 20% (Wolters et al, 2016).…”