CAIRO: Despite efforts to end the dilemma of potable water shortages in some governorates, residents in eight villages in Ismailia, Luxor and northern Sinai are still suffering from the problem. According to local media reports, there has been a shortage of drinking water for a couple of days in eight villages in Ismailia including El Nasr, El Manayef, El Dabeiya and Abu Balah. As a result, the price of one jerry can of water went up to LE 2. In Luxor, 33 out of 103 apartments in Jazeeret Hood El Remal district have no access to potable water. Members of the local councils have threatened to strike inside the office of Luxor s higher council. Abdel Hamid Sheaar, from the Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities' media office, told Daily News Egypt that while the ministry is not responsible for operating water stations in Ismailia and Luxor, it has set an urgent plan to solve the problem in all areas that suffer from water shortage by April 2008. The ministry is dedicating LE 17 million to improve the quality of drinking water in Egypt according to a certain plan, said Sheaar. He said the ministry is not intimidated by the recent flurry of protest nationwide; rather it began working on solutions to the problem even before people started demonstrating. Other officials have downplayed the ongoing crisis. Abdel Kawi Khalifa, president of the Holding Company for Water and Wastewater in Cairo, told Daily News Egypt that Egypt does not have a water crisis, there are merely some areas that don't have access to drinking water and the holding company is taking this issue seriously. The word water crisis is not suitable to [describe] the current situation. I don t know how people can see the Nile River and still say they have a water crisis, said Khalifa. He added that the company will coordinate with the local council responsible for operating the water stations in Ismailia to help solve the problem. The problem in Luxor, Khalifa said, may stem from fears that building new water stations could have a negative affect on the historic monuments located nearby. Complaints about lack of water have also come from North Sinai. However, Khalifa says that residents there are used to getting their water supply from trucks delivered by the governorate s office. In coordination with the North Sinai governorate office, the Holding Company for Water and Wastewater sent 10 trucks to transport drinking water to residents who need water. There are no permanent residents in Sinai, but mostly Bedouins who temporarily live in different areas. That is why there is no drinking water there, said Khalifa. Khalifa confirmed that there is LE 20 million dedicated to building a large number of water stations. "We are working according to a certain budget and a plan to supply water to all places in Egypt within a year . but again there is no water crisis in Egypt.
