A recent study conducted by the state-run Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) warned that Egypt's annual water resources would decline by 15.2 billion cubic meters by the year 2017, from a required 86.2 billion cubic meters to a projected 71.4 billion cubic meters. The study put Egypt--where annual per capita water consumption rates currently stand at 700 cubic meters--among the list of 15 Arab countries considered to be under the water-poverty line. On the occasion of World Water Day on Monday, CAPMAS officials announced that the government had succeeded in raising Egypt's freshwater resources from 7247 million cubic meters in 2007 to 8582 million cubic meters in 2008, representing an 18.4-percent increase. Per capita water consumption rates rose by 17.8 percent during the same period, CAPMAS noted, while water wastage fell by some 20 percent. CAPMAS officials went on to point out that testing of Nile water samples had revealed significant reductions in certain pollutants in comparison with last year, as well as improvements in the treatment and recycling of some 1.8 billion cubic meters of sewage water annually. Egypt currently ranks 95th out of 231 countries monitored by the International Water Quality Index, CAPMAS stated, noting that it was one of the more advanced countries in the Middle East/North Africa region in this regard. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
