Sobering arguments

---

"It is because of the annual inundation of the Nile that Egypt was capable of withstanding thousands of years of bad governance. [Egypt] could live in spite of these dreadful governments because every year new silt covered the land," said former head of the Egyptian Geological and Survey Authority and renowned geologist Rushdi Said at the American University in Cairo (AUC) this week. Said's lecture was entitled "The Nile: its uses and future".

Once the Aswan High Dam was built, the Nile stopped inundating Egypt. The much-debated dam has resulted in a bag of mixed consequences: on the one hand, it saved the country from a fluctuating water supply, thus moving it along the way to modernity; on the other hand, explained Said, it limited the supply of water that comes into the country. "The water is now clear, as silt can't pass the barrier of the dam. This kind of water can eat away at the banks of the Nile, and hence water supply must be controlled. That is why those who say we are going to extend water from the Nile to Libya or Israel... understand nothing of geology. Any talk of expanding our quota is also misleading," he said.

Conservation plans, increased diplomatic efforts with Nile Basin countries, and Toshka have all been government responses to an increasing awareness that we are a country with potential water woes. According to Said, however, the real question is whether or not we can live on 55 million cubic metres of water a year -- Egypt's current Nile water quota. "The answer is in streamlining water use," Said said. "Eighty per cent of our water is utilised in agriculture, and most of our land is irrigated by traditional methods developed over decades." A big part of the solution, therefore, is moving people, and industry, away from the Nile Valley and into the desert. Another key is adopting better waterway management techniques.

Although Said's presentation was moving, logical and detailed, it sounded like a call in the wilderness. After all, it was held in the same week that Housing Minister Ibrahim Suleiman was arguing vehemently in favour of a project to expand a section of the Cairo Corniche by extending the busy road into the Nile. In statements made to a parliamentary committee this week, Suleiman defended the project, saying it was now accepted globally that waterways within cities should be controlled. And in an interview earlier this week with a local daily, the minister also made it clear that his position was to go ahead with the project in spite of the numerous arguments against the plan voiced by specialists and other officials.

"Many people have asked me to comment on the Corniche expansion project as an 'expert'. But I say the issue does not require the opinion of an 'expert'. Just ask anyone on the street whether it is right to make such an incursion on the Nile, and they will tell you it is wrong," Said said.

He went on to point out that irrespective of the damage to the Nile, the project was directly related to crucial Cairo planning issues. "Is it acceptable that the Corniche be converted into a main highway of Cairo?" asked Said. "The answer is easy: of course not. Highways should be constructed on the outskirts of the city, such as in the case of the Ring Road. The Corniche is a beautiful place, and its integrity should be respected."

In Said's view, Cairo should be left as is, in an effort to push people out towards the satellite cities. "The clever policy is to create viable satellite cities and connect them well with Cairo, not to build fly-overs and bridges, which are only short-term solutions, and are soon overflowing with the growth of the city," he said.

Any developments within Cairo will only draw more people in, Said said. "Take, for example, the underground. Now the agricultural area of Al-Marg has been transformed [into] a shanty housing area; people obviously moved in to live next to the metro."

The same dynamic, Said said, is part of expanding the Corniche at the expense of the Nile. "It is wrong to have built three large hotels on such a small piece of land, and on a 12-metre [wide] road. Of course when you do that, there is going to be a traffic problem."

In any case, Said reminded his audience, the debate is not just about any body of water. "The River Nile is the most important geological phenomenon [in] Egypt. Without it, Egypt would not be what it is today; instead it would be a part of the desert." If that's not a resource worth respecting, what is?