Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources, Mohamed Abdel Aty, asserted on Saturday that water is highly related to Egypt's national security and sustainable development. The United Nations announced that a population where per capita annual water resources are below 1,000 cubic metres faces water scarcity. Egypt's per capita annual share of water is 600 cubic metres, while the country's water share of the River Nile is stable, the minister noted, adding that water management in Egypt is facing massive challenges. Egypt relies on its share of the Nile's water which provides the country with 97% of its water supply. In his speech during the opening of the fifth General Assembly of the Arab Water Council in Cairo, Abdel Aty stressed that the country is being challenged by a huge gap between its available annual water resources, estimated at 20bn cubic metres, and its demands. First Deputy Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Ragab Abdel Azim, presented the speech on behalf of the minister. In the upcoming 30 years, Egypt's population is estimated to reach 150 million which will lead to a decrease in the per capita annual share of water to be 350 cubic metres. The negative impact of climate change and sea level rise and its economic and social impacts are complicating the situation in Egypt, especially in the Nile Delta, according to the minister. He pointed out that during the past five years, the state has implemented several national programmes and projects worth EGP 25bn to achieve better water management.
