القاهرة تحت الإجهاد المائي :ملخص للقضايا المتعلقه بالمياه التى تهدد العاصمة المصرية القديمة – Cairo under water stress: A summary of water-related issues threatening Egypt’s old capital

At the start of every summer, Egypt, in general, and Cairo, in particular, suffers from deep water shortages. Despite the repetitive confirmation throughout the media that the Egyptian situation in water resources is acceptable, the ground facts say something else.  In addition to the physical challenges of water scarcity and pollution, the governmental institutions in charge of water services delivery came under increasing budgetary pressure.

As a response to emerging calls for more efficient water utilization and strategies for cost-recovery, the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation [MWRI] gradually started to promote participatory and decentralized approaches to infrastructure operation and maintenance.  They also endorsed non-technical interventions, such as awareness campaigns and initiatives targeting the behavior of water users. But, the strong legal framework, applicable laws and institutional mapping for such initiatives are still missing, thus creating a void structure that is unable to perform strongly on the ground and apply the concept of sharing. As the current water policy gives allocation priority to the drinking water and industry sectors, increasing water scarcity will mainly affect the agriculture, hydropower production, and navigation sectors. As for Cairo, drinking water is partly represented in Cairo Water Company. The average potable water volume produced per year (m3/year) and average daily (m3/day) is Average: 6 million m3/day and 2.2 billion m3/year, respectively.

Analysis of the figures shown above reveals that non-revenue water [NRW] is about 36%. Unfortunately, this quantity is not based on real measurement to distinguish between real and apparent losses. In addition, the classification of the billed water to its three main categories; residential, commercial, and governmental is based only on old data for which almost no update has been done.

In addition, the percent of the lost water inside the WTP (raw-pumped) shows that it is a theoretical calculation rather than real figures based on measures. Therefore, this analysis will be the basis for the answer of the coming question. Bearing in mind that decreasing the percentage of water losses from 36 % to 15 % will increase water revenues by an additional 462 million m3/year, which is enough water to provide to additional 5 million inhabitants in greater Cairo

I suggest five realistic steps for a non-revenue water management program for Cairo, which include the following:

Step 1:

Raise the subject of NRW with all its dimensions to the top decision makers (TDM) to attract their attention and support, enabling implementation of a plan to reduce NRW.

Step 2:

By supporting and financing the activities of reducing NRW, we start to form a task force from all the departments that should participate.  This includes the technical (operation and maintenance), technical (chemist), financial, procurement, customer support, information, etc. to initiate a plan that is composed of short term, medium term, and long term sub plans.

Step 3:

Verify the different figures shown above; i.e., be sure of the real losses inside the WTP by tracing the transmission mains.  In a first stage, inspect the distribution pipelines, to uncover leaks, review the bills with the real category of the consumer, and many other necessary actions to validate the data.

Step 4:

Once the picture is made more clear, we will start with the most urgent based on how much it will cost and how much will be made in its return. As an example, in my opinion, verifying the category of consumption (residential or commercial) could be considered a factor of the utmost urgency. It is justified to intervene here, as it will cost almost nothing because it is a task to be done while meter readers are doing their work. Its return is likely to be high, as many commercial activities were initiated, while no update was done for the bills.

Step 5:

Reviewing and updating the plan according to lessons learned in a reasonable amount of time; e.g. quarterly.

It is essential that new water sources are found, and new agricultural areas and cities outside the Nile River Valley are created. The only direction is to expand to the dry lands and desert, which is described as ‘Egypt’s last frontier’. Such a solution could provide an alternative to Cairo and relieve the pressure coming from a growing population. There are already several new cities and agricultural areas in the desert.

Besides finding new sources, water conservation is another strategy in national water management. In the case of Cairo, this needs commitment of government institutions and international donors, as well as Cairo inhabitants and local NGOs. Finally, if water consumption continues to grow intensively, Egypt will have to rely on extreme measures: use the non-renewable groundwater aquifers and expensive desalinization of seawater, which are not  sustainable solutions.

Ayman Ramadan Mohamed Ayad is an engineer and Water Resources Advisor at National Water Resources Plan (NWRP-CP), and has been involved in the future vision for Alexandria integrated water urban development.  He also teaches  applied hydraulic at Alexandria Universities, and serves as the Egyptian Coordinator for NAYD (Network of African Youth for Development).

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