CAIRO: The Banha local council discovered on Monday that sewage water has leaked into lakes used to irrigate agricultural land in the city, which is the capital of Qaliyubia governorate. According to a report issued by the council two days ago "a leakage occurred in the sewage station last week, leading the impure sewage water to reach the agricultural land and lakes used in their irrigation. Abdallah Ameash, employee at the Banha city council, told a local news program on Monday evening that the sewage station was built 40 years ago and has not been renovated since. He added that he had asked "10 times for maintenance but his demands were never met. According to Ameash, the sewage station is bad condition and all the areas around it are threatened to sink in sewage water. Adly Hussein, the governor of Qaliyubia, said in an official media statement that he has sent a special letter to the Minister of Housing asking him to issue direct orders to the National Authority for Water and Irrigation to start the renovation process. In another statement by Hussien, he pointed out that potable drinking water will be placed in the old water pipes in Al-Baradah village in Qaliyubia by the end of this week. The governorate and the Ministry of Health had successfully managed to clean the pipes of sewage water that leaked into them a few weeks ago leading to a typhoid outbreak in the village that infected around 311 people at the end of last month, most of which have recovered with only 20 still receiving treatment. Hussein further indicated that water samples will be tested at the Ministry of Health before it is made available for citizens. Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif said after a Monday cabinet meeting attended by President Hosni Mubarak, that he has asked the Ministers of Housing, Water Resources and Irrigation and Agriculture to draft new legislation criminalizing the use of sewage water in agriculture. Nazif's statement came on the day that the Banha local council report was issued, one week after the Ministry of Agriculture announced that some agricultural areas use sewage water for irrigation, specifically mentioning Al-Saf village in Helwan and Tenth of Ramadan industrial city. Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Nasr El-Din Allam said in a statement that a new sewage station will open in two weeks south of Helwan. By the end of December, he added, the ministry will have completed its project to purify Al-Saf Lake in Helwan to be used for irrigation purposes. The government's slow reaction to the crisis was, however, criticized by MP Ahmed Diab of the health committee, who told Daily News Egypt the government should start punishing the authorities that allowed the leakage to occur in the first place. "However, as usual the government disregarded the role of officials and turned on the weakest people involved in the matter, who are the poor farmers, Diab said.
