Nile's journey: From treasure to trash

Though fabled river gets a little help, pollution is far from the only threat

CAIRO－Early one morning in Cairo, volunteers paddle their kayaks across the Nile, fishing out garbage from the waterway that gave birth to Egyptian civilization but now faces multiple threats.

Egypt's lifeline since Pharaonic days and the source of 97 percent of its water is under massive strain from pollution and climate change and now the threat of a colossal dam being built.

"People have to understand that the Nile is as important－if not more－than the pyramids," said Mostafa Habib, 29, co-founder of the environmental group Very Nile. "The generations coming after us will depend on it."

His fears echo those that millions worldwide share about other overtaxed and polluted rivers from the Mekong to the Mississippi.

But few waterways face greater strain than the 6,600-kilometer Nile, the basin of which stretches across 11 countries－Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

No country is more reliant on the Nile than Egypt, whose teeming population has just passed 100 million－over 90 percent of whom live along the river's banks.

Surrounded by a green valley full of palm trees, the north-flowing river is awash with boats of all sizes for tourism, fishing and leisure.

"All of us Egyptians benefit from the Nile, so cleaning it up is a way of giving back to my country," said one of the volunteers, Walied Mohamed, a 21-year-old university student.

"The Nile is the main source of drinking water for Egypt. We have no other major rivers flowing in our country."

'Question of life'

Despite its importance, the Nile is still heavily polluted by waste water and rubbish poured directly into it, as well as agricultural runoff and industrial waste, with consequences for biodiversity, especially fishing and human health, experts say.

Around 150 million tonnes of industrial waste are dumped into it every year, according to the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency.

Climate change spells another threat as rising sea levels are set to push Mediterranean saltwater deep into the fertile Nile River Delta, the nation's bread basket.

Researchers predict the country's already stretched agricultural sector could shrink by as much as 47 percent by 2060 as a result of saltwater intrusion.

Cotton, one of the most widely cultivated plants along the Nile, requires a lot of water.

Egypt also faces a nationwide fresh water shortage by 2025, according to the United Nations.

Egyptian officials say that in 2018 the individual share was 570 cubic meters and that this is expected to further drop to 500 cubic meters by 2025.

Aside from all the existing threats, there is another issue that terrifies Egypt's national planners and has even sparked fears of war.

More than 3,000 kilometers upstream on the Blue Nile, the main tributary, thousands of workers have toiled for almost a decade to build the $4.5-billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, set to be Africa's largest.

Downstream countries, mainly Egypt but also drought-plagued Sudan, fear that the dam's 145-meter high wall will trap their essential water supplies once the giant reservoir, the size of London, starts being filled this summer.

For Ethiopia, one of Africa's fastest-growing economies, the dam is a prestige project and source of national pride.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has insisted the project will not be stopped, warning that if necessary "we can deploy many millions".

In less belligerent but equally dramatic language, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi told the United Nations last year that "the Nile is a question of life, a matter of existence to Egypt".

For some farmers in Sudan, the dam promises to tame rainy season floods that inundate farms with silt and destroy crops and houses.

For Egypt, the crucial question now is at what rate Ethiopia plans to fill the 74-billion-cubic-meter reservoir－Cairo demands it at least triple its proposed period of three to four years.

But experts also warn that Egypt must change its own water management practices.

"Egypt needs to invest in non-Nile sources of water," said Jeannie Sowers, a political science professor at the University of New Hampshire who authored a book on Egypt's environmental policies.

"This means prioritizing desalination plants on the coasts … and improving irrigation and drainage networks," she said.

Justin Mankin, a Dartmouth University geographer who wrote a study on climate change affecting the Nile, said that "water stress will become widespread in the region, irrespective of rainfall increases".

He emphasized that the "region's governments must take steps to create water-sharing schemes and practices that can ensure a sufficient and equitable distribution of water over the coming decades".

Agencies Via Xinhua