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EGYPT: After Summer Shortages, Promise of Water Runs Dry
By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani
CAIRO, Oct 11 (IPS) - This summer saw a spate of severe water shortages throughout the country, leading to numerous protests by frustrated - and thirsty - citizens. Egypt has seen its share of political demonstrations in recent years, but the latest water protests are the first time that ordinary people have taken to the streets to demand a basic service.
"The recent demonstrations show that citizens have lost faith in longstanding government promises to provide them with adequate drinking water," Mohamed Nagi, head of the Cairo-based Habi Centre for Environmental Rights, told IPS. "Until now, very little has really been accomplished to solve the water scarcity problem, which grows worse every year."
The issue first exploded in early July, when hundreds of residents of the Nile Delta's Kafr al-Sheikh province, frustrated by months-long water shortages, blocked a nearby highway for several hours. According to reports in the local press, angry protestors brought traffic to a standstill, demanding clean drinking water for their villages and households.
Only a few days later, another protest - this time an estimated 3,000-strong - was held by residents of the Gharbiya province, also in the Nile Delta. According to official daily al-Ahram, the crisis in Gharbiya ended on Jul. 10 with the government dispatching a number of water-laden trucks to the area as a "temporary solution".
According to Nagi, the breakdown of state-run water distribution networks is an all too common problem.
"Water purification projects often cease functioning for long periods due to under-funding by the state, and official neglect," he said. Nagi went on to attribute the increasing cases of water deficiency to provincial corruption, insufficient planning and slapdash construction.
"Meanwhile, those who suffer most from shortages of drinking water are those of the lowest-income classes, who don't have much political voice," he added.
After continued reports of shortages throughout the country, President Hosni Mubarak called on the cabinet to launch an "urgent plan" to ensure that all Egyptians enjoy sufficient access to potable water. On Jul. 25, the cabinet announced that a total of 1 billion Egyptian pounds (180 million dollars) would be allocated to construction of small water purification centres in and around shortage prone areas.
Nevertheless, the following months saw similar protests in several other areas of the country where local water distribution networks have functioned erratically for months or years. During July, August and September, popular demonstrations - many joined by thousands - were reported in the provinces of Alexandria, Giza and Marsa Matruh, among others.
Dubbing the protests a "revolution of the thirsty", the local press - both official and independent - carried headline news throughout the summer about the ongoing shortages. Newspapers often featured front-page pictures of citizens frantically queuing for meagre water rations, or angrily shaking empty water cans.
In early August, al-Ahram cited a study by the Cairo-based Centre for Rural Studies that found that an estimated five million Egyptians – in a population of 80 million - lack sufficient access to clean drinking water. Shortly afterwards, independent daily al-Masry al-Youm cited a survey by the state-run National Research Centre that found that 85 percent of Egypt's total potable water production was wasted due to the poor state of local water distribution systems.
In spite of these dire findings, housing minister Ahmed al-Maghrebi was quoted by the local press in early August as saying that Egypt was "not suffering from a water-shortage crisis."
Amid increasing numbers of popular protests and complaints, however, the minister was soon moved to revise his statement. In an Aug. 26 interview on Arabic language satellite TV station Dream, he conceded that "popular protests over the lack of water come as no surprise."
Maghrebi also announced he had secured cabinet and parliamentary approval to allocate 17 billion Egyptian pounds (3.1 billion dollars) over the next four years for upgrading local water distribution networks. He said 100 local water projects across Egypt were scheduled for completion within the 2007/2008 fiscal year.
Earlier this month, the cabinet also approved a housing ministry request to increase the amount earmarked for the President's "urgent plan" for the construction of water-purification plants from 1 billion to 1.5 billion Egyptian pounds.
According to Nagi, however, recent government pledges to provide short-term solutions to the problem - especially in light of earlier unfulfilled promises - simply don't hold water.
"The housing minister says we need four years for completion of the necessary water projects," he said. "But this belies earlier statements by (previous housing minister) Ibrahim Suleiman, who said it would only take two years to guarantee water to every corner of Egypt. And Suleiman made those statements four years ago." (END/2007)
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