Egypt deals with water uprising
Thousands of Egyptians suffer from serious water supply problems in recent weeks, leading to mass protests and angry editorials. Thirst, diseases, sharp rise in water prices and recommendation to 'complain to the president and God' only increase poor people and villagers' rage
Large parts of Cairo and many villages across the country have been disconnected from water supplies, while the temperatures outside continues to rise. The reasons for this situation are varied, some are known (collapsing infrastructure), but the results may spark a struggle over water in Cairo and other areas.
Some 4,000 angry residents from a village in the al-Gharbia district in northern Egypt demonstrated about two weeks ago outside the offices of the "local unit for village affairs", in protest of not receiving water supplies for more than two years. The protestors also sent letters to the district governor and the prime minister calling for help.
This is not the only incident. At the same time, some 250 peasants from a village in the Belkas district were engaged in three-day protests after the supply of irrigation water to their lands was halted. In a country where demonstrations against the government are relatively rare, this is not a trivial thing.
At the beginning of July, water supplies to one of the neighborhoods in Cairo's Manshiet Nasser quarter were cut off for a week. Another district, el-Shrouk, has been suffering from irregular water supplies for two months. The situation was so difficult that some residents were forced to buy water or even to move after realizing the situation was not about to improve.
Several residents told the al-Masry al-Youm newspaper that they complained to the police about the situation, but to no avail.
According to rumors spread in Cairo, a local businessman had bribed senior Egyptian officials so that they would direct the water slated to reach the el-Shrouk quarter to a nearby residential project he was building. The story may not be true, but it did contribute to the increasing anger among the residents.
"I have not been going to work for three days because there is no water," Mahmoud Hassan, a resident of the Manshiet Nasser quarter told an al-Masry al-Yom reporter at the beginning of the month.
"I am forced to buy 10 bottles of mineral water a day, so that none of children dies from thirst. Unfortunately, the grocery store owners take advantage of the situation and raise the prices by half a pound. In addition, our children are suffering from skin diseases because they cannot wash themselves," he said.
"This is not the first time they stop supplying water to this area. Last summer they stopped the water, we called them and they sent us fire truck to fill our water from. If we were in another country where there was no water for a week, they would fire the minister," he added.
'Go complain to Mubarak and God'
The residents are furious. One of the problems is that they believe the municipality workers are ridiculing them.
"I called the police and the water authority hundreds of times. I filed a complaint against the person responsible for the water in the neighborhood and against the head of the local committee. Each time I called I did not receive a convincing answer.
"The last time they told me, 'You have a president – complain to him.' Another clerk told us, 'The Nile is dry – go complain to God,'" said the Mukhtar Muhammad, a neighborhood resident.
"They are transferring the water to the villas of the businesspeople, so that they can fill up their private swimming polls. We are ready to use that water after they empty their pools in order to slake our children's thirst, "said Hiba Mustafa.
Her neighbor, Amina Hassan, was forced to leave her two-month-old son home alone in order to go look for water. "I couldn't find another solution. I have already given up on the government workers who are not doing anything and keep saying that there will be water in 15 minutes."
Several days later, the water issue slowly poured into Egyptian newspapers' editorials.
"For years Aida, the woman who arrived at our home to help me, has been complaining that there is a water shortage in her neighborhood. She and her neighbors go and fill water every day and come back, because men view it as a woman's errand, although it requires power and muscles," wrote Rula Harsa in an articles titled 'Poor's thirst' about a week and a half ago.
In the article, which was published in the al-Masry al-Yom newspaper, she slammed her country and its government workers.
"In the past few days we have witnessed the demonstrations of residents due to the water shortage. It appears that these protests have helped expose the fact that there is not enough water in more than 52% of Egypt's villages, but that their situation is better than the 240 villages where there is no running water at all.
"Why doesn't the housing minister force those who want to build tourism projects to also connect a certain village to a water pipe or build houses for the poor in exchange?" she wrote.
No money, no infrastructure
The water shortage in Egypt is a well-known seasonal problem. Cairo, which suffers from poor infrastructure, sees water supply problems every summer. One of the problems is that Egyptian residents hardly pay for water, due to the perception that "the water belongs to everyone. Therefore, there is no money to maintain the infrastructure.
When there is no water, even in Cairo's wealthy neighborhoods, the poor are the first to suffer. The rich can afford to spend one pound on a bottle of mineral water and can handle a cold shower from several bottles on days with no water.
Dr Maghawry Diab, head of the Arab organization for drinking water and an international expert on water, admitted last Monday that in Egypt "there is corruption and injustice in the distribution of water.
In an interview with al-Masry al-Yom, he said, "The truth is that there is injustice in the distribution of drinking water due to corruption or activity favoring the construction of new projects. This increases the pressure on pumping stations like in Manshiet Nasser."
Dr Diab also pointed to a direct link between the pollution in some water sources and liver and kidney diseases common in a number of places. The expert also warned of a struggle over water between residents of the villages and residents of the big cities' suburbs, and the rich people living in luxury projects.
Another issue which was widely discussed by the press last week was the fact that the Egyptian government went on a break without finding a real solution for the problem.
Egyptian Housing Minister Ahmed al-Mughrabi, who had been widely criticized, tried to defend himself by announcing that following an emergency meeting, the government had decided to allot about a billion Egyptian pounds (about 161.5 million) as emergency aid in a bid to solve the issue.
"The five-year plan we launched last year allotted 17 billion pounds for this issue," he said, adding that "there is not one country in the world which provides drinking water to 100% of its residents."
