Water Issues in Egypt

1. Introduction

Arid and semi-arid are characterized by low erratic rainfall of up to 700mm per annum, periodic droughts and different associations of vegetative cover and soils(IISD,2010). The world’s semi-arid and arid regions are located mainly in North Africa and the Middle East, as well as south Asia. This feasibility report are going to compare two provisions for water supply in Egypt and also recommend the best method of water provision. Egypt has been suffering from severe water scarcity in recent years like Uneven water distribution, misuse of water resources and inefficient irrigation techniques(Amir,2014). The government of Egypt must look to alternative and sustainable methods to secure their water supplies. There are two options- a: find a new water resource - groundwater extraction. b.develop water-saving supply programme - Aswan Dam.

2. Background

Generally, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Egypt was worth 271.97 billion US dollars in 2014. The GDP value of Egypt represents 0.44 percent of the world economy(Trading, 2015). Move onto the geographical and natural environment, Egypt is one of top ten countries at risk of water shortages due to these following reasons: Egypt is bordered by Libya to the west, the Sudan to the south, nevertheless, part from the Nile Valley, the majority of Egypt's landscape is desert. In addition, Egypt has an unusually hot, sunny and dry climate for the majority areas are tropical desert climate. Another two factors lead to Egypt water shortage are Inefficient Irrigation and pollution. The water risk certainly caused a lot of problem in different aspects like It is estimated that each year about 17,000 children die from diarrhea(WIKI, 2014). One reason is that drinking water quality is often below standards due to the fact that the Neil resources is badly polluted which are they need to survival source of water. The government are facing kinds of burning water shortage issues, thus they formulated a series of legal measures and engineering projects. For example: East Owainat Project, As-Salam Canal Project and Preservation of water resources and River Nile protection programme.

3. Presentation of Options

Option 1: Find a new water resource - groundwater extraction Underground water is an important source of fresh water in Egypt; its importance to augmented by the fact that it is the sole and essential source of water in the Egyptian desert that constitutes 95% of Egypt’s total area. Within the framework of developing water resources plan that Egypt is carrying out and ending in 2017( Cairo,2015).
Option 2: Develop water-saving programme by construct Aswan Dam The Aswan Dam is an embankment dam situated across the Nile River in Aswan Egypt as the ability to control floods, provide water for irrigation, and generate hydroelectricity were seen as pivotal to Egypt's industrialization.(Wiki, 2015) The High Dam was constructed between 1960 and 1970 which had a significant impact on the economy and environment of Egypt.

Comparison of Options

Option 1:Groundwater Extraction
. Cost ( being affordable) Groundwater is considered as one of the main sources for both rural and agriculture water supplies in many areas especially in desert regions. Apart from that underground water can be used directly without treatment as it is not exposed to pollution. Thus, it is a safe source for potable water(Cairo,2015). Some arid districts’ inhabitants are extracting groundwater by themselves in order to hit deeper water. The majority of drill equipment are produced by the local manufacturers or even made by the poor villagers. The expenditure of groundwater extraction wouldn’t cost much, however it have a great deal of environment impacts.

. Negative environment impact
Recently years, with a sharp growing numbers of groundwater has been extracted, a lot of underground aquifers are drying out. The residents or governments did not realized the grave consequences after a serious of phenomenon occurred. Various negative effects of groundwater over-exploitation may lead to land subsidence and sinkhole formation in areas of heavy withdrawal, which can damage buildings, roads, and other structures also affecting vegetation growth caused great economic loses(EPA,2011).
The whole groundwater system associated with impacts of lower water table levels( see Graphic 1)

Graphic1: Understanding Groundwater - Each Water Aquifer
[pic]
Source: Murray Darling Authority 2010.

Option2:construct Aswan Dam
a). Cost ( being affordable) When started of construction the new Aswan Dam in1960, the Soviets provided technicians and heavy machinery. The enormous rock and clay dam was also designed by the Soviet Hydroproject Institute with some Egyptian engineers. 25,000 Egyptian engineers and workers contributed to the construction of the dams. It took ten years to build the dam, at a cost of $1 billion. Profited from support of the soviet Union the new Aswan Dam had completed successfully in 1970, more importantly, it bought huge economic and social effects and also the construction cost recovered within two years.

b). Environment impact
In general, the impact of Aswan High Dam are quite positive not only in economic benefit but also in agricultural and environment. The Aswan Dam is also a hydro-electric power station. The water from the river Nile turns the turbines and makes electricity. The electricity is taken from the dam by cables and is used in factories and home all over Egypt. People use the electricity for cooking, lighting and many other activities(Joey,2012). Before the Aswan High Dam was built, the River Nile used to flood every year. No-one knew exactly when the flood would occur. Now, the Egyptian government can flood the land when they need to. Beside that farmers use water from the River Nile to irrigate their crops that means farmers would produce more crops. The high dam releases, on average, 55 cubic kilometers (45,000,000 acre·ft) water per year, of which some 46 cubic kilometers (37,000,000 acre·ft) are diverted into the irrigation canals thus agricultural yield improved significantly after the dam operated(Cairo,2002).( see Table 1)
Table1: Agricultural and cultivated areas and percentage of cultivation
[pic]
Source: Water Issue In Egypt,2002

5.Conclusion

Compared groundwater extraction with constructing Aswan Dam to save and supply water, I prefer to Aswan Dam project due to the important factor - environment. Basically, there are four key advantages of Aswan High Dam, as below:
1.Hydro-Electric Power (HEP) 2.Irrigation water for surrounding farmland
3.Water supply to the population 4.Flood control.
The one dam almost solved the water shortage issues in Egypt, although it do exist some bad influence however advantages outweigh disadvantages. For the groundwater extraction provision it is a temporary method to supply water what’s more it brought out lots of negative influences. Thus, Aswan Dam project is more appropriately for the water risk situation in Egypt, as we has been witnessing demonstrable results caused by Aswan Dam in several aspects.

References

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Cairo. (2105). Sustainable Development& Water Resources in Egypt .
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Dokki, Cairo. (2002). Water Issue in Egypt: Resources, Pollution and Protection Endeavors.
Review Article. Vol.8. (NO.1), P3-21.

EPA. (2011). Groundwater.
Available: http://cfpub.epa.gov/eroe/index.cfm?fuseaction=list.listBySubTopic&ch=47&s=201. Last accessed 24th Mar 2015.

IISD. (2010). Arid and semi-arid lands: Characteristics and importance.
Available: http://www.iisd.org/casl/asalprojectdetails/asal.htm. Last accessed 23rd Mar 2015.

mdba. (2010). Groundwater.
Available: http://www.mdba.gov.au/what-we-do/water-planning/ground-water. Last accessed 24th Mar 2015.

Joey Min. (2012). The Controversy of The Aswan High Dam.
Available:http://www.slideshare.net/TheBabyKangaroo/the-controversy-of-the-aswan-high-dam.Last accessed 25th Mar 2015.

Trading. (2015). Egypt GDP.
Available: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/egypt/gdp. Last accessed 23rd Mar 2015.

Wikipedia. (2015). Aswan dam. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aswan_Dam. Last accessed 24th Mar 2015.