Water is the great leveller. Well, almost, writes Karim El-Khashab Residents of Daqahliya fought each other with sticks and stones to fill their water containers last week in scenes which, say the residents of one village, grow increasingly chaotic as the water shortage drags on. Minister of Housing Ahmed El-Maghrabi is soon scheduled to visit the governorate, among the worst hit in Egypt, in order to inaugurate a new pumping station. Officials say it will solve the villagers' problems. Local residents remain sceptical. We have heard too many promises, said one. "For two years we have been told the new station is being built but the construction work has been sporadic at best." Water is delivered by truck to the village, with inhabitants limited to filling two containers, the contents of which must last them a week, until the truck arrives again. Amina El-Said, injured as residents rushed towards the truck, says the water she collects is barely enough for drinking. Water for other purposes must come from the canals. "It is filthy," she says, "and some children have already become ill." Despite the problems they face residents in villages have shown ingenuity in dealing with the crisis. Some families have pooled their water together in an effort to ensure children and the elderly receive more. Others have collected money and buy larger containers to support bigger families. "People here don't give up easily," says El-Maghrabi. "They have learned how to cope with things like this in more than one way. But what is really enraging people is not the shortage itself but that no one is listening to us." A world away, in Qatamiya Heights, one of Cairo's many new up-market suburbs, residents were upset when water began to trickle from their taps. Then it was cut completely. But unlike the villages in Daqahliya water did not need to be trucked in. Instead residents headed for the supermarkets, buying box after box of bottled water. Maged Raouf, who has just moved into the area, has sent his children to stay at a relative's house until the water returns. "I can't possibly continue to pay this much for bottled water every time I have a shower". The facilities at his gym, he says, have become his de facto bathroom for the time being. Malak Abdel-Salam, another resident of the complex, says that she bought water in quantity, one brand, which she judges inferior, to be used for cooking, washing and bathing, a second for drinking. The situation lasted for four days, but rather than take to the streets, residents hit the telephones. "People here are well connected," she added. "I myself picked up the telephone and called a relative who made sure the water was restored." She declined to say who the relative was. The water has returned, but it is still only a trickle. Residents of these walled complexes with lush gardens in the middle of the desert are dismayed at the lack of infrastructure in the areas into which they have bought at great expense. Water cuts, they say, are a regular occurrence. What the current shortage is making clear is that the existing infrastructure cannot cope with people's water needs. With a growing population and continuous building of new residential areas, it is a situation that will get worse before it gets better.
