On the banks of the Nile, and while Aswan is marketed as the icon of Egyptian tourism and the gateway to the south, a worsening infrastructure crisis is unfolding daily that threatens the lives of residents, pollutes the environment and contradicts the governorate’s promotional image. At a time when the city receives waves of tourists to its temples and islands, streets and homes in vital areas such as Abu El-Reesh, El-Karour and El-Seil are drowning in sewage water, as a result of repeated bursts in the networks without radical solutions, and the absence of sewage networks in some villages of the governorate.
The latest of these incidents was the bursting of the sewage force main in the El-Karour area at the beginning of this January, which sent huge quantities of sewage water rushing towards residents’ homes. However, the incident cannot be viewed as an emergency or an isolated occurrence; rather, it reflects a long-running pattern of chronic deterioration in the area’s service infrastructure. In 2016, El-Karour saw the sewage line break four times within five months, flooding a number of homes, before the scene was repeated once again with the sudden bursting of the main force main in December 2017.
In July 2018, sewage water again flooded homes following the breaking of the force main of Station No. 11, while October 2024 recorded a new incident of the same line breaking, for the second time within just one week of its repair, in a clear indication of the failure of temporary fixes and the persistence of the structural defect.
The latest crisis came months after Sherif El-Sherbiny, Minister of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities, held a meeting on 29 May last year to discuss efforts to develop the sewage system in El-Karour village, including lifting station No. 11, the force main and the gravity network, with a length of 41 kilometres, in addition to modifying the station’s design, with the aim of ensuring that the line operates without breakdowns.
On 3 December last year, Kamal Abu Halawa, head of the Aswan Drinking Water and Sanitation Company, and Yasser Abdel Shafi, assistant to the Aswan governor for projects, inspected the El-Karour sewage station; however, only 17 days later, a sudden break occurred in the force main, cutting off drinking water and sewage services to several areas. Only days passed before the crisis recurred once again, during the period from 6 to 9 January this year, according to the testimonies of residents, who expressed their discontent at the recurring breakdowns and demanded radical solutions that would end the crisis at its roots.
Infrastructure and utility problems in Aswan Governorate, particularly sewage and drinking water networks, are a source of continuous suffering for residents, as the governorate sees almost daily pipe bursts, especially in the El-Seil and El-Karour areas, flooding the streets with water and severely affecting the movement of citizens.
Hoda Abdel Galil, an activist in service and charitable work in Aswan Governorate, explains that there are areas where drinking water mixes with sewage water, such as the village of Abu El-Reesh, where water pipes lie close to sewage wells, causing the two to mix and depriving residents of access to clean water fit for human use.
When bursts or torrents occur, Hoda points out, low-rise houses are directly damaged, as water floods the floors, particularly in houses built of mud or covered with roofs of corrugated metal sheeting or palm fronds, which aggravates the scale of the losses, while the foundations of houses built of brick are affected.
She adds that the water reaching homes sometimes has a strange colour tending towards yellow or red, yet residents are forced to use it for drinking, which in previous periods led to cases of poisoning and deaths, as well as some residents suffering health complications that required their admission to kidney dialysis units. She stresses that the problems have not been fully solved despite government interventions and the testing of the water, and that the damage persists to this day.
She tells Zawia3: “Water and sewage problems hinder the movement of citizens in the streets, affect students and employees, and leave serious health damage, including the spread of kidney failure, gastroenteritis and diseases of the digestive system,” calling on officials to intervene urgently to protect citizens from the consequences of the dilapidated infrastructure and to improve the quality of water and sewage services in the governorate.
Some villages in Aswan Governorate suffer a complete absence of sewage networks, most notably Abu El-Reesh Qibli and Bahari (the number of their inhabitants is estimated at around 46,000 people), where residents rely on a system of septic pits, which has caused worsening environmental and health problems. In recent months, sewage water has leaked into the streets and residential areas, according to the account of Moamen Abu El-Makarem, one of the village’s residents.
Despite the inclusion of Abu El-Reesh village among the villages targeted by the “Haya Karima” national project for the development of Egypt’s rural villages, launched by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in 2019, and the announcement that a contracting company had begun implementing, in coordination with the National Organisation for Potable Water and Sanitary Drainage, a tertiary treatment plant in the village’s El-Kassara area, on an area of five feddans and with a capacity of 25,000 cubic metres per day, residents affirm that they have not yet seen any tangible implementation work on the ground.
Moamen tells Zawia3 about a crisis afflicting the El-Shalbab area inside the village, where sewage water has flowed continuously from the septic pits in the mountainous areas towards the streets and homes, reaching as far as the railway line, over a period of around three or four months, causing widespread damage to residents. He notes that residents submitted complaints to the governorate, but the responses were limited to treating the problem as a community matter and asking them to resolve it among themselves, without any actual intervention by the executive authorities or the filing of official reports against those responsible for the crisis.
In a similar context, residents of the Gabal El-Zalat area in Kom Ombo district suffer deteriorating service conditions, amid an almost complete absence of basic utilities, as the area lacks the most basic services. There is no functioning sewage network, the sewage lifting station has not operated, and the sewage connections to homes have not been completed, leading to the spread of septic pits and stagnant water next to residential buildings, the school and the electrical transformer, which poses a permanent health and environmental danger to residents, as El-Shazly Abu El-Wafa Ahmed, one of the area’s residents, explains to Zawia3.
Ahmed points to residents’ suffering from the absence of security services and means of transport, as well as a five-a-side pitch that is not in use and a bakery that has stopped working for more than 11 months, forcing residents to go to the city of Kom Ombo to obtain bread and bear additional daily financial burdens in transport, amid an acute shortage of services. He also warns of the danger of the road leading to Gabal El-Zalat, due to an open drainage canal without protective barriers and the absence of lighting, which has resulted in repeated accidents.
El-Shazly Ahmed calls on officials to visit the Gabal El-Zalat area in person to see the scale of the suffering the residents live with, stressing that the current conditions are unworthy of their humanity and of their right to safe basic services.
Entrenched Negligence and Accusations of Corruption
Infrastructure problems in Aswan Governorate, particularly those related to drinking water and sewage utilities, are chronic problems entrenched for many years. The Secretary-General of the Misr 2000 Party in Aswan, Mohamed Kamal El-Hakem, points out that the networks have not undergone any real replacement and renewal for more than fifty to sixty years, to the point that bursts and breaks have become almost daily, even in vital areas such as the Corniche, El-Akkad Road and Airport Road, which are the roads usually prepared for official visits, as well as the working-class areas, which suffer even worse conditions. He attributes this to what he described as “the infiltration of corruption” within the Aswan Drinking Water and Sanitation Company, and the control of a particular group over the levers of management, despite some of its leading figures having been retired, with their protégés continuing in leadership positions.
He tells Zawia3: “The citizen of Aswan suffers first and foremost from sewage bursts and repeated breaks, whether in summer or winter, particularly during the seasons of rain and torrents, amid dilapidated networks and the use of old pipes, including ‘asbestos’ pipes, which are banned internationally.”
He explains that the most affected sector in the governorate is the “East District” sector, which includes the areas of El-Seil, Kima, Ezab Kima, El-Sadaka El-Gedida, El-Hakroub and El-Gezira, where the working-class and toiling population is concentrated, adding that the streets in areas such as Ezbet El-Nahda are permanently flooded with sewage water, in the absence of any radical solutions. He notes that Station No. 11, which feeds the El-Karour area, suffered two bursts in less than ten days, flooding streets and wide areas with sewage water, and indicates that dealing with breakdowns is often limited to temporary solutions, without any real change to the infrastructure.
El-Hakem believes that the company receives monthly financial support from the holding company for salaries, ranging between EGP sixteen and seventeen million, while its monthly revenues from collecting meter bills and installing lines and meters exceed EGP fifty million, meaning that total annual revenues could reach between EGP four hundred and five hundred million, without this being reflected in any improvement in the level of service or development of the infrastructure.
He speaks of what he describes as documented incidents of corruption within the company, including the case of the director of contracting and contracts, who exploited loopholes in the electronic system to actually issue several meters while registering only one meter on the system, which led to the squandering of public funds, before the oversight bodies moved to establish the violations. He stresses that one of the employees implicated in the case took his own life after the facts came to light. There was also another case involving the activation of suspended meters belonging to citizens who had travelled abroad or to units that had been closed for years, and their use to connect the service to new subscribers, which led to illegal collection, in his words. He stresses that the Administrative Control Authority intervened, those implicated were held accountable and a number of employees were dismissed.
Kom Ombo’s Villages Flooded by Groundwater
The suffering of village residents from the deterioration of the sewage network, and its absence in some areas, coincides with rising groundwater levels in villages in Kom Ombo district, north of Aswan, most notably “Fatira”, where parts of the streets were flooded and some houses cracked and collapsed after water seeped into them. What has further complicated the crisis is that the sewage network has not entered service, according to village residents who spoke to Zawia3.
As Abdel Rahman Mostafa, a resident of the village of Fatira Bahari in Kom Ombo district, Aswan Governorate, recounts, his village has suffered since 2021 from a worsening problem of rising groundwater levels, which has led to water flowing inside homes to a height of about 30 centimetres above ground level, and not only in the streets or low-lying areas, causing serious damage to residents. He points out that the crisis began a year after work under the “Haya Karima” initiative started in the village, and has continued for several years without a radical solution, despite repeated complaints and campaigns on social media to draw attention to the crisis.
He explains to Zawia3 that the problem is not limited to Fatira Bahari village alone, but extends to neighbouring villages such as El-Hagandiya and El-Kagoug, where the groundwater has caused serious structural damage, to the point that houses have actually collapsed. He adds that the executive authorities recently began, on the instructions of the Aswan governor and the head of the Kom Ombo city council, to build a well to draw off the groundwater, but this measure has not fully solved the problem, as he considers the scale of the crisis to be larger than the current partial solutions.
He stresses that the continued presence of groundwater beneath homes for more than three or four years has caused a number of houses to collapse, especially since the majority of the village’s residents are from modest families, and the dwellings vary between red-brick buildings and others of mud brick, which has increased their vulnerability to water seepage. He points out that affected residents have not received any compensation from the governorate or the relevant authorities, and that residents’ demands for the allocation of units from state housing projects to compensate those affected have so far gone unanswered.
Mostafa denies that the drinking water or sewage company has carried out any treatment to draw off the water, stressing that any official moves on the ground have been limited, and renewing his demand that affected residents be compensated and that radical, sustainable solutions be adopted to end the groundwater crisis in the area.
His account is consistent with that of El-Mohammady Ahmed, a resident of Fatira village in Kom Ombo district, regarding the worsening of the problem of rising groundwater levels, noticeably over the last five or six years, and that this coincided with the implementation of sewage works in the village, the first phase of which has been completed, including laying the pipes and building the station, but the project has not yet entered operation.
He tells Zawia3: “The groundwater does not only come out from underground; it creeps across the surface of the ground and floods streets and homes. A number of houses have been completely flooded, causing serious damage to residents, [and] the collapse of a number of homes inside the village.”
But he explains that over the past two weeks the governorate sent technical teams that began drilling an exploratory well to try to determine the source of the water, whether it results from seepage from underground or from surface sources, noting that the water is still currently being drawn off using suction trucks and transported outside the village, without this leading to a radical solution to the crisis, and expressing his hope for urgent intervention to end residents’ suffering and prevent the losses from worsening.
A Lack of Financial Capacity and Resources
For her part, MP Reham Abdel Nabi, a member of the House of Representatives for the Egyptian Social Democratic Party for the governorates of southern Upper Egypt, affirms that Aswan Governorate suffers from severe deterioration in its infrastructure, especially regarding sewage and water networks. She explains that although the “Haya Karima” initiative has implemented a number of important service projects, such as schools, service complexes and youth centres, the main goal on which citizens had pinned their hopes, namely sewage projects, has not yet been completed, pointing out that most of the initiative’s sewage projects have not yet entered operation, despite the announcement more than a year ago that implementation rates had exceeded 90%.
She tells Zawia3: “The delay in operating the sewage projects represents a real crisis, especially since the initiative began about six years ago, and its first phase was supposed to be completed within only three years. The continuation of this situation raises questions about the efficiency of implementation and the quality of the projects.”
The MP criticises the repeated breaks and bursts of water and sewage lines in a number of areas of Aswan, explaining that many of these lines were installed only two or three years ago, which reflects, in her words, the existence of corruption and poor implementation, whether on the part of some contractors who use materials that do not conform to specifications, or of some officials responsible for handover who pass the works without adherence to technical standards.
She adds: “Some areas, such as ‘Abu El-Reesh Bahari’ and ‘Abu El-Reesh Qibli’, are still deprived of sewage networks even though they lie in the heart of the city of Aswan, and they rely entirely on ‘septic pits’, which overflow with sewage water and flood the streets and homes. I have personally intervened more than once to provide suction trucks to remove the water, given the limited number of these trucks in the governorate.”
She notes that Aswan’s geography represents an additional challenge, given the diversity of the soil, which is rocky, sandy and clay, and the wide distances between villages and districts, which often leads to contractors faltering or ceasing to complete projects, without effective mechanisms to compel them to carry out the work.
Regarding the groundwater crisis in some villages of Kom Ombo district, such as Fatira village and El-Kagoug village, the MP affirms that the problem is the result of a long accumulation of negligence and mismanagement, and that it did not arise overnight, stressing that the absence of follow-up and early intervention by the executive authorities led to the crisis worsening to the point where some homes collapsed.
Regarding residents’ demands for alternative housing for those affected, Abdel Nabi affirms that the governorate suffers from a severe weakness in financial capacity and in the resources needed to deal with the scale of the existing problems, while MPs are pressing to secure financial allocations from the relevant ministries and bodies. She stresses that Aswan has major tourism, agricultural, therapeutic and industrial assets, and deserves better service conditions, and that confronting these crises requires sincerity in public work and placing the public interest above any personal interests, so that the governorate can overcome the accumulated challenges.
Technical Observations Hold Up the Force Main
Responding to residents’ complaints, a responsible source in the media department of the Aswan Drinking Water and Sanitation Company attributed the repeated bursts of sewage lines in El-Karour village to the nature of the force main of lifting station No. 11, confirming that it does indeed suffer repeated bursts, but that it has not yet been officially handed over to the company and remains in the custody of the company implementing the project. Nevertheless, despite not having officially received the line, the company intervenes whenever any break occurs, through the force main maintenance department and in coordination with the implementing company, to carry out the necessary repairs urgently, in order to minimise the damage to citizens.
The source reveals to Zawia3 that the construction of the force main in question dates back nearly ten years, noting that there are technical observations related to the implementation and the operating pressures, which have so far prevented the company from taking over the project.
Regarding the Abu El-Reesh area, the source affirms that it is not served by a sewage network at all and relies on residents’ private septic pits, which places it outside the scope of the company’s direct technical operation, explaining that plans to bring sewage to those areas fall within the competence of the governorate and of the National Organisation for Potable Water and Sanitary Drainage as the implementing body.
As for the El-Seil area, the source explains that it is a densely populated area that suffers from abundant groundwater, as officially established, noting that the company’s maintenance teams intervene immediately whenever any break or burst occurs in the water or sewage lines, to repair the faults and replace the damaged parts. Regarding areas such as Fatira Bahari in Kom Ombo district, he indicates that sewage is in the process of being brought to them, and that the groundwater problem falls within the competence of the Groundwater Sector at the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, noting that the company’s intervention in pumping out water takes place within the framework of social responsibility only, and not as an official competence.
Regarding the “Haya Karima” initiative, the company’s media official affirms that the National Organisation for Potable Water and Sanitary Drainage is the body implementing sewage projects within the initiative, while the role of the Drinking Water and Sanitation Company is limited to operation and maintenance after official handover, noting that the company has not yet taken over the vast majority of the project, but that it intervenes in all cases to address any defect or emergency breakdown, whether in areas covered by the initiative or elsewhere, with the aim of limiting damage and ensuring the continued provision of the service to citizens, in his words.
For his part, a responsible source in Aswan Governorate, who preferred not to be named, tells Zawia3 that the sewage crisis in the El-Karour area has been ongoing since 2004 and has seen repeated promises to build a sewage station without actual implementation. The governorate has recently obtained approvals to build a new station, but the rocky nature of the soil in Aswan makes implementing sewage projects more complex and costly, and requires long periods, which may reach two years, to build and operate the stations.
The official notes that part of the old sewage networks was implemented using methods unsuited to the nature of the land, which led to technical defects in the gradients, reflected in repeated blockages and pipe bursts, stressing that the governorate is currently working according to an organised methodology to address these problems gradually, without announcing projects before their completion.
However, he attributes some breakdowns of the sewage networks to wrong practices by some residents, such as throwing solid and concrete waste into the lines, which leads to complete blockages that sometimes require the lines to be replaced entirely at high cost, and he holds residents responsible for not emptying their septic pits regularly, especially in relatively elevated areas, which leads to the water leaking and flowing down to lower-lying areas and damaging their neighbours.
Regarding the “Haya Karima” initiative, the source says that the first phase of the initiative is nearing completion in Aswan Governorate, which is, in his words, the only governorate that has three districts included in the initiative, noting that some areas are nominated for inclusion in the second phase, according to the approved plan. He adds that the coverage rates of drinking water services nationwide are high compared with sewage services, noting that the initiative has contributed to improving these rates.
Regarding groundwater, the source stresses that Aswan Governorate naturally suffers from high groundwater levels due to its proximity to the River Nile, noting that dealing with this problem is a challenge linked to natural factors and cannot be eliminated completely; rather, its effects are reduced through solutions such as digging wells to collect the water, which are costly solutions that require large resources.
The source acknowledges that there are risks to some old buildings, especially those built of mud, due to the continued flow of water beneath them for long periods, but he stresses that this does not apply to all buildings, affirming at the same time that residents have the right to complain, even if some complaints, as he described them, do not reflect the full picture of the technical causes of the problem.
Ultimately, the infrastructure crisis in Aswan reveals a deep gap between the official discourse and the daily reality that residents live, and between the image of a city presented as a global tourist showcase and the lives of citizens besieged by sewage water, polluted water and health risks inside their homes and streets. The chronic recurrence of breakdowns, the delay in operating projects that have been implemented and the passing of responsibility between the various bodies are all factors that keep the crisis suspended without resolution, and turn solutions into temporary measures that do not touch the roots of the problem.
And while the breakdowns are sometimes attributed to geography or to the behaviour of some residents, the truth remains that years of negligence, weak planning, and the absence of oversight and accountability have drained the utility networks of their capacity to withstand, and have thrown the health and economic consequences onto the most vulnerable groups. In a governorate with such tourist, human and strategic weight, the sewage and water crisis does not appear to be merely a service malfunction, but a real test of the state’s seriousness in achieving spatial justice and in linking development to a sense of security and human dignity.
The question remains open: how long will Aswan remain hostage to postponed promises and incomplete projects, while its residents demand radical solutions that guarantee their right to a clean environment, safe services and a life worthy of a city presented to the world as the jewel of the south?
Editorial correction: The first version of the report stated that the station’s capacity is 10.5 cubic metres per day; the correct figure is 25,000 cubic metres per day, according to Ministry of Housing data on the sewage project in Abu El-Reesh.
