ANNUAL WORK PLAN YEAR 1

2.1. CRITICAL CHALLENGES AND CONSTRAINTS FACING
WATER SECTOR MANAGERS
Much progress has been made in developing capacity in the water sector and decentralizing
integrated water resources management. The GOE has taken an important step in addressing the
major challenges to water sector management it faces with the adoption of the National Water
Resources Plan, covering both supply-side and demand-side actions through 2017. But Egypt’s
capacity to address its “looming water crisis” is still limited. Major challenges confronting water
sector managers include:
• Managing inter-sectoral allocation of scarce water as industrial, domestic, and agricultural
requirements increase
• Maintaining or improving water supply infrastructure to minimize water production and
distribution losses and meet water quality requirements
• Addressing growing water quality and rural sanitation problems that are critical both from
the perspectives of public health, and utilizing water efficiently
• Increasing supply through reuse of treated municipal wastewater and agricultural drainage—a
key consideration in expanding supply will be to ensure that water available for reuse satisfies
quality standards and can be supplied as necessary to encourage reuse
• Better management of farm-level demand for water to encourage farmers to use this
increasingly scarce resource more efficiently
• Replicating IWRM I success in targeting water to agricultural users so that it is available
when and where needed, and in the quantities required
• Adopting integrated approaches for management of water resources, including conjunctive
use of groundwater and surface water, and well-formulated strategies for use of wastewater
• Mobilizing public and private financial resources for new investments, and for operating and
maintaining existing water and wastewater infrastructure.
Major constraints to be addressed in the course of IWRM II implementation include:
• Limited understanding of the concept of integrated management of water resources, coupled
with an organizational arrangement within MWRI that is not conducive to holistic
management. The Institutional Reform Unit (IRU) report, Forming Regional Water Management
Organizations, observes:
“…the Ministry [MWRI] manages and maintains the water system
infrastructure and provides water and drainage services to the water users
through at least nine administrative units…Each unit has its own priorities,
way of doing business, perspective, authority, manpower, and
equipment…[resulting in, among other things] conflicting decisions…lack of
coordination…[and] poor efficiency in water resources management and
distribution.” (page 7)
• Limited acceptance in some quarters of MWRI of the utility of decentralized management
and private sector, including users, participation in water resource management—this despite
the demonstrated success of IWRM I.
• Insufficient coordination between MWRI and MALR. While collaboration between the two
entities has improved, and both Ministers seem committed to working together, more work
remains to be done to align the priorities and efforts of these two key organizations.
• Limited capacity of BCWUAs to undertake maintenance, rehabilitation, and improvement
works due to constraints on their authority to raise funds.
• Limited capacity outside of the geographic areas served by IWRM I to utilize tools for
information-based management that, under that project, proved instrumental in improving
Annual Work Plan Year 1(January–December 2009) 3