Water Resources and Irrigation Minister Mahmoud Abou Zeid said the ministry is currently following up on the situation of irregular groundwater wells in Western Delta. He pointed out that the concerned departments are reviewing these wells, are warning their owners time and again and are calling on them to regularize these wells before any legal measure is taken against them. These departments are also calling on the owners to provide all the required documents, namely ownership contracts, the maps indicating the location of the lands and the wells to be authorized, and the data of these wells and lands. Speaking to Al-Masry Al-Youm, the minister said there are more than 150 irregular wells in the Western Delta, adding that 46 have been removed over the past few months (24 by the local residents). Abou Zeid affirmed the ministry gives trespassers a certain period of time to get the necessary licenses. He pointed out that the ministry is taking these measures to preserve groundwater reserves and protect the other serious farmers, who have the right to use groundwater in the region according to the kind of activity specified in their authorizations. The minister urged well owners all across the country to quickly submit the request to get an authorizations for their irregular wells before any sanction is taken against them. According to the minister, the requests to set up wells in these areas will be taken into consideration only through a legalization request by the Ministry of Agriculture. If at any time the activity for which the authorization has been granted is changed (from agriculture to real estate investment, for example), the authorization will be revoked, said the minister. And if any farmer actually violates the authorization, this farmer is warned and his well is removed if he does not put a remedy to such violation. He said the ministry is making several amendments to the new water resource bill. For instance, the ministry will be totally entitled to run groundwater and carry out actions such as technical studies to find their sources, control their quantity and quality and prevent any well from being dug without resorting to the ministry. The amendments stress the ministry's right to revoke the authorization if the well is not dug within a year or is not benefited from within three years from the release of the authorization. They also stress the necessity to mention any change of ownership in the authorization, and set forth that extracted water may be used for other purposes than the one mentioned in the authorization only after the ministry's written approval.
