Only kilometres from Lake Nasser, one of the Nile’s vast reservoirs, residents of Aswan face repeated, prolonged water outages. Some neighbourhoods went more than 12 consecutive days without supply, despite complaints to the water company, local authorities, the governorate and the cabinet’s complaints system.
The original report cites 164 billion cubic metres for Lake Nasser. This is a storage-capacity figure, not a measurement of the volume held at the time of the outage.
Since the final week of December 2024, the crisis had affected thousands of households in El Mahmoudiya, New El Sadaqa and El Lotus, with severely weakened supply in El Akkad, Sadat Road and Sheikh Haroun. Repeated promises failed to end the disruption, forcing some families to stay with relatives during holidays, school examinations and the winter tourist season.
Zawia3 interviewed residents of El Mahmoudiya, New El Sadaqa, El Radwan, El Akkad, El Taawuniyat, El Khazzan Road and Sadat Road. They said water remained completely absent in several areas despite official statements that the problem had been resolved. Elsewhere, it returned for only two hours at pressure too low to meet basic needs.
Journalist Abdullah Meshali, an El Mahmoudiya resident, says a notice announced a 12-hour shutdown to connect El Lotus to the El Mahmoudiya reservoir. Supply did not return as promised.
“Thousands of households lost water, while pressure weakened in El Akkad, Sadat Road and Sheikh Haroun,” he says. Intervention by governorate and housing officials had not restored normal supply.
“Water barely reached the ground floor, and not the upper floors. It is hard to believe that thousands of families in the land of the Nile and the High Dam do not have a drop of water.” — Abdullah Meshali
Many residents left home for relatives’ houses, he says. He welcomed governor Ismail Kamal’s referral of the crisis to prosecutors to investigate possible failings by water-company officials, alongside lawyers’ complaints.
Amira Saad, from Sadat Road, says the company had announced successive shutdowns for work connecting housing in El Lotus and isolating and repairing leaks at El Mahmoudiya reservoir. Instead, supply stopped entirely without adherence to the timetable or a clear restoration date.
She says local complaint numbers went unanswered, so residents submitted cabinet complaint No. 9226568. Official accounts remained contradictory, she says, while apologies and promises did not restore water.
“We are living without water. We want this resolved and prevented from happening again,” she says.
Mohamed Saad, from El Mahmoudiya, says repeated assurances that the crisis had ended did not match conditions at his home.
His family had to buy water from mobile vehicles at high prices or purchase bottled water, whose cost increased with demand. What they obtained barely covered drinking and cooking. Washing and cleaning became almost impossible.
“We live in a daily emergency, as if we were in the desert. We want a definite date and clear measures to end this crisis and prevent it recurring.” — Mohamed Saad
Fatma Ezzat, from New El Sadaqa, says water from ground-level storage tanks appeared contaminated and unsuitable for use. This is her account, rather than the result of water testing undertaken by the investigation.
Neighbours pooled money to buy water, but the cost became a burden. Bathing and washing clothes were difficult, while the company continued to cite technical faults under repair. “We do not want promises. We want a real, quick solution,” she says.
Mostafa Abdel Razek, from El Khazzan Road, attributes the crisis to poor management, inadequate skills and alleged corruption, favouritism and bribery. His corruption allegations were not independently established in this investigation. He says the entire road had gone eight days without water.
Ahmed Abdel Mawgoud, from El Radwan, similarly points to deteriorating infrastructure, insufficient renewal funding and what he considers widespread corruption. He describes a recurring cycle of breakdowns moving between neighbourhoods.
In El Akkad, Mahmoud El Sayed says residents went more than a week without water, travelling daily to nearby areas to fill containers. He feels their anger and complaints have been ignored.
Nadia Hussein, from El Khazzan Road, says some families began relying on unsafe water because they could not obtain enough for drinking and cooking. “Our lives and health are at risk,” she says.
Why the outages keep recurring
Aswan MP Reham Abdel Nabi identifies several causes: worn-out infrastructure, insufficient routine maintenance and a lack of spare parts and equipment locally. Ordering parts from Cairo each time prolongs repair work, she says.
She also criticises the technical capacity of local management, including the acting company head, arguing that delays in resolving faults or notifying central leadership aggravate emergencies.
Abdel Nabi says the network had not been comprehensively upgraded since 2011. Population growth, including the arrival of Sudanese residents, adds demand that infrastructure planning must accommodate, she says.
She submitted an urgent network-development plan to Housing Minister Sherif El Sherbiny. According to her account, he assigned an adviser to examine it and arrange dedicated funding. Holding Company for Water and Wastewater chair Mamdouh Raslan had been in Aswan for several days overseeing the response.
Abdel Nabi says pipes and pumps had been replaced, but flow remained uneven. She attributes this to trapped air in approximately 12 kilometres of pipelines. Crews were releasing the air while supplying different neighbourhoods in rotation, often at weak pressure.
Her urgent parliamentary statement, submitted earlier in the crisis, said residents had already gone eight days without water. She requested roughly EGP 1 billion for infrastructure and a parliamentary fact-finding committee to identify causes and urgent remedies.
A complaint to prosecutors
Lawyer Mostafa El Gamal, a New El Sadaqa resident, says he was the first to complain to Aswan’s chief prosecutor about the water-company head. He describes more than ten days without supply after notices announcing rotating shutdowns for repairs and connections to El Lotus housing.
He submitted complaint No. 33, General Petitions, 2025, seeking accountability.
El Gamal says his complaint relied on provisions he identified as Articles 44 and 45 of a drinking-water regulation text. He described penalties for deliberately destroying, damaging or disabling water and wastewater facilities, aggravated punishment where service stopped, and penalties for negligent damage alongside recovery of repair costs.
The original report does not identify an enacted law number for those quoted provisions. They should therefore be read as the lawyer’s stated legal argument, not as verified legislation in force in January 2025. The subsequently enacted water and wastewater regulation law is Law No. 172 of 2025, issued later that year.
El Gamal says recurrent outages stem from deteriorating infrastructure and inadequate maintenance. With two children aged four and one and a half, he could no longer manage at home. Bottled drinking water could cost EGP 200 a day, he says, so the family temporarily moved to his father’s house.
He describes water-distribution vehicles arriving without announced schedules, leaving people, particularly women, rushing behind them to obtain small quantities. He calls the arrangement undignified and urges residents to join the complaint.
Dozens of New El Sadaqa residents protested on Friday after 12 consecutive days without water. Residents also shared a video appeal on the “Together for Aswan” Facebook page asking President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to intervene.
Speaking for residents in the video, Hani Youssef recalled a promise made during the president’s 2019 visit for the Arab and African Youth Forum. He said residents had previously sent a letter through a party in the Civil Democratic Movement concerning the ageing network.
According to Youssef, the president assigned the Armed Forces Engineering Authority to renewal work, and a subsequent prime-ministerial visit led to EGP 67 million being provided after a request from the network’s head. Youssef alleged that the promised replacement had not been completed. The investigation did not independently audit that funding or its expenditure.
How the governorate responded
Governor Ismail Kamal apologised during a visit to New El Sadaqa on the Monday preceding publication. He attributed the disruption to technical faults addressed by Holding Company crews under deputy housing minister Sayed Ismail and company chair Mamdouh Raslan.
Kamal said air pressure in the network explained different supply levels between buildings and floors, and that work was continuing to stabilise service.
At a late-December meeting with a Housing Ministry delegation headed by Sayed Ismail, the governor said coordination had produced urgent solutions and promised regular supply in affected areas within hours. He also described longer-term improvements involving the ministry, governorate and development partners.
Earlier, Kamal had ordered an investigation into the water-sector director for allegedly ignoring residents’ complaints about prolonged, unannounced interruptions. He also directed a technical committee headed by governor’s assistant Yasser Abdel Shafi to identify causes and lasting remedies.
On Thursday, January 2, 2025, Kamal referred the water-outage file to Aswan chief prosecutor Essam El Din Khalifa for investigation. A technical examination was to establish the circumstances before possible legal action against those responsible. The original article gives January 3 alongside “Thursday”; the linked contemporary report is dated January 2, which was Thursday.
Housing Minister Sherif El Sherbiny met Aswan MPs that week to review complaints from El Mahmoudiya, distinguished housing and New El Sadaqa. He said immediate action had been taken to restore pumping and that available equipment and spare parts were being provided.
The governorate also described new motors and pumps at lifting stations, consultants using equipment to measure flow in pipes, and operation of a new line connecting El Mahmoudiya reservoir to the distinguished-housing area. Officials said it would improve supply to upper floors and relieve network pressure.
For the residents interviewed, those assurances had yet to produce consistent water at home. They wanted a reliable service, a clear timetable and measures to stop the same crisis returning.
