Draft environmental profile on Egypt

This profile inventories Egypt"s natural resources and assesses their degradation, especially with respect to the worsening problems of soil damage, water pollution, and water-borne diseases. Soil damage and loss from acute salinization affect at least 28% of the country"s irrigated soils. Salinization, together with associated waterlogging, reduces agricultural output by some 30% in damaged areas; poor irrigation management is responsible for much of the current situation. Egypt"s water pollution problems - which particularly affect the areas north of Cairo, where most of the population lives - result from several factors: salinized drainage water from irrigated areas, agricultural pesticides, industrial effluents, sewage disposal, and overpumping of aquifers (permitting the entrance of salt water and contamination from the Mediterranean into the water table). In the northern delta, for example, water pollution has caused an 85% drop in fish catch in Lake Mareotis. malaria are major health concerns. Some 30%-50% of the population suffers from schistosomiasis, while malaria is still common in irrigated areas. Poor sanitation and high population densities - reaching 70,000 people per square mile in Cairo - also promote the spread of disease. Typhoid, paratyphoid, and hepatitis are endemic. include: geography and climate; mineral and energy resources; land reclamation; wildlife protection; and weed and insect pests.