Egypt to step up seawater desalination efforts

Egypt’s president Hosni Mubarak has instructed the government to expand its seawater desalination initiatives and step up efforts to discover additional sources of groundwater, according to the Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm.

Mohamed Nasr Eddin Allam, minister for water resources and irrigation, is quoted as saying on 19 August 2010, “The aim is to meet Egypt’s future water needs in light of the decreasing annual per capita water consumption rate to less than 700 m³.” He pointed out that this rate could be expected to decline even further as the population increases.

“Our quota of Nile water quota is 55.5 billion m³/year, which was sufficient for Egypt’s 1959 population of 24 million,” said the minister. “Today, the national population stands at 80 million.”