In Arabic the water hyacinth plant is literally called flowers of the Nile, but metaphorically it is referred to as the ‘soft killer'. The reason is that the invasive plant spreads so rapidly that it blocks the course of the Nile, in some areas cutting short fishing activities and reducing as well water supply for irrigation purposes. According to a statement made by the Fish Wealth Authority, under ideal conditions a single plant can produce 48,00 others in 30 days, a rate that makes the water hyacinth an ecological threat if not systematically removed. This year, the water hyacinth has been left to mushroom and to interlock across wide areas of the Nile course making a huge green carpet with its admittedly beautiful flowers in lavender shades. From Gharbia, to Kafr el-Sheikh and Damietta down to Beni Souef in the south there are complaints of official laxity in combating the plant, which blooms heavily particularly at the beginning of summer. In the Rosetta branch of the Nile, water hyacinth has been reported to cover a 50-kilometre stretch, paralysing all forms of activities in the waterway. Water hyacinth was apparently first introduced in Egypt for ornamental purposes in l879, and cultivated along the Nile, escaping into the river, although some reports say that it came to Egypt as early as the l790s along with scientists of Napoleon's French expedition in Egypt (l798-l801). In Dessouq, Kafr el-Sheikh governorate the ‘soft killer' has choked the Nile waterway, prompting fishermen to rally, hoping their voices would reach officials. They say that navigation is hampered by the floating plants so neither can they go out fishing nor can passenger ferries transferring citizens from one side of the river to the other find enough space to manoeuvre. “Because Nile passenger transport has come to a complete halt citizens have had to resort to different means of land transport, which are in comparison more costly and time consuming", Mohamed el-Maanawi, a teacher in Dessouq told Al-Akhbar newspaper. In addition to the spread of snakes and rats along the banks of the Nile, the Eichhorinia crassipes, the scientific name of water hyacinth, deprives aquatic plants of sunlight and kills fish and wildlife by depriving them of oxygenated water. But more seriously, the aquatic plant causes some three billion cubic metres of water to be squandered annually in Egypt according to estimates of local research centres. Studies reveal that one plant consumes about four litres of water per day. So while warnings against possible water poverty in future are causing farmers to worry, water hyacinth, which grows fast in still or slow-moving water, is actually compounding their suffering. Farmers say that while the plant is blanketing the Nile surface, their land is short of irrigation water. Experts say that the plant also degrades the quality of water, a matter which local farmers affirm by virtue of the damage caused to cultivated summer crops. Pollution of Nile water in areas covered by the plant is another problem that water stations have to face and which is causing a decrease in their productive capacity. In the opinion of Ahmed Ramzi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Agriculture in Kafr el-Sheikh, practically speaking it is impossible to completely remove ‘colonies' of water hyacinth. He said that in the past pesticides were used but was soon suspended for their harmful environmental effects. The Irrigation Ministry therefore has come to rely totally on mechanical removal operations whether in the Nile or in canals and drainage courses. While an LE20 million plan is implemented each year to purge water courses through mechanical, manual and biological methods, as Amani Kafafi Undersecretary of the Irrigation Ministry in Sharqia governorate told the newspaper, complaints filed from different Delta governorates pinpoint a serious problem which need to be hastily addressed.
