As the crisis of the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam moved and its repercussions inward, it seems that what the Egyptians fear has occurred as the discussion receded about ways to confront Addis Ababa and the possibility of imposing Egyptian conditions, and the Egyptians were busy demanding that the authorities rationalize the use of water and threaten it to increase the penalty on violators, which prompted some to remember the president's statements Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on a possible water crisis years ago.

With more fear, more questions, and even criticism and cynicism, social media pioneers receive the Egyptian government's statements on the rationalization of water use, which were followed by similar statements from parliamentarians, politicians and executives, as well as the media affiliated with the regime of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

And two days ago, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly called for the necessity of expanding the use of water-saving tools and working to increase the penalties for wasteful use of water.

Madbouly said during a meeting attended by the Ministers of Irrigation, Water Resources, Housing and Agriculture that water consumption should be rationalized due to the scale of the challenges facing Egypt in the water sector, stressing that this "imposes on us the necessity of working to achieve real savings in the quantities of water consumed."

After Ethiopia, you did not get tired of the dam and hit the width of the wall, and no one cared for it. Our esteemed government, the next stage, will do what? Announcements about rationalization of water consumption and desalination ... Thank you

- Roody (@bnkmt) July 24, 2020

One tone

In what appears to be a single tone that pushes the talk about the water crisis to the Egyptian interior, parliamentarians, politicians, officials, and media outlets spoke about the necessity of rationalizing Egyptians' consumption of water. Consumption and controlling the behavior of citizens in their use of water and not wasting it, stressing that "every person must be aware of the value of water in light of Egypt's suffering from water poverty."

In remarks to local newspapers on Sunday, Rahim said that there are citizens who use the water in the streets in unnecessary abundant quantities, at a time when Egypt needs to preserve every drop of water.

In turn, Ragheb Ismail Mustafa, assistant to the head of the Wafd Party, called for awareness campaigns on the necessity of preserving water and not wasting it, stressing that the coming period requires increasing the citizens' culture of the importance of water conservation.

Mustafa pointed out that there are many bad practices that lead to wasting water that must be stopped, especially in light of the Renaissance Dam crisis and the failure to reach a final result with the Ethiopian side, noting that preserving water and not wasting it was urged by the religions.

According to local newspapers, Mustafa stressed that the water shortage crisis requires everyone to stand together and not rely solely on the government, calling on the media to actively participate in awareness campaigns.

In the same context, the head of the State Company for Drinking Water Mamdouh Raslan explained that the daily production volume of water amounts to approximately 30 million cubic meters from all stations operating in the governorates, explaining that Egypt's consumption of Nile water for drinking, home use and services is estimated at about 10 billion cubic meters annually .

And Raslan pointed out that there are some negative practices that lead to the loss of a percentage of the produced water, some of which are related to the behavior of citizens such as spraying water on the streets and washing cars with water, noting that washing one car leads to wasting water approaching half a cubic meter of water.

A reasonable person does not object to the rationalization of water consumption, provided that the gang refuses to irrigate golf courses and pools of industrial water in its resorts and palaces before forcing the people to be poor in irrigating food-producing agricultural lands

- Nader FERGANY (@nfergany) July 25, 2020

Governmental plans

The Egyptian government plans to confront the water crisis were not limited to rationalizing the use of water and increasing the punishment for the wasters, as Housing Minister Assem El-Gazzar indicated that there is a plan to expand the construction of seawater desalination plants in coastal governorates, as well as to expand the tripartite treatment of wastewater, and use it for the purposes designated for that .

During a government meeting to discuss the plan to address the water crisis, the Minister of Housing stressed the need to expand the use of the available water plots, whether in homes or government and community agencies in order to prevent excessive use of water.

The talk of the Minister of Housing seems to be part of a plan developed by the Egyptian government in anticipation of the failure of the Renaissance Dam negotiations. In April 2019, during the Water Week conference in the Lebanese capital Beirut, Minister of Irrigation Mohamed Abdel-Ati announced a national water plan in Egypt to confront the water shortage in the country at a cost of 50 One billion dollars will last until 2037.

In June 2019, local newspapers published the Ministry of Housing's plan to expand seawater desalination plants over the next five years, as part of a plan to rationalize water and maximize the use of available water resources.

It includes the implementation and development of 47 seawater desalination plants with a total capacity of 2.44 million cubic meters per day, and an estimated cost of 45.18 billion pounds (one dollar equals 16 pounds).

Possible crisis

Governmental and media promotion of rationalization plans, seawater desalination, and wastewater treatment, prompted some to recall the previous Sisi's talk about the expected water crisis as if he knew the fate that would come to things, although many Egyptians, especially supporters of the authority, believed that Sisi was able to stop Ethiopia, Some even went so far as to expect that they would deal a military strike to demolish the dam.

In January 2018, he affirmed that Egypt is undertaking the largest project for desalination of sea water and triple treatment of wastewater, stressing that this comes to face a "potential crisis" that he did not disclose, stressing that he will not allow the existence of a water crisis in Egypt.

In October 2019, the Prime Minister said that the Egyptian government, with a mandate from Sisi, had implemented several projects on the ground to develop a strategic vision for water until 2037. Mustafa Madbouly added in a speech to the parliament that the plan was worked on by experts from Egypt's finest minds to manage water resources, Taking into consideration the population increase and Egypt's water needs.

The Prime Minister indicated that the cost of this plan, which has already started, amounted to 900 billion pounds, and includes the shift to modern irrigation in agriculture, treatment of wastewater, and expansion of seawater or groundwater desalination plants.

Madbouly stressed that during less than 3 years, projects of the plan worth 110 billion pounds were implemented, and that in less than two years, desalination plants worth 160 billion pounds would be completed by Egypt, to meet the water needs and take into account the population increase.

He pointed out that the Ministry of Housing started to establish and raise the efficiency of all sewage treatment plants and convert them into bilateral and triple treatment at costs of 30 billion pounds, and it is scheduled to be completed before the end of the current fiscal year to reach to develop about 60 stations, mostly in Upper Egypt.

He explained that the costs of this plan were borne by the Egyptian state in confirmation of "its good intentions and to assure our brothers in the Nile Basin countries that we are ready to bear that in order to implement projects and contribute to the development of their peoples."

"We are running and racing against time to provide for our water needs not only for present generations, but also for the future," said the prime minister.

Ethiopia
insults the cc and
imposes what it wants from
the Renaissance Dam and fills the dam

The cc is the railroad
that will destroy the Turkish army

His government tells the people that water should be rationalized, and that it will violate will be severely punished

Whoever placed his bet on the coup
defeats, lost, sad, and defeated

- Abu Khaled (@tTuUXHBxFegFPHa) July 24, 2020

This comes in light of faltering Renaissance Dam negotiations, and two days ago the African Union said that "the mini-African summit that was held on the Dam Renaissance negotiations, chaired by South Africa and the participation of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, agreed to hold a new round of negotiations, to reach as soon as possible a binding agreement To all parties regarding filling and operating the dam. "

The Union added in a statement that the hoped-for agreement must include a comprehensive agreement on future developments on the Nile, stressing that the three countries pledged to resolve differences through dialogue.

The union statement called on parties to the conflict to refrain from making statements or taking any action that might undermine African mediation.