Why is there a water crisis in Egypt? Egyptian water activist Abdel-Mawla Ismail believes it is because water is considered a commodity, with the ability to generate a profit for those who own it, rather than a human right.

Egypt depends upon the Nile for most of its freshwater, with rain and groundwater only providing a small percentage.

Yet the country continues to need more water – billions more cubic meters in the next few years.

Why is there a water crisis in Egypt? Egyptian water activist Abdel-Mawla Ismail believes it is because water is considered a commodity, with the ability to generate a profit for those who own it, rather than a human right.

Egypt depends upon the Nile for most of its freshwater, with rain and groundwater only providing a small percentage.

Yet the country continues to need more water – billions more cubic meters in the next few years.

And Ismail believes that local authorities are to up this significant challenge: that they’re mismanaging this increasingly precious resource, not negotiating properly with other countries that share the Nile as a water source, as well as encouraging an unequal distribution of water.

He points to the fact that the wealthiest Egyptians have enough water to keep their golf courses green and artificial lakes filled, while the poorest Egyptians have to fetch their drinking water from outside their homes.

Correspondents: Some officials say that the country is facing a water crisis simply because of the country’s growing population. Are they correct?

Abdel-Mawla Ismail: This is partially true. And if you look at per capita share of water in Egypt, you can see this. In 2003, per capita share was 860 cubic metres per year. In 2012, it is 725 cubic metres.

And this comes during a time where we see no increases in Egypt’s share of water from the Nile.

In my opinion, the biggest reason for the water crisis is that water is being seen as a commodity – even though the right to water must be closely related to the right to life, because if a man has no water, he dies.

Does this mean that things will only get even worse in the near future?

Absolutely. According to the Ministry of Irrigation’s strategy for 2017, Egypt will need 87.7 billion cubic metres of water in five years. This figure is a huge challenge.

Do you think that current irrigation and water policies are going to be able to meet that challenge?

Egypt’s water management policies are wrong. The Egyptian authorities act as though it [the water crisis] wasn’t happening; this has resulted in a rise in inequality in how Egyptians access water.

For example, it seems absurd to build a golf course, as is being done in some new residential areas because each golf course consumes the same amount of water as is needed by 150,000 Egyptians. It is the same scenario for the artificial lakes that are being created in luxurious residential areas.

So you’re saying there is class discrimination when it comes to the way water is distributed?

Yes, water is being distributed in an unequal way. One of the rare studies that tackled this issue is the 2006 national social survey.

It suggested that among the poorest 20 percent of Egyptians, 62 percent of them only had tap water available to them outside of their homes and just over 30 percent had no easy access to water at all.

At the opposite end of the scale, for the wealthiest 20 percent, over 98 percent of them had water available to them inside their homes.

There are also serous discrepancies in water prices: consuming millions of cubic metres of water costs about the same as consuming ten cubic meters a month does elsewhere.

Examples of this abound. Power companies, petrochemical plants and the iron and steel industry use huge amounts. For example, it has been reported that the Ezz steel plants [owned by Egyptian steel magnate Ahmed Ezz] consume about 275 million cubic metres of water annually, which is enough for three million people’s needs.

Some have suggested privatizing water. What do you think of that idea?

I totally disagree with it. Anyway, as it is, those in charge of Egypt’s water policies already see water as a commodity that can be transferred from public to private ownership.

The privatisation of drinking water in Egypt started in 2004, with legislation that established a precedent and turned water and waste water companies into holding companies.

The legislation says that: ìThe purpose of the Holding company is to purify, desalinate, transfer, distribute and sell potable water, collection, treatment and safe disposal of wastewater whether by itself or through any of its subsidiaries as well as formation and management of a securities portfolio which may include shares, bonds and any other financial tools.

So for the first time, an Egyptian law provided for the principle of trading in water for profit, a principle that hadn’t existed in Egypt before 2005.

So who is to blame for wasting water in Egypt?

Those in charge of water resources ñ such as the Holding Company for Water and Wastewater (HCWW) as well as other involved ministries such as the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Electricity.

How do relations with other countries affect the water situation in Egypt?

I believe that international tensions are due to the fact that water is seen as a commodity, rather than a right. Even though Egypt is the country that is most affected by the kinds of policies that perpetuate this, it has – somewhat surprisingly – promoted them.

These policies culminated in the Nile Basin Initiative in 1999. And it may be timely to recall warnings from Rushdie Saeed, an important Egyptian expert on water issues that Egypt. He said that by approving the Initiative, Egypt would implicitly be approving of the perception of water as a commodity, one governed by market forces.

This perception would have serious implications for an estuary country that receives water from other countries, he said; in light of it, those other countries might find a reason to demand higher prices for water in the future.

Saeed’s warnings were fulfilled when one of the authorities in a country upstream from Egypt was quoted as saying: if Egypt wants water, it will have to pay.

So how do you think Egypt’s problem with water can be resolved?

Water must be viewed as a basic right that no one can violate. This would facilitate better and more equal access to water.

Additionally, I believe community ownership should be encouraged. Community-based management, where authorities are elected ñ such as that in the US, France and Italy ñ would also help.

How much water is available, and to whom it is available, should not be governed by market forces.