Irrigation officials in Egypt announced that the country has developed a plan to secure its water needs until 2050, in statements that come two days after a session held by the UN Security Council to consider the dispute between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Undersecretary of the Egyptian Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources, Ragab Abdel-Azim, said that “a plan has been devised to secure Egypt’s water needs until 2050.”He pointed out that Egypt has been working since 2017 to solve water deficit issues, and has implemented strategies such as building 100 agricultural wastewater treatment plants and limiting water-hungry crops such as rice and sugar cane. Abdel-Azim’s statements came during an open dialogue on ways to manage Egypt’s resources in light of water challenges, which took place on Saturday under the Supreme Council for Media Regulation. Ethiopia officially informed Egypt on July 5 that it had started the second filling of GERD reservoir, a move that was unilaterally rejected by Egypt. The Renaissance Dam is the largest hydroelectric project in Africa, with a cost of more than US$4 billion.
