CAIRO - Water and environmental experts agreed in Cairo on an urgent plan to clean and protect the River Nile. The experts, attending a forum to mark the Nile Day, have launched an ambitious initiative with the aim of removing all sorts of encroachment activities on the Nile banks along a course of 1,400 kilometres, According to participants in the forum, organised by Emad Eddin Adli, the initiative enforces anti-squattering and encroachment laws and cleaning the Nile course of wastes in post-January 25 Egypt. Under the motto of "I won't throw anything into the Nile,” the initiative aims to clean the River from the existing wastes, Adli said, urging all Egyptians to participate in the plan, which also demands closer co-operation among Nile Basin countries. Adli said that thousands of young Egyptians had already joined the initiative, which will start in el-Manial, a Cairo suburb. "The youth have removed ten tonnes of waste from the Nile," he said. adding that the initiative will cover the River's course from Cairo to Aswan. He said wastes have affected the quality of Nile water in its main course and in the Rosetta and Damietta branches. Meanwhile, Hamdi Khalifa, the head of the Water and Environment Research Institute, said that the initiative reflected positively on the lives of Egyptians “The Nile is the main source of irrigation water in Egypt and improvement in its water quality through removing all wastes means a more efficient irrigation system in the country.” Khalifa added that the water quality in the River Nile would improve considerably if environmental awareness and training were raised. He said that over 85 per cent of the country's water was consumed annually by irrigation. "Hence, safe water will provide pollutant-free agricultural products and production will increase as well," Khalifa added.
