Egypt’s Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Hani Sweilam, participated on Wednesday in the session “Harnessing Science, Technology and Innovation to Strengthen the Water, Energy and Food Nexus”, on the sidelines of the fifth Cairo Water Week.
During the session, Sweilam delivered a speech in which he pointed out that there are many challenges facing the water sector in Egypt, which is reflected in food security, especially in light of the increasing severity of water scarcity and that 97% of Egypt’s water resources come from the Nile River outside the borders.
He stressed the importance of the interdependence between water, energy and food to achieve food security and face the many challenges facing the water and food sectors in Egypt and the world while strengthening cooperation between countries under the umbrella of the “Water, Energy and Food Nexus.”
The minister pointed out that the Egyptian state had expanded during the previous years in the production of electric power in recognition of the importance of energy at the national level, which is the most important element in the field of water treatment and desalination, where the cost of energy used in desalination represents half the value of the cost of desalination.
He further added that the future will witness an expansion in the use of water desalination in food production to meet the population increase, provided that the water unit is used in an optimal manner that achieves economic feasibility, with the importance of expanding the use of modern technology and renewable energy in desalination, which will contribute to reducing costs.
Moreover, Sweilam also referred to the importance of relying on modern irrigation systems in agriculture, provided that the latest systems used globally are used, taking into account all water, environmental, economic, social and other dimensions.
