Water Supply and Sanitation in Egypt - Water Use and Hygiene Behavior

Water Use and Hygiene Behavior

At the national level, total domestic water use in Egypt is estimated at about 5.5 billion m³ per year or 8% of total water use. This corresponds to an average of about 200 liter per capita per day (l/c/d), or almost twice as much as in Germany. However, actual domestic water use is lower because of network losses, and furthermore it varies considerably between different localities in Egypt. For example, the installed drinking water supply capacity ranges from 70 l/c/d in Upper Egypt to 330 l/c/d in Cairo. Water consumption in Alexandria is about 300 l/c/d.

At the local level, a study on water and sanitation in two villages in the Nile Delta conducted in the late 1980s provides some insights into water use and hygiene behavior in rural areas at the time. The inhabitants had access to three water sources: piped water from household connections or public standpipes; shallow wells with handpumps; and canal water. Canals were used by many women for laundry and washing domestic utensils, and for cleaning vegetables and grain. Women preferred canal water to groundwater because canal water was softer and was not brackish. The surroundings of standpipes were dirty and the residents did not feel responsible to maintain them, seeing this as a responsibility of the government. Shallow wells were contaminated. There was no sewerage and no system to dispose greywater. Household latrines were used primarily by women. Men used sanitary facilities at mosques or defecated in canals. Children defecated openly in the streets or fields. Emptying of latrines was done by donkey carts or trucks which empty their load into canals. As a result of conditions like these infant mortality remained high despite the government's provision of water through standpipes. More recent survey data show that hygiene behavior has improved since then at the national level: The rate of open defecation in rural areas declined from 17% in 1990 to less than 1% in 2005. While provision of water supply alone had only a limited impact on child mortality, subsequent improvements in sanitation and hygiene behavior contributed to significantly reduce child mortality from 90/1000 births in 1990 to 23 in 2008.