Professor of Water Resources, Nader Nour El-Din, responded to the recent statements of Egyptian Irrigation Minister Hani Sweilem, in which he indicated that the Egyptian citizen’s share of water has declined, approaching “the limit of water scarcity.”
In exclusive statements to RT, Nader Nour El-Din said: “For the second time in six months, Irrigation Minister Hani Sweilem repeats his same statements in text. On August 23 of last year, the Minister of Irrigation issued his statement that Egypt is approaching the limit of absolute water scarcity, meaning that the share of per capita water supply to 500 cubic meters per year or less, but today, after 6 months, he repeats the same statements in text, so all Arab and international satellite channels work on him, causing frustration for the Egyptian people, and making them recall the problems of the Renaissance Dam and that he is the reason for that.”
Nour El-Din added, saying: “Mr. Minister, the global per capita water poverty limit is one thousand cubic meters annually in all its uses... agriculture, industry, home, and to preserve the environment... and most developing countries, including Egypt, do not have many industries, especially those that deplete water, such as The industries of aircraft, weapons, ships, cars, trucks, heavy equipment, computers, fighters, heavy industries, and spaceships consume about 57% of water consumption in developed countries, while it does not exceed 5% only in Egypt and developing countries.
He added: “In Egypt, for example, industry consumes 2.5 billion cubic meters annually, compared to the agricultural sector’s consumption of 62.5 billion. Therefore, an individual in developing countries may only be satisfied with 600-800 cubic meters annually, and does not feel any shortage or scarcity of water. Egypt's renewable water (the Nile River, groundwater, and rain) amounts to 62 billion, and by dividing it by the population of 105 million people, the per capita share of it is about 600 cubic meters, and if we add to it 20 billion cubic meters of reuse of agricultural, industrial, and sewage waste water. According to the minister’s own statements, the per capita share will rise to 800 cubic metres, and no one among the Egyptian people feels a severe water shortage, so why these frustrating and repeated statements?”
The Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Hani Sweilem, renewed the warning that Egypt is approaching the point of water scarcity, with the continued decline in the per capita share of water in light of limited water resources and the increase in population.
Tunisia: 3 years in prison for a businessman and former presidential election candidate
On Friday, the financial corruption wing of the Tunisian Court of Appeal sentenced businessman and former presidential election candidate Nabil Karoui to 3 years in prison, with immediate effect.
According to what was confirmed by the official spokesman for the Tunisian Court of Appeal, Habib Tarkhani, in a press statement, 3 other defendants in the same case, the court sentenced each of them to 3 years in prison, regarding the case related to accepting foreign funding during the presidential election campaign that took place in 2019. The four defendants were deprived of running in the presidential elections for a period of 5 years.
Radio Mosaique reported that among the three other defendants sentenced to prison alongside Nabil Karoui is his wife, Salwa Al-Samawi.
It is worth noting that the first instance court ruled that each of the four defendants be imprisoned for one year, but the Public Prosecution at the Tunis Court of First Instance appealed those initial rulings.