Even the most optimistic studies predict that Egypt will lose six billion cubic meters of water annually once the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in the Blue Nile in Ethiopia is completed. This loss will leave a million acres without sufficient irrigation, leading to arid lands and the loss of jobs, and threatens to displace millions of families, according to experts in the Faculty of Agriculture at Asyut University. In addition, Egypt’s food crops will decrease and fall short of meeting local consumption needs, which will force the state to import more food goods.

With the end of the dam’s nearly six-year-long construction nearing, water experts are scrambling to find solutions to cut down on the potential crisis. “A period of water scarcity and water-related problems is awaiting Egypt,” says Dr. Mohsen Jameh, professor of land and water at the Faculty of Agriculture, Asyut University. “Unconventional methods to maintain water should be implemented.”

Rethinking agriculture

Sugarcane, for example, consumes approximately nine thousand cubic meters of water a year; whereas sugar beet only consumes 7560 cubic meters of water annually. And while sugar cane can only be grown once a year because its growth period lasts 12 months, sugar beet only takes six months.

Dr. Masaad Zaki, professor of crops at the Faculty of Agriculture, Asyut University, stresses the need to develop new thirst- and salinity-resistant crops since new lands have a high salt content. Egypt’s top consumption crops are rice, which is mainly grown in the north of the Nile Delta, and sugarcane, mainly grown in Upper Egypt. Egyptians can grow sugar beet instead of sugarcane since the former endures thirst and salinity and has a shorter growth period than the latter. Moreover, a rotation of water consumption on rice irrigation can be accomplished by developing new strands that require less water and have shorter growth periods. This can reduce water consumption. Recently, the government has reduced the area of rice-planted lands to about 1.2 million acres to save water.

Alternative water methods

Dr. Mustafa Ahmad Jaber, associate lecturer at al-Azhar University Asyut Branch, says that 80 percent of farmers use conventional irrigation methods, such as flood irrigation, while only 15 percent of lands are drip irrigated. “Drip irrigation is much better than flood irrigation since it saves water consumption and production costs,” says Jaber, who has also studied the effects of growing more water efficient crops.

Dr. Jameh explained how to increase water consumption efficiency in Egypt by adopting new methods of irrigation other than flooding, which reduces water consumption efficiency by 40-50 percent compared to other methods. This means that only half the amount of produced water actually reaches the earth, while the rest evaporates and leaks. He says that the Ministry of Agriculture has been trying since 1974 to modernize irrigation systems. Therefore, three irrigation methods have been developed: First, pipe irrigation, which reduces wasted water by about 60-70 percent. Second, sprinkler irrigation, which is useful for densely-grown crops, such as wheat, and decreases wasted water by about 70-80 percent. The last one is drip irrigation, which can be used for all crops grown in rows, such orchards, corn, vegetables, and oil crops like beans and sunflower. This method reduces wasted water by 90 percent; therefore, it is recommended for Egypt.

“Egypt’s current water consumption is 110 billion per cubic meter. We have a real crisis in water preservation. Therefore, the Ministry of Agriculture is planning to treat uncontaminated sewage water to meet people’s water needs in addition to seawater desalination to develop coastal areas,” said Dr. Muhammad Abdel Ati, Minister of Irrigation, in a statement in al-Masry al-Youm Newspaper early last January. He talked about the need to use alternative water sources to overcome the water crisis in Egypt.

Dr. Jameh says the problem of the Grand Renaissance Dam has necessitated tapping into groundwater again, especially in al-Wadi al-Jadid. The state should develop new energy sources, such as solar and wind energy, to produce the electricity required for land reclamation in that area. The groundwater is sometimes as deep as 1000 m, which makes using fuel for irrigation exhausting for farmers. Jameh suggests using solar and wind energy to extract groundwater and increase water usage efficiency by moving from flood irrigation to sprinkler and drip irrigation, using salty water in growing crops like sugar beet and palm, and adopting a new strategy to manage unconventional water sources like seawater, which can be desalinated at low costs and used for agriculture.

Sources of water

Egypt sources about 55.5 billion cubic meters from the Nile and an additional 20 billion from rain, groundwater, sewage treatment and water desalination, according to Jaber. Egypt uses about 63.3 billion cubic meters for agriculture, which accounts for 85 percent of Egypt’s water resources. The rest is used for food, drinking, industry and other needs.

Studies and research estimate that an individual consumes 135 liters per day, or about 36,000 cubic meters annually.