Water supply and sanitation in Egypt

Not to be confused with Water resources management in Egypt.

Drinking water supply and sanitation in Egypt directly impact the country's public health, industrial developments, and agriculture. Egypt's water and sanitation industry is characterized by both achievements and challenges. Among the achievements are an increase of piped water supply between 1998 and 2006 from 89% to 100% in urban areas and from 39% to 93% in rural areas despite rapid population growth; the elimination of open defecation in rural areas during the same period; and in general a relatively high level of investment in infrastructure.[1] Access to an at least basic water source in Egypt is now practically universal with a rate of 98%. On the institutional side, the regulation and service provision have been separated to some extensions through the creation of a national Holding Company for Water and Wastewater in 2004, and of an economic regulator, the Egyptian Water Regulatory Agency (EWRA), in 2006.[2] Despite these successes, many challenges remain. Only about one half of the population is connected to sanitary sewers.[3] Because of this low sanitation coverage, about 50,000 children die each year because of diarrhea.[4] Another challenge is low cost recovery due to water tariffs that are among the lowest in the world. This in turn requires government subsidies even for operating costs, a situation that has been aggravated by salary increases without tariff increases after the Arab Spring. Furthermore, poor operation of facilities, such as water and wastewater treatment plants, as well as limited government accountability and transparency, are also issues.

Foreign aid from the United States, the European Union, France, Germany, the World Bank and other donors remains important, both in terms of financing and in terms of technical assistance. Western donors also have long promoted sector reforms aiming at higher levels of cost recovery and more efficient service provision. Private sector participation has so far been limited mainly to Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) projects for treatment plants.

  1. ^ "Water Treatment in Egypt: Reverse Osmosis, Ultrafiltration and Electrodeionization". RO Reverse Osmosis & Water Treatment | Commercial & Industrial. Retrieved 2023-11-20.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference mehsip was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ As per the 2006 census
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference IDRC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).