Water scarce in Egypt

CAIRO, July 28 (UPI) -- Water shortages are expected to grow more severe in Egypt and public frustration with the situation is growing, water engineers say.

Hundreds of people staged a sit-in on the steps of the Egyptian Irrigation Ministry this week to protest water shortages in the country.

Riad Aldamk, who leads water studies at the Cairo College of Engineering, told the United Nations' humanitarian news agency IRIN that water consumption in the country was on the rise.

He said warmer weather was in part to blame for a 17 percent increase in water consumption during the past five years. A government study, meanwhile, said available water would decline by a similar level within the next seven years.

The Egyptian study said consumers in the country are well below the global water scarcity mark in terms of their daily consumption but analysts predict a deteriorating situation.

"Water scarcity will be even worse in the future," said Aldamk.

Egyptian scientists say the agricultural sector consumes as much as 70 percent of the water in Egypt, noting that traditional irrigation methods are putting pressure on available water resources.

The Egyptian Agriculture Ministry, IRIN adds, has reduced the amount of arable land available to some farmers this year.