Egypt currently has an annual water shortfall of up to 35 billion cubic metres, leaving it with no choice but to import food, the country's irrigation and water minister Hany Sweilam told parliament on Tuesday. Its annual share of the river's water is 55.5 billion cubic metres under an agreement reached in 1959 with Sudan. Ethiopia, the source of about 80 per cent of the Nile water reaching Egypt, rejects that agreement because it was never involved or consulted. On Tuesday, Mr Sweilam said that beside Egypt's share of the Nile water, it receives another 1.3 billion cubic metres of rainfall. Plans for the reclamation of hundreds of thousands of hectares need another 8 billion cubic metres, that his ministry plans to secure through recycling, he said.

Source: Ethiopian News January 18, 2023 00:04 UTC