Egypt water quality management action plan : phase II

The project involves a review of existing data on the quality of the Nile River, canals, and drains, followed by an evaluation of the current monitoring and management programs as described by reports and interviews with major involved parties. While considerable data has been collected over the last two decades, few summaries are available in a form useful for assessing overall water quality. Data on conventional pollution parameters (total suspended solids, dissolved oxygen, pH, temperature, conductivity, and nutrients) are available for the Nile proper, but are limited for canals and drains. Information on heavy metals and pesticides, two major toxic pollutants in the Nile system, is particularly sparse. Nevertheless, enough data are available to identify the Nile"s major pollution problems and to ascertain remedial management actions. The human health impacts of raw sewage contamination, pesticides, heavy metals, and salinity are the major water quality problems. The Nile and its canals and drains are heavily contaminated by human waste, demonstrating consistently high fecal coliform levels throughout. These highly contaminated waterways routinely serve as water sources for irrigation, drinking, bathing, and washing of dishes and clothes. The proximity of discharges to locations of water use results in continuing reinfection of users with pathogens and parasites, a pattern that must be broken through appropriate control measures. Pesticides are used in most agricultural areas in Egypt and may contaminate water or food products such as fish; however, few data are available with which to accurately judge the extent of such contamination. The large number of pesticides used (as many as 100) discourages maintenance of an active inventory. Government subsidies for pesticides and the limited data available for some of the more commonly used products suggest the need for a more controlled application program. A number of industrial facilities are discharging heavy metals, particularly in Cairo and in west and south Alexandria. Some discharge directly into the Nile or the northern lakes, but most discharge to drains or sewers. Discharges to waters that are subsequently fished or used for fish farming must be controlled to protect the Nile"s valuable fishery resources. The limited data available indicate that metal concentrations in fish already occasionally exceed acceptable levels for human consumption, and will soon do so more frequently. Similarly, water contaminated with metals and used for irrigation, as well as the reuse of sludge for agricultural purposes, jeopardizes the health of the people or animals that eat the irrigated crops. Finally, the Nile"s salinity increases as it flows north, primarily due to its use in irrigation. By the time it reaches the northern lakes, it is too saline for most purposes, including domestic and industrial water supply and irrigation. Judicious management might better control the salinity increase, but only if water use is evaluated by crops grown, and if the amount of water used for irrigation, industrial processes, and domestic purposes is carefully controlled. No organization has clear responsibility for managing the Nile"s water quality, although proposed legislation would give overall responsibility for coordinating environmental programs to the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency. In any case, it is clearly necessary for all ministries with pollution control responsibilities to work together to develop programs and actions that address the most egregious problems affecting the common good. To improve Egypt"s water quality program, emphasis is required in three areas: improving the managerial capacity of the institutions responsible for water quality; data management; and enforcement of water quality standards. Major actions needed in these areas are detailed in the report. Also, because no single agency has exclusive authority for a comprehensive water quality program, the report analyzes the pro"s and con"s of 52 alternative courses of action related to 20 problems in the areas of pollution, water quality management, water quality monitoring, water management institutions, and legislative aspects of water quality management. Recommendations cover: specific pollution problems, management and monitoring programs, and legislative reform.