While Egypt celebrates Environment Day on 5 June, experts voice major concerns about Nile pollution, Sahar El-Bahr hears their arguments Twelve thousand years ago, it was believed that the dead Pharaohs had to admit before the gods that they never polluted the Nile or allowed anyone to do so, otherwise they wouldn't be able to go to paradise. However, nowadays the sons of the Nile have managed to allow many sources to pollute the river flagrantly, including factories with their liquid, chemical, light and heavy metal wastes poured directly without treatment into its water. Pollution also includes agricultural wastes consisting of pesticides and fertilisers and untreated sewage water, not to mention tourist boats of the Nile that throw their wastes in the water. Mahmoud Amer, head of the National Poison Centre at the Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, said it is impossible to ignore the damage done by the untreated wastes poured into the river. "Almost 30 per cent of the water of the Nile is polluted," he said. The High Dam also adds to the pollution of the Nile because it slows the flow of the water that during the floods used to wash away the pollution. Amer identified to Al-Ahram Weekly the most dangerous sources polluting the Nile. "Despite the fact that in 1994 the Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs [MSEA] launched the long- term campaign "Clean the River Nile" and an environmental law stipulating that factories should adjust their environmental standards within five years, there are 5,000 factories all over the nation pouring their various wastes into the Nile," said Amer. Amer complains that in 2000 it was announced that only 35 per cent of the factories have adjusted their production standards to meet environmental norms. "Since 2000 no official figures have been released regarding the other factories that did not adjust their standards." The reason for this delay is primarily due to the financial cost of going clean, because high tech imported equipment costs almost 10 per cent of the total cost of any factory. Amer believes that the equipment could be manufactured locally to save 20 per cent of the price of imported equipment, or the government could offer assistance to these factories by either providing them with loans or exempting them from part of their taxes. Most of these mega-factories were established in the wake of the 1952 Revolution and were in the public sector so that they are protected from punishment stipulated by the law, despite many laws passed in recent decades. The first one was issued in 1962, which was amended in 1994 and 2000. However, all laws have failed to protect the Nile. As Amer explained, the environmental law of 1994 stipulated that factories pay a small fine. "This is the reason why serious amendments should be made to the 1994 law to include stricter penalties for the factories in violation of the law. The old law should be reconsidered and even replaced by a new law." However, Amer believes that before issuing such laws, not only experts should participate in discussing it, but also Egyptian citizens, because they are the ones who are at risk. Another specialist, Emad Adli, head of the Arabic Office for Youth and Environment NGO, agrees that laws are ineffective; however, he has some concerns over its harsh penalties. "Part of the punishment is that the factories in violation should be closed, which is very difficult because closing productive factories could harm the national economy and put hundreds of workers out of jobs." He believes that the solution of these environmental problems lies firstly in the hands of the owners of these factories. "They should have a genuine belief in the benefits of adjusting their conditions environmentally. Then comes the next step of finding alternatives such as long-term loans or donations." Amer on the other hand does not find an excuse for the owners, since in the past their factories were not making enough profits, yet nowadays they are flourishing, meaning that their productive capacities have largely increased, adding more wastes to the Nile. Yet Adli does not throw the whole blame on the factories and MSEA; he believes the public has a greater role to play. "People should stop throwing garbage and dead animals in the Nile and refrain from washing their cloths or dishes." The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR) released a few months ago a study entitled The Revolution of 30 People Living on the Banks of the River Nile -- the Right to Have a Clean Glass of Water in support of demonstrations in some villages in the Delta because of the polluted drinking water. The report indicated that there are almost 4,500 villages without sewage networks and villagers throw their wastes in the Nile, or small canals which feed into it. The EOHR report warns that water per capita in Egypt has decreased to 900 cubic metres annually. The world average per capita is 2000 cubic metres and the poverty line amount is 1000. Furthermore water resources in Egypt are limited while the population grows each year. Amer highlights another problem that does not get enough attention. "Even if I agree with officials that the drinking water treatment stations produce clean water, it reaches the consumers polluted, because the deputy of the water holding company admitted that the underground drinking water pipes in Cairo have not been replaced for the past 90 years, meaning that the drinking water is in areas mixed with sewage water." Moreover, most of the high buildings in Cairo use huge tanks to store water on their roofs, "a health hazard that is many times full of insects and dead rats because in Egypt there are no specialised companies to clean these tanks and people never think of cleaning them." Helmi El-Zonfoli, professor of Water Pollution at the National Research Centre, complains that in Egypt there is no standard professional description of water properties taken from the Nile for treatment. "In other words, we cannot take heavily polluted water like sewage water and treat it to become drinking water. Actually, the Sanitary Authority pours the sewage water after being treated primarily into the Nile." El-Zonfoli argued that traditional tools used in purifying the water of the Nile in different stations all over Egypt are no longer effective in combating the various sources of pollution. Moreover, the degree of pollution in the Nile varies from one area to another; therefore, the treatment methods should differ as well. He warns that the water of the Nile is full of liquid petroleum substances and agricultural waste water that is full of pesticides, fertilisers and other organic substances. The ideal solution? El-Zonfoli has some answers. "Active carbon or ozone could be used in purification and colour should be used only in the last phase of purification with moderate amounts because colour is currently used excessively in all water purification processes." He noted that using these advanced techniques is more expensive than traditional methods; however, the government should take the toll on people's health into account in making its estimates. He suggests another solution, which is increasing the water bills, "but the government should have the courage to confess to people that this is because the quality of water is bad and the increase would aim at improving it." Finally Amer suggested that pollution of the Nile should be measured on a daily basis by taking samples from all the governorates. He concluded that not only MSEA should be involved in solving the problem of Nile pollution, but the ministries of irrigation, industry, agriculture, health and interior as well. "They should be deeply involved, especially the Ministry of Health which pays the bills in treating patients afflicted with the various diseases of the kidneys and liver failure due to the pollution."
