In a desperate attempt to save her garden, Amira used bottled water to water her flowers, but her efforts were in vain, and her garden eventually withered completely. “Seeing my garden die because of the water scarcity brought me to tears,” Amira lamented. “I am now struggling to keep my house clean.”
Amira Ayman, a housewife and mother of two, complains about the ongoing water cuts in the Mubarak 7 district of Hurghada, which have lasted up to 20 days. She has been forced to spend around EGP 300 ($6.25) daily to buy water after failing to obtain a ton of water at the price set by the governorate. Amira mentioned that her German neighbors were negatively affected by the continuous water cuts, prompting them to return to Germany. Other groups who had been staying in the El Kawther district of Hurghada have also left, and some Germans have canceled their bookings to visit Hurghada after hearing about the water shortages and the unresolved crisis.
In July, Marian Kerles, a 30-year-old housewife living in the El Kawther district of Hurghada, the administrative center of the Red Sea Governorate, noticed that the water had been cut off for four consecutive days. She initially thought it was a temporary issue, as happens every summer due to the influx of local tourists to the city and the increased pressure on water supplies. However, the water has not yet been restored.
Marian told Zawia3 that the situation has become extremely difficult as she struggles to care for her two young children, especially her infant, who developed a fever, and she had no water to soothe his pain. This situation has caused her severe psychological distress, compounded by the inability to clean her home and maintain personal and child hygiene.
“The situation is hard to describe. I am severely affected mentally by this problem, and no one seems to care,” Marian expressed.
Complaints about water cuts have been recurring over the past month in several Egyptian governorates, but the alarming issue is that the coastal city of Hurghada has been without water for nearly a month, despite its importance to the tourism sector.
Earlier last month, the Hurghada Drinking Water and Sanitation Company announced a sudden break in the Qena-Safaga water pipeline. The company attached a schedule of changing water supply times to its statement, advising residents to store water until the problem is resolved. The company continued to publish schedules for water supply times in the villages of Hurghada. On the morning of Friday, July 23, the company announced a new break in the Kureimat water pipeline, leading to a stoppage of water supply to the cities of Ras Gharib and Hurghada.
Mustafa Hammam, a 39-year-old chemical engineer living in the Al Zahabia district, one of those affected by the water cuts, said, “June 27 was the last day water reached my home, and it hasn’t returned since.”
Hammam added that “the water supply schedules published by the water company are just an attempt to appease the residents’ anger, as no actual water supply has occurred, and the outage continues, worsening the situation.”
Hammam filed a complaint with the water company, demanding a solution to the water outage and adherence to the announced supply schedules in his area. The company’s response indicated that the water pipeline is old and unable to withstand the pressure, making it prone to frequent breaks and damage.
Hammam explained that the water outage has led to a significant increase in the cost of obtaining water, with daily expenses rising to around EGP 190 ($3.96), negatively impacting the family’s budget.
The lack of response from Red Sea Governorate officials to the complaints of Hurghada residents prompted the locals to reach out to MP Abdel Moneim Imam, head of the Justice Party, to help bring the issue to the attention of the Egyptian Parliament. In turn, the MP directed the residents’ concerns to Housing Minister Sherif Al-Sherbini during a parliamentary session, questioning the reasons for the water outage in the Red Sea Governorate, particularly in Hurghada, and inquiring about the urgent measures the ministry could take to resolve this crisis, especially given the importance of the current tourist season.
Read also: Egypt Faces Worsening Water Crisis Amid Frequent Outages and Price Hikes
Parliamentary Pressure to Solve the Water Crisis
In an interview with Zawia3, Justice Party leader Abdel Moneim Imam denied receiving any response from the ministry to his previous inquiries about the water crisis in Hurghada, noting that addressing the issue may take some time due to parliamentary procedures.
Imam confirmed that he is closely monitoring the crisis with Hurghada residents, especially as the city sees an increasing influx of local and foreign tourists during this period. He added, “Egypt has spent billions of pounds on infrastructure, leading to additional national debt, yet we are still faced with problems like this. However, we hope for a swift resolution to this crisis.”
According to an official statement issued by the Holding Company for Water and Wastewater last January, the company spent approximately EGP 22 million ($458,000) to develop and improve the water network in several areas of Hurghada, including Jabal Al-Afash, behind Al-Hidaya Mosque, and Sherry, behind the Golf Hotel, behind the Sons of Sheikhia Association, and behind the Shakespeare Hotel. The goal of these projects was to improve the water supply to residents.
Official data also indicated that the infrastructure development in unsafe areas in Hurghada and Ras Gharib had cost EGP 60 million ($1.25 million), aiming to provide 60 housing units in the Jabal Al-Afash and Mujahid areas, along with about 80 housing units in Ras Gharib.
The water outage crisis in Hurghada’s villages has caused significant problems for residents, particularly those with limited incomes, who have been forced to bear unexpected additional costs exceeding their daily expenditures. Mena Nabil, a 28-year-old tour guide, and his wife were unable to cook as they usually did, forcing them to rely on ready-made meals, which increased their expenses. Water became so scarce that it was no longer available for washing dishes or cleaning the house.
The landlord of the modest apartment that Nabil rents in the Arabia district on Thalathini Street demanded EGP 3,000 ($62.50) to purchase a water tank to store water that he has to buy from vendors. Vendors raised the price of a ton of water from EGP 30 ($0.63) to EGP 300 ($6.25), and in some cases, the price reached EGP 1,000 ($20.83).
Nabil confirmed that despite the high cost, this water is not drinkable, forcing him to buy bottled water at a daily cost of EGP 150 ($3.13).
Both Egyptians and foreigners residing in Hurghada have been affected by the water crisis. An expatriate tourist named “Coco” residing in Hurghada posted a complaint on a Facebook group about the continuous water outage for a week in the Mubarak 6 district. Many resident tourists interacted with her post, with another tourist named “Karin” commenting that the water had been cut off in the Magawish district for 17 days. Some expressed their anger over the authorities’ lack of attention to solving the problem, while others complained about the rising prices of water on the black market.
Government Response
The residents’ complaints and pleas for a resolution to the water crisis reached the authorities, and on August 4, the governorate responded by setting the price of a ton of water at EGP 60 ($1.25) to alleviate the burden on residents. The governorate also explained that residents should go to the water company’s office to pay for the water, which the company would deliver to homes for an additional transportation fee.
Wael Thabet, a tour guide living in the Al-Hejaz district, confirmed that the governorate’s pricing does not guarantee transparency or prevent favoritism, noting clear manipulation in the water company’s adherence to the supply schedules. He added in his conversation with us, “I work in the tourism sector and represent my country to foreign visitors. How can I present myself appropriately while I suffer from a lack of water at home? When we file complaints with the authorities, no one responds. These people have lost their ability to take responsibility, and no one holds them accountable.”
Seawater Desalination
The Egyptian government has turned to seawater desalination to reserve Nile water for agriculture, which consumes about 80% of Egypt’s annual share of 55.5 billion cubic meters from the Nile. The government allocates 10% of this water for drinking and 10% for commercial purposes. The shift is due to the fact that the cost of establishing a conventional water purification plant is four times that of a seawater desalination plant. However, desalinated water is unsuitable for agriculture, and the cost of producing one cubic meter reaches about EGP 15,000 ($313), according to the Egyptian State Information Service.
According to a statement issued by the Drinking Water and Sanitation Company and published on the Red Sea Governorate’s official website, Hurghada is served by three seawater desalination plants. The oldest is the Qena water plant, established in 1968, producing 18,745 cubic meters daily. The Kureimat water plant in the Helwan district of South Cairo produces 68,492 cubic meters daily. Lastly, the Al-Yusr desalination plant in Hurghada produces 33,397 cubic meters daily.
Commenting on this crisis, Abbas Sharaki, a professor of water resources and African studies, explained that Hurghada’s water supply lines have become old and deteriorated, requiring regular maintenance, which increases the cost to the state. This situation has led to the spread of seawater desalination plants in the city. He added, “This is a clear administrative problem related to crisis management and finding immediate alternatives and solutions to satisfy citizens and foreign residents. The responsible authorities must clarify why they are delaying in resolving the problem, as the lack of control has led to the exploitation of the crisis, with water being sold at outrageous prices.”
Solutions to the Water Crisis in Hurghada
Mustafa Mahmoud, a geological sciences consultant, explained that Hurghada relies on two main water pipelines for drinking water. The first is the Qena-Safaga line, which extends 160 kilometers from Qena to Safaga and includes about 15 stations to lift water from the Nile to Safaga and then to Hurghada. The second is the Kureimat line, which supplies water directly to Hurghada.
Mustafa believes that even if both lines are functioning without issues, they are insufficient to meet the needs of a city expanding in residential facilities and welcoming thousands of tourists and visitors annually. He explained to Zawia3 that seawater desalination plants are not a suitable alternative, especially due to the high cost of desalination, which citizens do not prefer for drinking, and they are not sufficient to meet the city’s human consumption needs, in addition to their high fuel consumption.
The geological expert confirmed that the optimal solution for Hurghada’s drinking water crisis is to extend a branch of the Nile directly to the city, citing successful examples such as the Salam Canal, the Ibrahimia Canal, and the Great River in the New Delta. He added, “Extending a canal from Qena to Hurghada will take three years, but once completed, it will solve the water crisis and completely change the city’s future, making it not just a coastal city, but an agricultural one as well, providing hundreds of thousands of jobs for young people.”
Amid the complaints of Hurghada’s residents about the recurring water cuts and the government’s unfulfilled promises to resolve the crisis, the question remains: How will the government handle the water shortage in tourist cities that contribute to generating the foreign currency Cairo desperately needs to overcome its economic crisis?
