Why Egypt's water scarcity problem runs deeper than the Nile

No country in the Middle East is a stranger to water scarcity. But Egypt, the region’s largest, is rebranding itself as a leader of the Arab world’s fight against water stress.

Home to the world’s longest and perhaps best-known river, Egypt finds itself in a unique position to spearhead efforts to mitigate the Middle East’s water crisis amid the international community’s faltering campaign against climate change.

Yet the Nile’s challenges with environmental issues place unprecedented pressure on Egypt to show results.

From late October to early November last year, Egypt hosted Cairo Water Week, branded as “CWW.”

At the time, CWW’s organisers billed it as “​​the most outstanding water event in Egypt and the Middle East,” “a premier international forum for the discussion of water issues,” and “the first platform in the Middle East and Africa for all stakeholders to address and analyse water issues constructively” — an indicator of Egypt’s ambitions to become the face of the region’s war on water scarcity.