President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called Water Resources and Irrigation Minister Mohamed Abdel Aaty on Saturday to review the status of the seasonal flood. In the phone call, al-Sisi stressed on the importance of fostering relations with Nile Basin countries and supporting their needs on the local and official levels. Further, he affirmed the need to increase awareness on water conservation. Earlier in August, the cabinet outlined a new agricultural strategy in light of the acute water shortage crisis. The plan included banning the export of rice and limits the space of rice fields to 700,000 acres instead of 1.1 million acres, limiting agriculture's water consumption. The strategy also aims to increase the number of plastic greenhouse fields, treat sewage water, and develop field irrigation tools to increase water efficiency. According to a 2014 study by the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, water needs will most likely increase by 20% (15 BCM/year) by the year 2020. As Ethiopia embarks on finishing construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Egypt's water share of the Nile remains uncertain. source: Daily News Egypt
