An Egyptian government report reveals a major crisis in the Nile waters
The Egyptian government has prepared an official report to be submitted to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The updated report stated that Egypt is a developing country, with its population increasing rapidly, reaching about 102 million people in January 2022, and about 95% of the population living in the Nile Valley and Delta.
With ambitious economic growth prospects, this demographic puts significant pressures on natural resources, employment, infrastructure, education, and healthcare.
The government report stated that the Nile River is the main source of fresh water for Egypt, as it supplies Egypt with 55.5 billion cubic meters per year, according to the share agreed upon in international treaties.
Other quantities are provided by non-renewable deep aquifers (2.1 billion cubic metres), precipitation (1.3 billion cubic metres), and desalination (0.35 billion cubic metres) to increase the total annual available water from the resource to 59.25 billion cubic metres., in When the total water needs are estimated at 114 billion cubic metres.
To fill the gap, the state relies on the reuse of agricultural drainage and treated wastewater with an equivalent of 21 billion cubic meters. With population growth, there was a sharp decline in the fresh water resources available to the individual as its annual share decreased from 1,972 cubic meters annually in 1970 to 570 meters. cubed in 2018.
It is expected to drop to 390 cubic meters per year by 2050, pushing the country close to the threshold of severe water scarcity. Egypt has water stress levels of 117% as of 2017 as a result of climate change and water pollution. Geopolitical factors are expected to lead to exacerbate water stress in Egypt.
Scenarios indicate that the Nile flow to Aswan will decrease as a result of the impact throughout the Nile Basin, and Egypt is highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, as the Nile Delta is one of three hotspots highly vulnerable to mega-delta areas by 2050 according to IPCC.6 Estimates He suggests that sea level rise (SLR) could reach about 1.0 m by 2100, which will inundate many coastal areas in the Nile Delta, the North Coast and Sinai.
This will lead to the sinking of at least 1% of Egypt's area, as most of its population lives in only 5.5% of its total area.
Salt water intrusion as a result of sea level rise, lower recharge rates and higher evaporation rates with higher temperatures will expand areas of groundwater salinization and estuaries, leading to a decrease in the availability of fresh water suitable for drinking and irrigation.
More than 30% of the Nile Delta is lowland (levels below +2.00 m) and faces many risks such as erosion and flooding, and the Nile Delta provides about three-fifths of Egypt's food production.
Egyptian studies predict that the cultivated area will be reduced to about 0.95 million feddans (8.2% of the cultivated area in Egypt) by 2030 due to the effects of climate change. The delta is expected to lose up to 30% minimum of its food production by 2030.
Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news