Document Type

Report

Publication Title

Proposed Climate Change Adaptation Strategy for the Ministry of Water Resources & Irrigation in Egypt

Abstract

Egypt as an arid country relying on the Nile River which provides 95% of its water resources is suffering water stress due to the limited supplies and growing population, and increased competition on water from the upper Nile basin countries. The uncertain climate change impacts on the Nile flow add another challenge for water management in Egypt. Besides, the projected high temperature would increase the local water demands especially on the agricultural sector. In addition to that, the coastal zones are severely vulnerable to the threats of sea level rise. It is the national level that the most important decisions need to be made, and adaptation strategies developed. This report presents an adaptation strategy for the water sector in Egypt under the foreseen changes affecting water resources management and climatic conditions. The report is divided into 3 main parts; the first part describes the physical setting of the country in terms of geography, population, climate profile, the Nile River, and the coastal zones. Then it presents the characteristics of the water sector in terms of resources, demands, quality, and water management including policies, strategies and constraints. The second part focuses on climate change projections and impacts on water supplies represented by the Nile flow regime, the demands from different sectors, and the coastal zones. It reviewed and discussed the Nile flow predictions and its associated uncertainty by different models and scenarios, and then defined or assumed a range for the extreme wetting and drying future predictions up to 2100. This assumption was utilized to develop two sets of future water budget trends (wetting and drying) at each of the years 2025, 2050, 2075, and 2100. These water budget trends enabled assessing the volumes of water required to balance the future shortage in water supplies under the expected demands. Consequently, we could estimate some adaptation measures in terms of timing and quantities needed from different sources (conventional and non-conventional). This also enabled assessing the vulnerability of water allocation to different sectors under both the drying and wetting scenarios.

Publication Date

1-2013

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