Egypt’s Irrigation Ministry strives to gather the utmost quantity of groundwater by putting in “auto-control” devices in additional than 15 underground wells.
Egyptian Minister of Water and Irrigation Mohamed Abdel Aty mentioned that the ministry developed and elevated the effectivity of its equipment and cranes within the New Valley governorate to make sure an instantaneous response to emergencies and periodic upkeep of the groundwater wells within the New Valley, in order to make sure their sustainability.
He mentioned that for the primary time 15 auto-control gadgets have been lately put in within the groundwater wells in New Valley, and one other 4 gadgets are being put in in 4 different wells. He famous {that a} joint cooperation protocol was signed between the Water Assets and Irrigation Ministry and the New Valley governorate for the set up of monitoring and management gadgets in 19 wells, in order to watch and function them routinely and remotely from a central working room. The objective is to watch protected withdrawals from wells, calculate consumption charges from every and keep away from extreme withdrawal of water, in a bid to make sure a fast and correct assortment of knowledge and to make them obtainable to decision-makers in order to protect and rationalize utilization of water sources.
Abdel Aty confused the necessity to absolutely adhere to all rules and necessities for using groundwater that will permit an optimum administration and rational use of water sources, significantly because the deep groundwater in Egypt is nonrenewable.
He pointed to the significance of photo voltaic power within the operation of wells as a part of the measures taken to scale back emissions and management withdrawal charges from the aquifer, in addition to shifting towards using trendy irrigation methods as a substitute for flood irrigation that results in optimum water makes use of and obtain optimum administration of groundwater.
Talking to Al-Monitor by cellphone, Ayman al-Sayed, head of the telemetry sector on the Ministry of Water Assets and Irrigation, mentioned that the brand new water management system includes all licensed groundwater wells, whose license specifies the kind of pump it would function on and the variety of working hours per day, in addition to a water meter for every effectively. All of them rely on the effectively capability, in addition to the kind of crop it would irrigate.
He mentioned that these methods purpose to forestall extreme withdrawals from the aquifer, permitting sustainability of its operation, and preserving the groundwater reserve. Sayed confused that this automated mechanism prevents exceeding the every day withdrawal restrict specified within the effectively’s license, which when reached, the facility provided to the effectively will probably be reduce off in order to halt water pumping.
He defined that any establishment or firm keen to attract groundwater should acquire the ministry’s approval, and primarily based on a examine, the variety of wells, working hours and the quantity of water that will probably be drawn out of the wells will probably be decided, in a bid to make sure the aquifers’ sustainability. He famous that any violations can be instantly stopped.
Sayed added {that a} hygrometer was utilized in a number of places within the New Valley, and was related to the management system that transfers the hygrometer information to farmers instantly by way of textual content messages on cellphones, to allow them to find out the optimum time to begin and finish the irrigation course of. This helps enhance the effectivity of the irrigation course of, optimize using water and power, enhance the standard of crops and guarantee full management of the water system by connecting the agricultural lands’ irrigation system to the underground wells’ operation system.
The ministry signed a cooperation protocol with the New Valley governorate, with the objective of putting in monitoring and management gadgets for 19 wells, to make sure they’re monitored and being operated routinely and remotely, by means of a central working room.
Mohamed Ghanem, official spokesman for the Ministry of Water Assets and Irrigation, instructed Al-Monitor that groundwater in Egypt is nonrenewable, provided that the underground reservoirs usually are not crammed with rainwater, and due to this fact any quantity drawn out won’t be compensated, which requires a substantial amount of administration.
He famous that Egypt is unable to resume its water sources when the underground reservoirs are depleted, significantly since Egypt is a dry nation, and the amount of rain doesn’t exceed 1 billion cubic meters a yr. Subsequently, there are strict requirements for coping with groundwater aquifers.
The Irrigation Ministry had taken a number of measures to cope with heavy rains and torrential rains that hit the governorates of northern and southern Sinai, the Purple Sea, Marsa Matrouh and Assiut between Dec. 31 and Jan. 2. The report underlined the vital position of the ministry to guard the inhabitants and amenities from the harmful results of the floods, in accordance with a statement revealed on the ministry’s web site.
Within the assertion, Abdel Aty mentioned that the safety works resulted in harvesting about 2.340 million cubic meters of rainwater, which can be utilized for consuming and grazing functions.
Abbas Sharaki, professor of geology and water sources at Cairo College, instructed Al-Monitor that the measures the minister has been taking function a information for individuals to rationalize water consumption and really feel concerned in the true issues on the bottom.
He mentioned that efforts are made in Egypt to protect water so as to not waste what the nation has in gentle of the present challenges.
Egypt’s 2021 Human Development Report, which was issued by the Ministry of Planning and Financial Growth, in cooperation with the United Nations Growth Program, defined that the filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is predicted to have a critical affect on the supply of water in Egypt, and can scale back the per capita water share and thus have an effect on numerous financial actions, particularly when Ethiopia unilaterally fills the dam’s reservoir.
