Water Supply and Sanitation in Egypt

Water Supply And Sanitation In Egypt

This article covers drinking water supply and sanitation in Egypt. For questions related to the water balance, water pollution, irrigation, flood control or trans-boundary water issues please see Water resources management in modern Egypt.

This article has last been substantially updated in October 2012.

Drinking water supply and sanitation in Egypt is characterized by both achievements and challenges. Among the achievements are an increase of piped water supply between 1990 and 2010 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. Access to an improved water source in Egypt is now practically universal with a rate of 99%. On the institutional side, the regulation and service provision have been separated to some extent 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.

However, many challenges remain. Only about one half of the population is connected to sanitary sewers. Partly because of low sanitation coverage about 17,000 children die each year because of diarrhea. 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. 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.