Approximately three out of ten people do not have access to safe drinking water in their households. Nearly Three billion people lack elementary handwashing facilities (World Health Organization (WHO)). About 6 out of 10 people lack access to appropriate sanitation, which leads to diseases and hampering growth. Egypt is 97% desert and relies heavily on the river Nile, which supplies over 55 billion m3 of water to Egypt annually. Only 4% of Egypt’s land is suitable for agriculture, and about 5% of the land area is occupied, leading to population density in some regions around upper Egypt where the Nile water is of better quality than in the south of the greater Cairo, this leads to lack of clean water sources hence people getting contaminated water from narrow river channels (Arnous, Ahmed, and David, p.492). Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 6 ensures access to water and sanitation for all. This essay discusses how water scarcity affects the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in Egypt, especially concerning poverty, health, food, security, sustainable livelihoods, and gender, and how Egypt can tackle these issues.

Water scarcity is bound to hinder the end of poverty in Egypt. The Egyptian agricultural sector accounts for close to 11 per cent of the country’s GDP and employs around a quarter of the population. It also supports the income of approximately a quarter more, generally affecting about half of the people. If the water shortage continues, an increasing number of people will continue losing their jobs and struggle to make ends meet as a direct result of the agricultural sector due to a lack of enough water for irrigation or farming. It may increase poverty, hindering Egypt’s goal of realizing SDG 1, which aims for zero poverty.

Sustainable Development Goal 3 requires a country to ensure healthy lives and promote the well-being of each person. With water Scarcity, problems such as poor sanitation arise, leading to poor hygienic conditions and hence the prevalence of infectious diseases, generally impacting the health of many Egyptians (Larsen). People from Areas around upper Egypt get their water from narrow channels of the river Nile, which is primarily contaminated. The agricultural wastewater carrying residuals from pesticides and chemical fertilizers is dumped back to the Nile, further degrading the water, which finds its way to people’s homes, leading to health issues, and the vicious cycle continues.

Egypt Imports about 40% of its food consumption in financial terms, making it one of the most food import reliant countries globally (Abdelkader, et al p.487). Additionally, this has worsened due to the declining water availability for farming and irrigation, increasing Egypt’s food security risk. Egypt constantly imports corn and wheat, signifying its inability to meet its basic food needs domestically. Lack of enough agricultural land also plays a role in increased food insecurity due to increased water shortage and less land for irrigation. Global price shocks to imported crops create server shortages in Egypt, increasing food prices and denying the population the ability to buy, leading to hunger, hindering SDG number 2.

Water shortage limits economic opportunities, destroy natural ecosystems, leads to loss of treasured ecosystem, and negatively impacts subsistence uses like loss of local fisheries and drinking of water, having dire consequences on the livelihoods of most. It is also evident that the availability or scarcity of water is related to jobs through its influence on economic growth; this is evident in Egypt, especially when we look at the agriculture or fishing industries and how reducing water drastically affects the economy in general.

Women and girls are affected by lack of water and sanitation the most (Kayser, et al., p. 438). Women are mostly exposed to pathogens and toxins when they reuse wastewater to grow food, which is common in areas where the water is contaminated and is more at risk of diseases (Yigezu, et al, 249). Women also wash utensils and clothes at the canal to save time, further contaminating the water or coming in contact with the contaminated water, leading to further hygiene problems. Women are mostly left at home to care for children, making them more prone to access contaminated water from the river, affecting their livelihood. Through this, water scarcity plays a significant role in gender inequality, hindering the achievement of the SDG on gender equality.

The government should fix leaks and switch from surface to drip irrigation techniques to save vast amounts of water. The government can also put up with laws and regulations on dumping harmful waste into the river, reducing the amount of contaminated water in use, hence improving most health conditions. They can also come up with alternative sources of income to reduce the number of people who live in extreme poverty due to a lack of sources of revenue. The government can also teach people the importance of purifying and storing water to avoid misuse. The government should also ensure or work towards equal distribution of water resources. Egypt can develop water resources by desalinizing Mediterranean and Red Sea water. Egypt has to look for new water sources because it relies heavily on the Nile, whose water supply has been affected over the years by Sudan’s building of dams that take up much of the water supposed to find its way to Egypt.

In conclusion, the Egypt water scarcity crisis affects the implementation of the SDG’s affecting areas such as poverty, health, food security, sustainable livelihoods, and gender, but the war is not yet lost. The Egyptian Government can develop different models of reducing water scarcity, like fixing water leakages on irrigation plants and pipes creating alternative sources of income. They can also educate people on the importance of storing and taking purified water, avoiding dumping waste into the lake and desalinating Mediterranean and Red Sea water. Egypt must also look for alternative water sources besides the Nile River. Finally, solving the water scarcity problem enables them to realize most Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).           

Work Cited

World Health Organization (WHO). “1 in 3 people globally do not have access to safe drinking water.” (2020)

Arnous, Mohamed O., Ahmed E. El-Rayes, and David R. Green. “Hydrosalinity and environmental land degradation assessment of the East Nile Delta region, Egypt.” Journal of Coastal Conservation 19.4 (2015): 491-513.

Larsen, Bjorn. “Arab Republic of Egypt-Cost of Environmental Degradation.” (2019).

Abdelkader, A., et al. “National water, food, and trade modeling framework: The case of Egypt.” Science of the total environment 639 (2018): 485-496.

Yigezu, Yigezu A., et al. “Socioeconomic, biophysical, and environmental impacts of raised beds in irrigated wheat: A case study from Egypt.” Agricultural Water Management 249 (2021): 106802.

Kayser, Georgia L., et al. “Water, sanitation and hygiene: measuring gender equality and empowerment.” Bulletin of the World Health Organization 97.6 (2019): 438.