Egypt lies at the downstream end of the basin. The country receives hardly any rainfall, and depends on the Nile for almost all its direct water requirements, including agriculture, domestic and industrial supplies, navigation, and tourism. The Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation is the main body responsible for water resources, with the responsibility to protect, develop, control, and allocate water to different uses. The main issues in the sector are discussed in the following paragraphs.

Official Name: Arab Republic of Egypt
Capital: Cairo
Head of State: President Mohammed Hosni MUBARAK
Currency: Egyptian Pound
Total Population: 76,117,421
GDP (US$): $295.2 billion
GNI per Capita: (US$) $4,000
Total Land/Water Area: 995,450/6,000 sq. km.
Languages Arabic (official), English and French widely understood by educated classes

Source: The Worldbank World Development Indicators Database and the CIA factbook www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook.

Policy. The national water policy has been revised and updated at regular intervals since the first policy was developed in 1975, to accommodate changing objectives and priorities. The most recent policy includes several strategies to ensure that the demands of all water users are met. It is expected that the ongoing process of policy development and updating will continue, with cooperative development with other Basin countries envisaged.

Planning and development. Efforts are being directed at increasing the availability of current resources through a variety of approaches, including the development of groundwater, re-use of irrigation drainage water, reduction of pollution and re-use of treated waste water (domestic and, to some extent, industrial), capturing flash floods in wadis, rainwater harvesting in suitable areas, and desalination of sea water where high value uses make this cost effective. It is also considered important to decrease water demands by upgrading and rehabilitating water supply systems to reduce losses. Planning efforts need to take account of the maintenance of flows for navigation and the generation of hydropower.

Environment. The importance of maintaining suitable river flow conditions and aquatic habitats to preserve biodiversity and fisheries production has been realized and needs to be addressed. Water quality needs to be improved in order to reduce impacts on human health. Other significant environmental problems include soil erosion, desertification, aquatic weeds, and sea water intrusion in the Nile delta.

Data and information. In general, the data collection system is good, but could be improved through minor upgrading and expansion and better sharing of data among the interested parties. Better quality control of the data is required.