Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly chaired a meeting of the National Water Council to follow up on programmes for improving water management and maximising the use of available resources to meet national needs and support Egypt’s sustainable development goals.
Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Hani Swailem presented progress on decisions from the previous council meeting, including a timeline for updating the National Water Resources Plan 2050. The council approved the national framework for water resource allocation, designed to strengthen sustainable management and resilience, and endorsed the executive manual for responding to pollution incidents in the Nile and waterways.
Swailem explained that the manual covers three phases: preparedness through awareness, training and monitoring; incident response with rapid containment, environmental assessment and accurate communication; and post-incident recovery through rehabilitation and evaluation.
Minister of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities Randa El-Menshawy reviewed current and future sea-water desalination projects, stressing partnerships with international firms to expand production in coastal and new urban areas, while promoting local manufacturing of desalination components to boost industrial localisation.
Minister of Health and Population Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar outlined the ministry’s efforts to ensure the safety and quality of drinking water produced by purification plants, confirming compliance with international standards.
