Irrigation: Water Resources, Types and Common Problems in Egypt

Water is the most essential substance for human being and living organisms. Water scarcity in Africa is mainly economic due to the poor management of water resources. The Nile River is the major source of water for different applications, i.e., drinking, industries and agriculture in Egypt; therefore, the development of water resources is inferior, especially under the excessive growth of population. Furthermore, agricultural activities in Egypt consume more than 80% of the available quantity of The Nile water; hence, potential scarcity in water is expected to occur in Egypt; especially, there is a critical argument due to the buildup of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). It is worth mentioning that using the classical irrigation system lead to lose vast amounts of available water. Therefore, attention should be paid to overcome the drought problems of one-third of agricultural soils due to the GERD, which might lead to change in the demographical map in Egypt. Also, efforts should be established to urge the Egyptian farmers to shift their surface irrigation system, which is the common irrigation technology to more advanced technologies, i.e., drip or sprinkler irrigation systems. However, to ensure the success of advanced irrigation systems, the quality of water resources should be taken into consideration. Despite nonconventional water resources are not adequate to compensate for the potential reduction of The Nile water; however, there is an actual need to develop these resources in Egypt.