Egypt will need nearly 50% more Nile water by 2050

According to experts at Egypt's National Planning Institute (NPI), Egypt will need nearly 50% more Nile water by 2050 to cater for an estimated population of 150 million people.

Fadya Abdel-Salam, director of the NPI told Al Ahram that Egypt will require an extra 21 billion cubic metres of water per year to meet the needs of industry, agriculture and households in 40 years' time.

Egypt's current entitlement under the 1959 treaty on allocation of Nile waters of 55.5 bcm of the river's total annual flow of around 84 bcm is under challenge from upstream states, notably Ethiopia which is planning a series of dams for hydroelectric power generation and for irrigation.

The planner said that if Egypt's current share of the Nile remains the same, by 2050 the allocation per head of population will be about 400 cubic metres - well below the global water poverty index of 1,000 cubic metres. Egypt gets almost all its water from the Nile. About 85% is for agriculture and the remainder split between domestic and industrial use.

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