Problem areas
Inequity of water distribution at branch canal and mesqa levels
The essentially unplanned evolution of diesel-driven pumps at the mesqa level, combined with other factors, such as changes in cropping patterns (especially the increased area of rice) and physical deterioration of the system, has led to problems of water distribution, in particular, the inequity between head and tail areas along branch canals. The ability of head-end farmers to abstract water preferentially at the start of the rotation "on" period means that at times of peak demand tail-end farmers may initially receive little or no water, restricting their irrigations in terms of timing if not of quantity. As an assurance against the uncertainties of the rotation system, head-end farmers may carry out a "top-up" irrigation at the end of the "on" period, again reducing water availability to tail-end farmers.
Similarly, there may be inequity between head and tail-end farmers along a mesqa (especially long mesqas), although tail problems on mesqas are often simply a reflection of low water levels in the branch canal, meaning there is insufficient depth of flow at the head of the mesqa to convey the required discharge to the end.
The problem may be attributed to a number of negative effects on the production of irrigated crops including delayed crop establishment, reduced crop development and yields as well as frequent crop failure. This, in combination with insufficient availability of and access to water resources (shortage of water supplies) at the level of branch and mesqa canals, has led to frustration and a loss of smallholders' farm income. Problems are largely created by the inconvenient rotation system and uncoordinated operation of individual diesel pumps that have a pumping capacity ten times greater than traditional animal-driven sakias. In most unimproved places, pumping is carried out during the day. A poor understanding of the irrigation requirements of their crops and the unreliability and insufficiency of the water supply has led farmers along mesqas to pump as much as they can afford during daytime, despite the fact that water services to tail-end users may be unsatisfied. Night irrigation from mesqas is less frequently seen, and substantial water spillages into drains can be observed at night when water levels inside mesqas rise above ground level.
There has been a gradual evolution from a system that operates under a rigid set of controls, sakiabased, to one that has little operational control and a considerable degree of autonomy and flexibility for individual pumping. The diesel pump-based system has created top to tail inequities where farmers adopt a coping strategy involving the reuse of water from open drains, even if the drainage water is saline. The increasing prevalence of this practice may reflect better water availability and the greater convenience of irrigating from drains. Farmers recognize the problems related to use of poor quality drain water. Presumably, they consider that in their particular circumstances these problems are outweighed by the benefits. However, the main concern must be the negative effects on the long-term sustainability of irrigation because of the build-up in the soil of salinity/sodicity and of other pollutants such as heavy metals.
Weakness of central planning system for water needs and supplies
The Mahmoudia canal, as part of the main system fed from Aswan, operates essentially under a system of upstream control, receiving a seasonally varied supply, which is centrally determined by the Irrigation Sector in accordance with the expected cropping pattern. Control of discharges in the Mahmoudia canal occurs at the main head regulators and at cross regulators located at the boundaries between irrigation directorates. The regulators are mostly equipped with lifting gates. The method of operation emphasizes regulation to achieve specified levels downstream of the regulators (as a proxy for discharge) rather than to maintain particular upstream water levels.
Branch canal head regulators are generally equipped with lifting gates and regulation of flow is achieved by adjusting gates to maintain target downstream water levels. These target levels vary seasonally and serve as an indirect means of controlling discharges. In practice, and in the absence of an explicit measurement of discharge, they are largely determined based on the accumulated experience of the responsible district engineers and the gate operators who exercise a certain amount of flexibility in arranging water deliveries to individual branch canals.
To summarize, the system is managed by the Irrigation Sector on a top-down basis, with each directorate or district receiving a centrally determined allocation that must be distributed equitably between the different delivery points, the delivery point being the lowest point in the system at which water distribution is managed directly by the Irrigation Sector. Below the delivery point, which is the head of the mesqa, water distribution depends on the actions of the farmers. Indeed, operation is very difficult and unpredictable even for experienced operators.
Inadequate supply of rotational distribution system
Adequacy is a measure of the required amount of water required for optimum crop growth. It can be expressed in terms of farmers' dependency on canal/drainage water for their irrigation.
Operation of the traditional irrigation system is based on rotational water deliveries to individual branch canals. The main feeder canals flow continuously and the offtaking branch canal head regulators are opened according to a rotation schedule, consisting of a three-turn rotation or 5 days on/10 days off in winter and a two-turn rotation or 5 days on/5 days off in summer.
This type of distribution system lacks the rigidity to maintain sufficient supply at branch canals to meet potential demand. This is particularly true in rice areas and during peak summer months and because of the pumping nature of the system. Head-end farmers have a considerable degree of autonomy and flexibility to abstract more water at the start of the rotation period. In this way, they may restrict tail-end farmers' irrigation in terms of timing and quantity. The adequacy of the water supply is a concern. Night irrigation and the unofficial drainage water reuse are significant features of this inadequate supply.
Inflexible/unreliable supply to changing water demand
Under upstream control, the time required to change the discharge from one value to another increases in the system's downstream direction. The situation is undeniably aggravated by rotational flow and the autonomy given to the district engineers and gate operators to arrange water deliveries to individual branch canals and in its allocated distribution. District engineers and gate operators can exercise a certain amount of flexibility and discretion in allocating water supplies. Sometimes, gate openings and rotation schedules are adjusted in response to representations and complaints from farmers to meet their demands, or to observed conditions. In this case, operation is difficult and unpredictable, even for operators with good experience. This essential operational factor, combined with conveyance capacity constraints in the canal, has made it difficult to meet changing demand, particularly in rice areas and during the peak, summer months when the irrigation system is operated in an environment of increasingly tight water availability and where supply may be inadequate.
Reliability is important to farmers from the viewpoint of proper planning. Reliability represents the measure of confidence in the irrigation system to deliver water at the scheduled time and in the right amount. A system with a reliable, but inadequate, water supply will be more desirable than a system that delivers water in an adequate but unpredictable manner. Because farmers lack confidence in the upstream control-rotational irrigation system they tend to over-irrigate, particularly head-end farmers, as an insurance against the uncertainty of the irrigation system. Thus, they reduce water availability to tail-end farmers who, in their turn, adopt a coping strategy that involves the reuse of drainage water even if it is saline (so called "unofficial reuse").
Physical degradation of irrigation system
Concurrent with the operational changes and bottlenecks there has been progressive degradation in the physical state of the irrigation system, for the following reasons:
lack of funds for maintenance and renewal;
ad hoc interventions by farmers, whether for operational reasons, e.g. connected with their mobile pumps, or to provide additional crossing points. Improvised crossing structures are a cause of excessive head losses along some mesqas;
degradation of canal banks caused by over-excavation during cleaning, animals, etc., in some places, this restricts access along canal banks;
poor quality of some recent construction, e.g. pitching, bridges; and
disposal of sewage and solid waste into the canals and mesqas.
Possible adverse effect of IIP on drainage water quality and quantity
The distribution losses from the old irrigation system in the command area (canals and mesqas) were mainly due to canal/mesqa tail-end escape flow, and the various types of leakage that occur along canals and mesqas. These losses generally end up in the open drains. Measures were taken during the Irrigation
Improvement Project (IIP) to eliminate the causes of these losses. An expected result is that water in open drains will be minimized to a level that may create a negative effect (qualitative and quantitative) on the planned official reuse programme and on unofficial reuse carried out by individual farmers to overcome the constraints of water delivery.
The key question here is whether the IIP has resulted in a decrease in the amount of water going into the open drains and in deterioration in its quality or not. To date, there is a lack of conclusive data concerning the effect of the IIP on the quantity and quality of water in open drains. Clearly, there is much need for comprehensive monitoring so that the actual effect can be accurately stated. The current monitoring and evaluation programme has not yet provided such a level of comprehensibility due to the lack of sufficient data for the period prior to the improvement. Its preliminary findings regarding drain performance are summarized as follows:
water levels in most sample drains followed a typical seasonal trend by which the levels tended to be higher during the summer season than during the winter;
daily variations in the sample drains were between 5 and 20 cm and were probably caused by irrigation activities during the daytime; and
correlations between the variations of water levels in the sample drains and the water levels in the sample canals could only be established where drains entirely serve the command area.
Rising water tables due to over irrigation and limited drainage capacity
Where mesqas have been improved under the IIP, there is a fear that the existing drainage system may not be able to cope with changes brought about by the improvement, i.e. eliminating tail-end escape flow. Hence, a higher level of irrigation water passes through fields and accumulates in the drains. Improved reliability in supply seems to have encouraged farmers to take more water than required by their crops and to move towards increased cultivation of rice, which needs more water.
A possible explanation is that on improved land, the portion of drainage water reuse has drastically reduced. Conversely, substantial pumping of drainage water from open collector drains onto fields is seen on unimproved irrigated land. This unofficial reuse of water is primarily a coping strategy used by tail-end farmers to overcome shortages in the water supply. As a result, drains are charged with much less water and discharge rates into the main drain are effectively reduced. Another explanation for the rising water tables could be that the unimproved mesqas, which are below ground level, have a drainage effect when fields are flooded. In these periods, mesqas function as a drain and contribute to a rapid evacuation of excess water from irrigated land. When improved mesqas are constructed above ground, this drainage function is removed.
Generally, the Monitoring and Evaluation Project (MEP) of the National Drainage Programme (NDP) states that because drainage was installed, the drainage system performance was good and the average water table has fallen to a satisfactory level, i.e. to below 0.80 m. However, this statement may not yet be valid as the data used covered only the period up until 2000 and no further updates are available.
Possible loss of overall water use efficiency gains
It is likely that unofficial reuse has a significant positive effect on water use efficiency at the mesqa level, despite its increased salt content and associated negative effects on crop yields. According to the preliminary findings of IIP's monitoring and evaluation programme, the unofficial reuse of drainage water has widely disappeared with improved mesqas. The concern is that if official reuse remains unchanged the elimination of unofficial reuse of drainage water would negatively affect the project's overall water use efficiency. In other words, the positive effect of irrigation efficiency gains at the level of mesqas may be counterbalanced by the loss of the "multiplier effect" of unofficial water reuse at that level. Compensation of efficiency loss could then be achieved through increased official reuse assuming that the effect of the IIP on the quantity of water in drains is marginal.
Opportunities, effects and possible impact
Irrigation Improvement Project - Physical interventions
The Irrigation Improvement Sector (IIS) of the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI) (See Figure 7 for Organizational chart) is implementing an Irrigation Improvement Project (IIP) that involves implementation of physical interventions on the irrigation system in association with a series of institutional measures. The project's key physical interventions include the introduction of continuous flow in place of the traditional rotation system; provision of new control structures on secondary canals, typically equipped with automatic downstream control gates for cross regulators and modular discharge control gates at head regulators; and introduction of single-point lifting at the tertiary level with mesqas converted to high level systems comprising either low-pressure pipelines or raised lined channels, with gravity turnouts to individual marwas.
Figure 7 Organization of the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation
Source: Van Achthoven et al. (2004)
Introduction of continuous flow
The introduction of continuous flow is an important single intervention that aims to improve equity between head and tail areas at the branch canal level. At the same time, it provides new opportunities such as reduction in losses, alleviation of conveyance capacity constraints, enhancement of night storage capacity, water availability and improvement in the reliability and flexibility of supply.
The introduction of continuous flow at the branch canal level is associated with the construction of automatic downstream level control gates, together with modular discharge control gates (distributors) at head regulators. Conventionally, the downstream control system would respond first to the need of tail reaches. Therefore, a downstream control system would be in favour of tail reaches when there is a water shortage. For example, if the supply at the head of the canal is less than demand, outlets on the tail reaches will be satisfied at the expense of those on the head reaches. This assumes that the outlet discharge is in some way dependent on the water level in the canal, which is generally the case where the outlets operate by gravity. In the particular context of the delivery system in the command area, where the outlets are pumped and their discharge is largely independent of the canal water level, the conventional situation does not necessarily apply. Hence, head reaches will generally be favoured and may jeopardize the merit of the concept of equity thought to be introduced by the introduction of continuous flow.
While the particular features of the Egyptian irrigation system allows for a considerable degree of operational autonomy and flexibility at the mesqa level, and while the improved system will have elementmesqa elements of on-demand operation at the branch canal level, it is clearly not possible to operate the main canal system on an on-demand basis. This is because the management of the main system is based on upstream control. Scheduled deliveries are planned according to predicted demands and take into account the considerable travel time from Aswan to the delta. In addition, the irrigation system in the old lands will be required to operate in an environment of increasingly tight water availability where, particularly in rice areas and in the peak summer months, the supply may be inadequate to meet potential demand.
Therefore, it is expected that the system will continue to be managed by the Irrigation Sector on a top-down basis, with each directorate, or district, receiving a centrally determined allocation that must be distributed equitably between the different delivery points, which are the lowest in the system at which water distribution is managed directly by the Irrigation Sector. Below the delivery point, water distribution depends on the farmers. With the existing system, the delivery point is at the head of the branch canal. The service provider undertakes to provide a certain volume of water at this point according to an agreed upon seasonal schedule. Downstream users are responsible for sharing this water between them. Without this, there is no way of ensuring equity and no mechanism for matching demand to supply. Here, a water user organization at the branch canal level can play a significant role in ensuring equity and matching demand to supply.
In conclusion, it is important to recognize that improvement, brought about by the introduction of continuous flow at the branch canal level, will not necessarily guarantee equitable distribution. Rather, it provides the physical conditions under which this is more likely to occur and easier to achieve. If any problem of inequitable distribution occurs, this can only be corrected by institutional measures (involving inter-mesqa coordination).
Single-point lifting and mesqa improvement
The term single-point lifting is used to refer to the concept of consolidating farmers' pumping into a smaller number of sites by moving the lifting point one-step up the system hierarchy, i.e. from the head of the marwa to the head of the mesqa. This concept has been the core feature of irrigation improvement through its various phases. Single-point lifting was introduced in association with mesqa improvement, which in its turn formed the largest part of the project. There are two alternative types of improved mesqa: open raised-lined channels, and buried low-pressure pipelines. Experience gained during the early stage of implementation has resulted in a complete shift to pipeline mesqas in favour of the raised because they are easier and quicker to construct. They require less clay fill, are easier to operate and pipelines do not need much valuable agricultural land for their alignment. According to the preliminary evaluation of IIP, farmers supported this shift; the majority surveyed preferred pipeline mesqas (WMRI, 2003b).
In principle, the introduction of single-point lifting, combined with mesqa improvement, directly brings farmers benefits in the form of reduced irrigation time and pumping cost and increased water availability and reliability. Single-point lifting indirectly contributes to improving the equity of water distribution at the mesqa level.
Reduction in irrigation time and pumping cost has been demonstrated by different evaluations of the IIP. The most recent was carried out by the current monitoring and evaluation programme of the IIP (2002-2005) and the socio-economic report of the present World Bank-IPTRID Rapid Assessment Study for the IIIMP (a 30 percent decrease in the cost of pumping was reported by the socio-economist). Further monitoring is required to quantify the resulting financial benefits and the reduction in the time needed to irrigate.
Notably, water availability has been enhanced by mesqa improvement because of the considerablmesqa considerable increase in conveyance efficiency, i.e. losses from the mesqas have largely been eliminated. Water availability may be expressed in terms of the dependency of farmers for their irrigation on canal water/drainage water. The preliminary investigations have shown that drainage water was often used by farmers in the command area, especially during the summer season. The dependency on drainage water for irrigation has decreased with the implementation of IIP, which may directly be attributed to the physical improvements at mesqa level. The M&E Programme for the IIP (2003-2005) reported that the dependency on canal water for irrigation increased from 75 to 95 percent in the summer season and from 84 to 96 percent in the winter season after the improvement. This increase in the dependency on canal water for irrigation did not seem to go along with the potential increase in the sufficiency of irrigation water. It has been reported that farmers still suffer from water shortages even after the physical improvement. Farmers attributed this to the increased areas cultivated with rice and cotton; areas cultivated by these high water consuming crops have been remarkably expanded after the improvement. This raises an alert to the need to control such an expansion so as not to jeopardize the benefits of improvement (WMRI, 2003b).
Indirectly, improvement at the mesqa level, single-point lifting and improved mesqa, contributes to the enhancement of water distribution equity at both branch canal and mesqa levels. This has been achieved to some extent, but is mainly the result of the successful implementation of the institutional component of the IIP, i.e. the formation of water user associations at mesqa level. It is important to recognize that the technical interventions implemented for the improvement at mesqa level do not necessarily guarantee equitable distribution simply because the hydraulic boundary conditions are not fully controlled. On one hand, the discharge of the pipeline and raised mesqa depend entirely on the characteristics of the installed pump. The intake has no provision either to measure or to control the discharge in both types of mesqa. Moreover, the water user associations can freely operate the pump at the head of the mesqa, which may result in exceeding the maximum operation time (16 hours per day) and jeopardizing equity amongst the mesqas of the same branch canal. On the other hand, the disadvantage of the alfalfa valves is that farmers can freely adjust the discharge, giving them the flexibility to irrigate using any flow rate they like. Therefore, it is recommended that the pump capacity be adjusted and design discharge reduced to limit the margin of flexibility that farmers have and can use to jeopardize equity. Consequently, this may have an indirect financial benefit to the project, i.e. increasing its rate of return, because of the requirement for lower pipe diameters and the lower costs involved. However, this may put more pressure on water duty that should be strictly limited to irrigation water requirements and to supply demand during the peak months.
National Drainage Project (NDP) - Physical interventions
The rapid progress of EPADP's blanket design of drainage systems resulted in a remarkable increase in the area under subsurface drainage, with little interaction with farmers. Such rapid development has, however, been more single-purpose and has not been strongly oriented to other water management functions such as flood control or urban water management. The primary function of drainage, as developed in Egypt, has been to safeguard agricultural productivity on irrigated land. Drainage serves to reduce or remove salts, to control groundwater table levels in general and to reduce waterlogging.
The subsurface drainage system designs were standardized, as far as possible, and the technical choices limited. The choice was for horizontal pipe drains with buried manhole covers for the lateral connections preventing, as much as possible, farmers' interference with the system. The entire drainage system is almost invisible, as if laying an electricity grid.
The major finding of the large-scale NDP monitoring and evaluation programme, which began in 1994, was that drainage development in Egypt resulted in significant productivity gains for the main agricultural commodities. Gross production values (GPV) typically improved by US$500-550/ha and the annual net farm income of the traditional farm increased by US$200-375/ha (van Achthoven et al., 2003). After installation of the subsurface drainage system, the identified positive effects on natural resources included improved soil fertility, workability and the removal of accumulating salts from the root zone (EPADP, 2001).
It is, however, apparent that the effects of irrigation improvement on the drain discharge regime, in particular at mesqa level, are not fully understood. The changes brought about by mesqa improvement, e.g. elimination of tail-end escape flow and equitable distribution of water may lead to different drainage behaviour, e.g. higher levels of water passing through the fields and less water through the tail-end escapes. This may contribute to increased concern and instigate further investigations into the existing drainage system because of the fear that it is unable to cope with the changes brought about by the IIP. The IIIMP should bear in mind the limited choices provided by the EPADP for technical solutions to drainage and the notable weakness of the vision of integrated irrigation and drainage. Previous and current irrigation and drainage programmes and projects with comparable objectives were remarkably and, to some extent, carried out independently of each other over the years. This led to frequent disruptions to the irrigated agriculture sector and the rural communities.
Conclusions
The key problem facing farmers on unimproved mesqas is inequity of water supply and distribution, where head-end users are favoured at the expense of tail-enders. The problem may be attributed to a number of negative effects on the production of irrigated crops including delayed crop establishment, reduced crop development and yields as well as frequent crop failure. This, in combination with insufficient availability of and access to water resources (shortage of water supplies) at the level of branch and mesqa canals, has led to frustration and a loss to smallholder farmers' income. Largely, problems result from an inconvenient rotation system and uncoordinated operation of individual diesel pumps that have a pumping capacity ten times greater than the traditional animal-driven sakias. In most unimproved places, pumping is carried out during daytime. A poor understanding of the irrigation requirements of their crops has led farmers along mesqas to pump as much as they can afford during daytime, despite the implication that water services to tail-end users will be unsatisfied. Night irrigation from mesqas is seen less frequently, and substantial water spillages into drains can be observed at night when water levels inside mesqas rise above ground level.
In the absence of functioning rules and regulations for the operation and management of individual pumping from mesqas and branch canals, many farmers have adopted coping strategies involving the reuse of water from open drains, even if the drainage water is saline, and top-up irrigation if there is any opportunity.
The role of drainage in securing the productivity of water resource systems in Egypt, the opportunities and problems associated with drainage water reuse, and the questions surrounding the discharge of drainage effluents all highlight the fact that drainage cannot be excluded from the debate on the management of integrated water resources. The primary function of drainage, as developed in Egypt, has been to safeguard agricultural productivity on old and newly developed land. Drainage serves to reduce or remove salts, to control groundwater table levels in general and, in some specific areas, to reduce waterlogging. An important benefit (often mentioned by farmers) is improved aeration.
Problem areas
Salt accumulation in Edku drain
In the most recent year of data (2002/03), the average EC level in the Nile waters abstracted into the Mahmoudia canal was 0.59 dS/m. The average quality of water added from the Edku drain was 0.96 dS/ m. However, since the portion of drainage water added to the Mahmoudia canal is small, reuse has no detrimental effect on water quality (salinity). On the other hand, there has been a consistent increase in salinity along the course of the Edku drain as it flows towards Lake Edku and receives saline waters from collector drains. By the time it has received the discharges from three other collector drains its average salinity has been raised to 2.05 dS/m.
The reuse of drainage water is limited by salinity and safe mixing ratios maintained in the receiving canal. This is not an immediate problem in the investigated areas supplied by the Mahmoudia canal, since the salinity levels are within safe limits (Ayers and Westcot, 1985). There is a need to investigate whether IIIMP will increase the salinity of drainage water as a result of reducing the flows of excess irrigation water into the drains. It is interesting to note that salinity in the Edku drain, which serves the area in which IIP has been piloted, has no clear trend of increasing salinity.
Alarming levels of pathogens in both the Mahmoudia canal and Edku drain
The Edku drain is the main conveyance channel in this area for the removal of effluents; most are discharged into Lake Edku at the end of the drain. The city effluents from Damanhour enter Edku drain (via Zarqhun pumping station) above the point where drainage water is lifted into the Mahmoudia canal. The concern is that effluents from other urban settlements are getting into the canal. In addition to the significance to villages and settlements in the region, pollution levels in the Mahmoudia canal affect the city of Alexandria since it receives water from the Mahmoudia canal both directly and via the drinking water canal that draws from the Mahmoudia canal.
There is a build-up of pathogens in the irrigation water due to sewage from local towns and villages. This is indicated by the high total coliform concentrations found in the Mahmoudia canal. Surprisingly, a similar level of coliform bacteria is not found in Edku drain, which indicates that such a high level of coliform bacteria is attributable to sewage pollution from upstream towns and villages, or to coliform levels in the Nile itself.
The concern is that, after mixing, the coliform level in the Mahmoudia canal is similar to that of the drains throughout most of the year. With a peak level of 250 000 MPN/100 ml, its average over the year is 75 000 MPN/100 ml. Coliform levels in the Mahmoudia canal appear similar to the Edku drain outlet at Lake Edku. It seems most likely that Mahmoudia canal is picking up sewage pollution from another source, most probably from adjacent villages.
Industrial toxins
The impact of pollution, caused by domestic and agricultural waste, is distinctly different to that caused by industrial waste. According to the MWRI water quality unit, the daily intake of 270 tonnes of industrial biological oxygen demand (BOD) is equivalent to that of six million people discharging domestic waste into canals and drains. Domestic waste can oxidize and be decomposed using inexpensive technology; industrial wastewater sanitation requires more sophisticated technology and investment.
The concern is that industries within the study area discharge their untreated effluent into the drains, in particular, those located in the main cities of Cairo and Alexandria and in the peri-urban areas. Although there is widespread distribution of industry throughout the Nile Delta, it is surprising not to see higher indications of industrial pollution in the Mahmoudia canal and the Edku drain. Indicators of industrial pollution (Drainage Research Institute internal data) in these channels were all within Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) standards and compliant with Law 48.
Solid waste disposal problem within rural communities
Garbage disposal is a widespread problem in both rural and urban areas of Egypt. Open channels (canals and drains) function as dumping grounds for a large variety of organic and inorganic domestic waste. In the absence of suitable landfills and garbage-collection systems, open canals are being blocked by large amounts of contamination and waste and are no longer functional. Although most garbage is paper and plastic, with little toxic impact, the breakdown of the degradable constituents of waste adds significantly to local BOD loading.
People and organizations fail to make sufficient allowances in their operating budget to pay for environmental preservation measures, such as safe disposal or on-site treatment. There are no financial incentives to encourage them to change from the cheap but irresponsible disposal of untreated effluent into nearby drains. From the perspective of the individual, disposal is cheap and effective, it is disastrous for the country and the surrounding community - since small volumes of effluent go on to pollute very large bodies of water. It does not matter how many laws are passed none will be effective until better compliance is achieved.
Opportunities for interventions
Improved water reuse management
One opportunity for IIIMP to overcome the restricted scope of water savings is to capture more of the drainage outflow and convert it into productive use. As the level of official and unofficial reuse is already very high it will be important to take account of the potential for increased reuse including all levels, main, branch and mesqa as well as at the field and crop level. At the level of the main canal, official water reuse is already practised with considerable success. Intermediate reuse is being discussed as an option for drainage reuse at the branch canal level. Unofficial drainage reuse is widely practiced at the mesqa level. At the field level, conjunctive use of groundwater may become an option, and reuse may even be considered at the crop level if roots reach deep enough to take up water from the capillary fringe.
From the viewpoint of water resource management, reuse is limited by two factors: first, by the hydraulic conveyance of the drain, which must remain effective; and second, by the threshold of salinity in the water used for irrigation. These thresholds must be maintained at acceptable levels to prevent crops being affected by increased salinity in the irrigation water. In addition, prevention of saltwater intrusion and maintenance of fresh water ecosystems are limiting factors to reuse.
Improved drainage water reuse will be evaluated against its efficiency. Reuse efficiency can be defined as the ratio of drainage water effectively reused, over drainage water potentially available for reuse. If combined at all levels by multiplication, the overall system reuse efficiency will be decisive for the assessment of improved water reuse management.
If current unofficial drainage water reuse at the mesqa is eliminated there is a risk that the overall reuse efficiency may decline unless the reuse gap is compensated at levels other than the mesqa.
Improved water reuse management may affect the overall level of water depletions at given primary diversions from the source. Thereby the overall water available for processing purposes will be enhanced. An adverse effect on water quality can be expected as reuse is naturally associated with an accumulation of solutes.
It is worthwhile here to summarize stakeholders' views of the reuse of drainage water:
Irrigation farmers
Irrigated agriculture is the main activity for most of the rural population. Farmers have accepted the reuse of drainage water as a means to providing better supply. They are not concerned about reintroduced salinity, as this has not reached critical levels and local farmers are considerably experienced in dealing with soil salinity. Rural farming communities are concerned about sewage in the system, since they are the ones who are most in contact with these polluted waters for their domestic and household needs.
Farmers are happy to use water with reused drainage water, or even direct drainage water (as unofficial drainage water reuse) since they value the nutrients introduced by sewage elements. They are, however, concerned about the possibility of industrial toxins since they have no way of identifying whether they are present or not.
Fisheries
The fishing sector seems content to utilize drainage water directly, as this provides a nutrient rich water supply that is beneficial to their fish crops. On the other hand, this supply is susceptible to many different forms of pollution. Sudden pollution can result in fish-kill having a direct impact on the sector. Chronic pollution can have unseen detrimental impacts such as the ingestion of sediments contaminated by heavy metals and low trace toxins, which are then introduced into human food supply becoming a longterm health hazard. The fishing sector sees control of toxic pollutants as a high priority for their future. In addition, there is a need to investigate whether fishing communities and fish farms are subject to regulations on food safety requirements for the fish that they produce.
Industries
Several factories have been developed in the area as part of the city of Alexandria's urban spread. Those who own factories see inexpensive land on which to become established, as they are not displacing agriculture. They are more assured of water than lower down the system in Alexandria where there is a chronic water shortage. The financial impact of the factories is to provide a significant alternative income to local population. This has resulted in the development of nearby new towns to house workers. There seems to be little concern about preventing effluent from the factories polluting the local drains. The lake is seen as a suitable place to dispose of unwanted by-products at the lowest cost.
Damanhour governorate
Damanhour governorate is responsible for the supervision of urban and rural services and the welfare of the local population. It has not been possible to ascertain if their perception of the reuse of drainage water is positive or negative.
Rural communities - small towns and villages
There is considerable concern in rural communities about the widespread disposal of garbage into the water channels (canals and especially drains). Concern has been expressed about the introduction of considerable loading that needs to be broken down by oxygen in water that is already in relatively short supply. In addition, the non-biodegradable components of garbage cause blocking and choking of the channels.
Local communities in the northern Nile Delta cannot use groundwater for their domestic requirements since it is naturally highly saline. Therefore, they are reliant on canal water. Towns and villages are generally equipped with water purification plants that can remove sediments and pollutants, but these plants cannot remove all pollution - only the standard pollutants. Moreover, farms and isolated households still draw canal water and let it stand for purification. These communities are particularly susceptible to water-borne disease and toxic pollutants. Communities would appreciate higher standards of water quality in canals and of water purification.
There is a need to investigate whether the local population is concerned about the safety of food products produced by local agricultural and fishing sectors, using water supplies that have a significant pollution load - especially from sewage.
Government and sector ministries
The Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MWRI) regards provision of drainage water reuse in the canal system as an essential part of the national water plan. Significantly, MWRI is responsible for monitoring and enforcing Egypt's Environmental Protection Law 48.
Egyptian authorities have been very effective in developing an extensive regular monitoring network at the national level, and have a widely deployed workforce that is able to identify pollution sources at the local level. Regrettably, the next step in evolving this capability into an effective facility for managing water quality has not yet been achieved. Such control, as is available, originates from complaints introduced at the parliamentary level by regional representatives, rather than following a process within the MWRI.
The primary reason for this failure may be the lack of political will to drive through the expected standards. This is a problem in countries in many parts of the world, although countries such as Malaysia and South Africa have shown recent progress. Second, the ability to enforce environmental standards is constrained by insufficient capacity within government agencies to deal with the plethora of environmental problems that occur at the same time as development of infrastructure and the economy. A third problem is the lack of environmental inspectors and legal teams that would follow up on pollution incidents with prosecutions. In order for the Egyptian Environmental Law to work effectively there needs to be sufficient staff capacity, ranging from dedicated field inspectors, through to lawyers who would be available to the MWRI. Without this capacity, compliance with the law cannot be widely or fairly enforced and its application will be ineffective.
Modern pollution strategy
IIIMP provides the opportunity to develop and facilitate the adoption of a modern pollution control strategy at lower levels that build on Law 48. Important components of such a strategy are readily available and require integration into IIIMP. This would include automatic monitoring and telemetry systems enabling principal pollutants to be quickly identified and processes to capture point-source pollutants before they leave the established premises.
Improved pollution control would enable water use to be planned and managed in an integrated manner that takes into account on-site and off-site impacts, and enable benefits to be optimized against installation and maintenance costs. Since IIIMP is a community development programme, it is suitable that a recommendation is made to include and prioritize water quality improvements to benefit the population at large.
Identification of hot-spots
Procedures have recently been developed (El-Degwi et al., 2003) in Egypt that enable the scale, and location of non-point source pollutant effluents to be identified. This procedure has been carried out along the length of the Salaam canal and has successfully identified several source points by calculating data from the in-line pumping stations. The technique should be suitable in other areas of Egypt, and could be used for pollution parameters other than BOD.
Another approach to identifying hot spots could be to encourage local communities to take greater interest in their local water environment and pro-actively watch out for the development of hot spots, and to be on guard for acute pollution incidents such as spillage or dumping of chemicals. Another technology that has potential is in-line wastewater reuse plants (Khairy, 2004).
Monitoring coliform concentrations
An early action by authorities should be to check that field staff correctly follow the measurement procedures for coliform concentrations. The procedure can lead to misleading results if incorrectly followed, since it relies on counting the bacteria colonies that develop on growth media when the sample is introduced. If the sample is stored for transportation, the bacteria concentration can change as the limiting factors are removed.
If the decision is made to control coliform concentrations, then many sewage treatment works (STW) will need to be constructed in the towns and cities of the Nile Delta. Alternatively, there should be a managed separation of sewage effluent streams from the clean waters passing through the delta to downstream users. In fact, a mixture of both approaches will be required. The cost of installing STWs for environmental protection is high and should be measured against the Government's desire for high environmental standards and investment for which, in principle, there is no tangible return. This balance changes if the water is being reused for economic purposes downstream, in which case the pollution levels need to be maintained at a level acceptable for that purpose. For example, if the use involves food industries, the standards should be higher than those for agricultural use.
The situation in the Nile Delta is complex. Many places discharge sewage effluent into the numerous water channels and there is much downstream use - mostly agricultural. Therefore, people living in agricultural areas are exposed to increasing risk. The impact of a rural water sanitation programme will be minimal other than to warn the rural population to avoid the dangers. They themselves are not significant polluters. The real need is for an urban sanitation programme, if reuse standards are to be realistically improved.
Industrial pollution control
It is vital to ensure that industrial pollution is controlled through effective pollution management, i.e. better monitoring, enforcement, compliance and disposal. Perhaps IIIMP should consider introducing modern pollution management, which could be based on the approach widely used in Western Europe. This may be difficult to achieve. Initially it may be more realistic to introduce the levels of pollution management achieved in Saudi Arabia or Israel, where water shortage focuses attention on protecting water resources from pollution.
Improved waste management
The IIIMP should capitalize on the outstanding initiatives taken by new water boards to control pollution and manage solid waste within the Mahmoudia region. A key requirement before progress can be made will be to develop understanding of the importance of environmental protection. This can be maintained through the introduction of capacity building in its broadest sense, covering the wide range of existing sources of pollution. Capacity building would need to include awareness building among local stakeholders and the creation of a dedicated cadre of inspectors and legal experts to enforce compliance with environmental regulations. Companies and entrepreneurs that are responsible for rural industrial sites should be among the key groups to target awareness building.
Implications of water quality on groundwater
Water quality affects groundwater under controlled drainage in the same way as surface water quality is affected under IIIMP. This means that with reduced water (less volume) passing through the drains, there will be less dilution and increased salinity (and all other water quality parameters). A more detailed investigation of how groundwater is affected was not carried out during the short study because of limited time.
Expanding official drainage water reuse
According to the preliminary findings of IIP's monitoring and evaluation component, unofficial reuse of drainage water has widely disappeared with the improved mesqas (WMRI, 2003a). In addition, water has been prevented from escaping from mesqas into open drains. If official reuse remains unchanged, there is the concern that the elimination of unofficial reuse of drainage water will have a negative effect on project water-use efficiency. The positive effect of irrigation efficiency gains at the level of mesqas may be counterbalanced by the loss of the "multiplier effect" of unofficial water reuse at that level. This creates an opportunity for expanding official reuse.
Since IIIMP is to remove the main causes of unofficial reuse of drainage water at the mesqa level, which is the inequity of water distributions, it is likely that farmers will discontinue pumping from drains. This means that unofficial reuse will be much reduced and thereby gains in efficiency lost. This would create an opportunity for official reuse to expand its operation in order to compensate for efficiency losses at the mesqa level.
The effects of improved mesqas on the drain discharge regime are not well understood. The equitable distribution of water envisaged by IIP and IIIMP implies that top-end farmers will receive less water (but will still have sufficient for their crops); tail-end farmers will receive more. This will lead to different drainage and leaching fractions in each irrigated area, to changes in drainage duties and to the leaching regimes needed by farmers. The result will be that more water will go to tail-end farmers in order for them to produce more crops or to diversify into water-intensive crops such as rice that will increase local farmers' profitability.
The impact of the IIIMP on water quality will presumably cause a reduction in the amount of water removed from the end of each mesqa - in the form of tail overflows and management losses. Thus, the present levels of dilution will be lost and salinity, and the concentration of other pollutants will inevitably increase. Less unofficial reuse may result in increased drain discharge and thus compensate for reduced tail-end losses. It is important that quantity and quality results are monitored.
The overall effect of IIIMP should be beneficial to water quality since it will result in water saving at the top of the command area. This water has been prevented from picking up salinity and is available for use at a better location than recycled drainage water since it is located at the head of the irrigation system. The quantity of drainage water, and of the water reused for irrigation within the area, should be studied in order to quantify the reuse of drainage water for irrigation prior to and after IIIMP.
Controlled drainage
Controlled drainage is an important technical intervention that could save water at the top-end of the irrigation command areas (like IIP) and improve yields. Controlled drainage would help to achieve the improved efficiencies foreseen for the IIP and IIMP projects and help conserve water by improving the efficiency of irrigation operations by an increasing moisture available to plants. It offers considerable water savings to rice growers who otherwise would have to face substantial losses through the drainage system. To date, the technology is well developed and readily available for pilot testing in areas where rice, maize and cotton are cultivated concurrently. The successful use of controlled drainage requires that farmers agree to operate and manage the technology jointly and in mutual interest.
By retaining and controlling added water, and not letting it quickly drain away, the controlled drainage system enables farmers to keep moisture in the soil profile longer, and to reduce the amount of irrigation water they require. Farmers use one of two devices: blocking the drains to reduce drainage outflow from the soil profile; or installing weirs in the drain system to prevent drain-flow, except when the watertable is high.
Participatory planning provides relevant lessons, which is followed by some water boards in Beheira governorate. Trained members selected controlled drainage as the preferred option for farmers' watering strategies. The participatory management foreseen for IIIMP provides an opportunity to introduce controlled drainage. One of the first objectives would be for farmers to work together to agree on suitable cropping patterns under the present infrastructure available to them in the form of irrigation supply and drainage system.
Management tools - environmental law enforcement
The implementation of the IIIMP provides MWRI the opportunity to discuss capacity development with stakeholders and representatives of the general population, and to act to upgrade capabilities for law enforcement. Significant investment in time and finances may be required. One way to avoid the large initial cost would be to take one major environmental factor at a time. The water sector would be an excellent starting point especially as the expertise is in place to back environmental inspectors (water quality) - in the form of National Water Quality and Availability Management Project (NAWQAM) labs and the detailed expertise of the Egyptian National Water Research Centre.
Examples of the way in which environmental law is being made to work in the United Kingdom are the Environmental Protection Act (1990) and the Environment Act (1995), which provide for an integrated approach to pollution management of water (also land and air).
It will be important to include environmental management plans in IIIMP implementation. Since there will be less local interest in the reuse of drainage water, and local farmers will be less likely to complain or intervene if industrial effluent is disposed of in the drains. Integrated management should take into account non-agricultural functions such as health, the environment, fisheries, tourism and the possible affect of disposing municipal and industrial waste into the drains. This could assist in the establishment of participatory planning and management where values attributed by all users should be taken into consideration.
Conclusions
Water quality
The DrainFrame analysis identified a number of serious water quality problems with multiple causes, effects and impacts on the livelihoods of both the rural and urban population within the study area. Water quality monitoring programmes and studies suggest that nearly all water quality indicators show disturbing levels. Open drains and irrigation canals cutting through rural and urban settlements have turned visibly black, indicating anaerobic conditions, confirmed by the alarming BOD levels and incidences of poor health.
Those indicators that pose a serious risk to the health of the population require immediate attention; examples include water-borne diseases such as bilharzia and diarrhoea. In order to eradicate the negative effects of urban pollution from the water bodies it is vital that IIIMP adequately address the problem of waste disposal into canals.
Disposal of untreated wastewater or solid waste into canals and drains needs to be solved and not left to be taken care of by already overburdened natural systems. The main concerns should be human and health factors. The magnitude of the threat to water quality calls for the development of a Pollution Management Plan. It is proposed that IIIMP develop initiatives together with other partners to address the looming water quality crisis related to rural and urban water pollution adequately.
MWRI needs to identify whether the problem levels of sewage pollution, seen for instance in the Mahmoudia canal, are related to shortcomings in the present rural sanitation facilities, or linked more definitely with upstream towns and cities. The latter is the more likely scenario. Many households in towns and cities have, or aspire to have, flush-through toilets. Without sufficient sewage treatment works to process the loading, large volumes of untreated sewage pass into the national irrigation and drainage network, as there is nowhere else for it to go.
Water reuse
The current system operation suggests that the interventions had no noticeable "water saving effect". There seems to have been no change in farmers' irrigation practices. They still apply irrigation water in excess of crop needs and leaching requirements, thus negating IIP's progress in reducing management losses. However, there is potential for farmers to adopt improved irrigation practices and on-farm water management.
The Drainage Water Reuse Programme is a separate programme, as is the National Drainage Programme and the programme to modernize pumping stations and infrastructure. The day-to-day operation and management of reuse, along with the O&M of drainage, need to be taken up at the farmer-community level, and should become the responsibility of farmers' committees at each mesqa and of thmesqa the mesqa water boards that bring together representatives from the mesqas along a given distribution canal.
Controlled drainage
Particular attention should be given the possibility of introducing controlled drainage as an additional means within IIIMP to improve water savings. In fact, controlled drainage would provide a suitable mechanism to help implement integrated irrigation and drainage at a practical field level and, as such, would fit well within the control systems to be introduced under IIIMP. Successful adoption of controlled drainage is expected in areas where farmers are growing water intensive crops such as rice.
Enabling environment for introduction of proposed management interventions
IIIMP provides the opportunity of introducing a modern water quality strategy that provides for effective monitoring, policy formulation and to ensure compliance. The Government has already achieved sufficient results with environmental law (Law 48) and regulation.
An important role for IIIMP would be to encourage greater stakeholder involvement at all levels in planning meetings and in deliberations about local/regional water management. This would raise the perceived level of responsibility and would assist in establishing better compliance of all members in the community through increased awareness and concern about environmental protection.
Problem areas
Conflicts between head and tail-end farmers along unimproved mesqas
Farmers along the unimproved mesqa distribute water according to the length of the rotation, the crop and the size of holding. As a result of uncoordinated pumping, water is short during the months of June and July especially at the tail-end of mesqas. The effect is that crops start wilting and yields are at risk. Farmers' coping strategy involves pumping of water from the drains to meet the water needs of crops, especially rice. Conflict resolution is based on negotiations and mutual agreement.
Traditional conflict resolution still overrules new institutions along improved mesqas
Farmers on improved mesqas reported that the inequity of water distribution was no longer a problem. The WUAs are appreciated. However, if there is a conflict, the heads of the families in the village meet and solve the problem; farmers in the area follow their traditional principles.
Mismatch of water demand and supply
Water availability has increased in the branch canals operating under continuous supply. Water is still insufficient to satisfy demand from farmers cultivating crops with a high water consumption and expanded rice cultivation (WMRI, 2003b). Competition over water has not ended and with high capacity pumps, head-end farmers can withdraw higher amounts of water. As discharges are smaller under continuous supply, a water schedule should be developed and strictly enforced to accommodate tail-end users. It is reported that maintenance costs have decreased; however, maintaining the water flow in the branch canals demands continuous canal maintenance. Again, farmers who rely on the respective canals must agree on their contributions.
Currently farmers can freely choose their cropping pattern, except for rice farming; their response to the market is the determining factor. Either the cropping pattern within a mesqa should be coordinated, based on water availability, or other means should be implemented such as demand management. So far, rice growing is officially subject to rotation, and is expected to be coordinated by the Agricultural Cooperatives; it has been observed that some water boards have taken over this role.
Opportunities for interventions
Improved mesqas have led to improved yields of 15-20 percent, halved irrigation time and cut costs by one-third
The appraisal of the socio and agro-economic effects of improved irrigation suggests that increased availability of water has augmented the productivity of irrigated crops by 12 to 15 percent on average. At the same time water productivity has increased, which may primarily be attributable to improvements in the agricultural production technology. For example, farmers in the study area reported the widely adopted use of short-duration rice varieties. This has shortened the time between transplanting to harvest by up to four weeks. This may have helped to save a considerable amount of irrigation water. This reduction in time taken for rice cultivation, by four weeks, has created a window of opportunity for the cultivation of an additional crop that takes advantage of the freed land and water resources. The net effect of water savings, through the adoption of short duration rice varieties, is hence balanced by the farmers' intensification strategy. It is assumed that improved irrigation has augmented farmers' income, although gains probably fall short of expectations assumed at the stage of project design.
Significant benefits from drainage
Gains in productivity can be attributed to the installation of a functional land drainage system. According to the findings of a case study on integrated drainage management in Egypt, incremental benefits of improved drainage amount to US$250-350, depending on location and soils. These incremental benefits from the drainage intervention need to be appreciated by the IIIMP to acknowledge the importance of drainage in an integrated water management system.
The study has identified a considerable opportunity for the profitable use of drainage outside the project area generating income from aquaculture, fish farming and horticultural production. The technology used is based on the amelioration of saline soils through layering of sand, and the use of untreated but highly fertile drainage water from agricultural use. Benefits created far outweigh those of traditional fisheries and fruit production systems using freshwater. According to an entrepreneur from within the study area, the value generated from a fishpond of one feddan is equivalent to 50 to 100 feddan of cropped land.
Rice cultivation to overcome salinity hazard
The study area is subject to intrusion of water from the sea. In order to leach accumulated salts below the root zone, farmers in the rice belt cultivate irrigated rice. This is a farmer's important strategy to maintain soil fertility. Since farmers regard rice as a profitable crop, the strategy is widely adopted regardless of official restrictions on the area under rice.
Conclusions
Based on experiences gained from the IIP project, the problem of inequity between head and tail-end water users has virtually been removed by a mix of technical and institutional measures. This had a significant impact on the socio-economics of farmers, in particularly of tail-enders.
The value of a functional drainage system becomes apparent to farmers as soon as the system falls into dysfunction. Suddenly, the water table may rise and crop yields fall. There is a need for IIIMP to take a clear account of the benefits that can be attributed to the rehabilitation of drainage systems.
Introduction
Currently, Egypt's institutional landscape is subject to review and significant change. The government increasingly recognizes that the responsibility for project planning, design, implementation and management should be gradually transferred from central to decentralized levels. It is hoped that decentralized water-management decisions will be more focused and efficient than are current arrangements. Along with decentralization of the MWRI functions and responsibilities, participation of water users in the management of irrigation and drainage systems should be given ample attention. Furthermore, sectors other than irrigation and drainage such as the domestic and environmental should be taken into account and their activities harmonized to achieve the overall objective of integrated water resource management. To what extent the processes of decentralization, participation and water sector harmonization will be integrated still needs clarification. Over the past ten to fifteen years, significant experience has been gained in the development of adequate water management institutions. A main thrust of the Water Board Project is to build on the progress and success of the attempts in developing adequate institutions at the irrigation system level. This government project is co-financed by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and KfW. Another important project is the Institutional Reform Project, which provides policy and strategy support to the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation.
Within the scope of this study, selected institutional problems were addressed as they became evident during the rapid assessment. The institutional assessment approach applied in this study is "organic", and builds upon existing, rather than the creation of new, institutional arrangements. The principal concern is to create a conceptual link between the broad landscape-based natural resource management perspective and its institutional implications. The discussion of problem areas should be viewed in the context of the teamwork, which drew attention to off-site, secondary on-site effects and the impact of irrigation and drainage interventions.
Problem areas
Multitude of institutions
Since the introduction of year-round irrigation in the 1980s, the provision of irrigation services at the levels of main and branch canals is the responsibility of MWRI's Irrigation Sector and its Irrigation District Units. The tertiary canals (mesqas) are fully owned and managed by the group of farmers served by the mesqa; they were not organized into any formal or informal groups.
Law 12/1984 regulates the operation and maintenance of mesqas and field drains. Accordingly, water allocation rules are established in the form of a constitution within an irrigation system. The law defines the legal claim/right to use water as a resource in agriculture; it stipulates the obligation to carry out maintenance work and the procedures for appropriate allocation of water among the large number of users when supplies are insufficient. The law stipulates who must bear what costs and regulates sanctions on those who violate the rules. Despite the existence of law 12/1984, inequitable water distribution is a common problem along non-improved mesqas and poses a serious constraint to improved water productivity. Inequity of water distribution has led to major conflicts and social unrest among farmers. This, together with the limited capacity of government organizations to enforce the law in the absence of transparent cost recovery mechanisms, has encouraged the government to explore alternative ways of managing irrigation. The participation of water users is a key element in this process.
From the 1980s on, several types of farmer, organizations have been tested, mainly to share responsibility in the operation and maintenance of irrigation canals and to a much lesser extent drainage. All participatory water management activities have been initiated through MWRI, supported by donor funding and encouragement. This has resulted in a diversity of institutional and organizational models. For example, under the Irrigation Improvement Project (IIP), farmers were organized into water user associations that were responsible for water distribution and participation in irrigation costs such as pumping and canal maintenance. In 1994, the irrigation legislation was amended (Law 231/1994) to regulate the establishment and registration of water user associations as a legal entity and to specify their responsibilities. As the owners of pumps, they operate and maintain them and ensure that the costs are covered.
Water user associations established under IIP have no mandate for the operation and maintenance of the land drainage system. Therefore, the Drainage Advisory Service of EPADP promoted the establishment of some 2 000 informal collector user associations (CUAs) to take responsibility for subsurface drainage schemes after construction. Their domain covers an area of 100-300 hectares. However, very few CUAs fulfil their role since legal status, similar to that of water user associations, was never given them. The institutional gap is not closed and the operation and maintenance of the drainage network remains the responsibility of EPADP district staff.
The MWRI has facilitated alternative management models at the branch canal level, including the branch canal water user associations supported by USAID and water boards similar to those in The Netherlands. The Water Board Project is currently moving to broaden the domain of water boards to the district level, which includes several branch canals.
The USAID-funded Agricultural Policy Reform Programme (APRP) on the water quality of the River Nile concluded that 25 agencies under seven ministries are involved in water quality monitoring programmes. There is a lack of intra and inter-ministerial cooperation and data sharing. Many available reports related to water quality issues relied on old water quality data, which minimizes the benefit of these studies (APRP, 2002).
Confused responsibility for water pollution control
The pollution of canals and drains has been identified as a major problem affecting the livelihoods of the population living within the Mahmoudia command area and beyond. Canals and drains are used as washing areas, for waterfowl and as fishing grounds. They are also used by industries and households as a dumping site for untreated wastewater and solid waste. As a result, canals are blocked and the hydraulic functions seriously affected. In addition, the water turns black, which is an indicator of lack of oxygen and poor water quality. In larger communities in the project area, sewage is dumped in closed concrete tanks and subsequently collected by truck. Subsequently, collected waste is frequently disposed of in canals and drains adding to the general malfunction of the hydraulic network.
Law 48/1982 is the most comprehensive of the laws regulating water quality and protection (93/1962, 48/1982, and 4/1994), as it sets standards for the quality of Nile water before it is mixed with drainage or sewage water. Law 12/1984 regulates the quality of irrigation and drainage water use and reuse. The Irrigation Sector is in charge of canals and the EPADP drains. Law 4/1994 deals with environmental protection and when there are violations the Irrigation Sector staff inform the Ministry of Public Health and Population, which in turn takes samples and reports to the sector. Fines may be levied and the law enforced by the Environmental Police (under the Ministry of Interior).
New industrial facilities are required to submit an environmental statement to the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency. This is a precondition for obtaining an operation license. Emissions from existing facilities are monitored at the end of the pipe. If a violation is detected, the industrial enterprise is required to comply with the proposed measures within 60 days; otherwise the Environmental Police take action. However, law enforcement has been difficult and a mode of cooperation of compliance has been established between the authorities and large industrial enterprises.
At the village level, it is difficult to enforce the laws preventing discharge of sewage into drains or dumping of waste on embankments and into drains. Monitoring needs exceed the capacity of EPADP. Rural communities in the study area are still without effective or environmentally sound disposal and sewage treatment facilities.
Beheira governorate is responsible for the supply of domestic water services. In Damanhour and other urban centres, nearly 100 percent of households are connected to the water supply and 70 percent of households have access to some sort of sewage collection. The governorate has installed water meters and households are charged according to their actual water consumption. However, treatment facilities in eight districts of the governorate are more than 20 years old and in need of rehabilitation and modernization.
Repair work is planned and budgeted at the central level of the Ministry of Planning. The proposals for repair work is initiated by local administrative units (LAUs), and are then passed through the districts and planning unit of the governorate before finally reaching the central level. Funds are allocated through the respective ministry(ies) to the governorates, which in turn select suitable contractors. Since allocations are subject to available funds, most of the proposed works are still pending.
In order to cope with the looming problems of water pollution, some local administrative units and villagers provide land to serve as disposal areas. Villagers and village councils share the costs; however, the village councils do not have the authority to charge and collect fees nor to impose and execute fines.
Lack of strategic overview of drainage water reuse
Three types of drainage water reuse are commonly practised in Egypt. These are official reuse, involving the blending of water from main drains with freshwater from main canals to be used downstream for irrigation purposes and for municipal water supply. Intermediate reuse, at the level of branch canals and collector drains for the purpose of irrigation only and unofficial reuse at the mesqa level to overcome insufficient water deliveries.
The reuse of drainage water from main drains remains problematic unless pollutants from nonagricultural sources, industry and settlements, are controlled. BOD, chemical oxygen demand (COD) and faecal coliform levels from non-agricultural sources are high. These levels are also high in the branch drains that receive pollutants from small industrial enterprises and villages.
Currently, the decisive actors are the district engineers of EPADP, the Irrigation Sector and the Mechanical and Electrical Department (MED). Through the Drainage Research Institute, EPAPD monitors water quality in drains, maintains the off-farm drainage network, decides on closure of mixing stations if water quality is poor, and advises the irrigation district engineers at the Irrigation Sector on mixing ratios. After blending with drainage water, the water quality in canals is monitored by the Irrigation Sector, while the operation of the pumping stations is the responsibility of the MED staff. The intermediate reuse of drainage water provides a potential role for user organizations at the branch canal level.
Underperformance of collection for cost recovery of improvement
Currently, the cost of mesqa improvement and improved field drainage and subsurface collector drains are shared between the government and beneficiaries. Farmers repay the cost of the mesqa pump over three years, and field drain improvement through instalments over 20 years. The MWRI's administrative expenses of 10 percent are added to the cost of pumps and field work; no interest is charged. Farmers on the old land are not required to pay for the operation and maintenance of the public irrigation and drainage systems. Farmers owning three feddan or more pay land taxes into the general budget, but are not earmarked for irrigation and drainage. The Ministry of Finance's Land Tax Authority district offices collects both payments for mesqa and drainage improvement from each beneficiary. Mesqa improvement payments go to a Special Fund (Revolving Fund), while drainage repayments revert to the Ministry of Finance. Service charges are assessed according to the size of the landholdings multiplied by the perfeddan cost of the improvement in the particular area.
The MWRI and KfW study (2004) revealed that the collection rates for the drainage programme have not exceeded 60 percent. Administrative weakness, rather than farmers' unwillingness or inability to pay, seems to have caused the collection shortfalls. The problems include the MWRI's delay in providing information on the improved areas to the Ministry of Finance, based on which the Ministry of Finance can authorize collections. Other problems are related to the delay in the start of cost recovery because of the difficulties in agreeing upon a list of landholdings of individual farmers and, generally, insufficient capacity of the Land Tax Authority district offices due to shortcomings in organization, equipment and facilities, staffing and low motivation and incentives.
Opportunities for interventions
Institutional integration and development
IIIMP provides a unique opportunity to translate the concept of integrated water resource management into institutional arrangements, which are based on water user participation and are widely valued by all stakeholders involved. The scope for practical institutional building at all levels is considerable, starting with the mesqa and branch canal up to the main and sub-regional level.
MWRI has initiated the development of organizational models that combine decentralization and water user participation at the level of branch canals and districts. Both branch canal water boards and branch canal water user associations provide excellent opportunities for institutional integration and development. In-depth evaluation studies are needed to assess existing models regarding the defined objectives, appreciation on the part of members and their administrative, political and social level of acceptance. IIIMP can play a role collaborating with the Central Department for Irrigation Advisory Services (IAS) of the MWRI and the Institutional Reform Unit.
The study identified an apparent need for strengthening of water user associations. Existing water user associations lack management skills such as planning, prioritizing of works and accounting and financial management.
Restructuring the public sector units for integrated water resources planning and management
The establishment of integrated water management districts (IWMD) at the irrigation district level has been piloted in two districts to gain experience with the practicalities of integrated water management within a decentralized structure. Integrated Water Management Districts would facilitate technical coordination among the department-based sectors, of irrigation, drainage, pumping stations and groundwater. There are ongoing discussions on whether water quality should become the responsibility of the integrated water management districts responsibility. Existing boundaries of irrigation and drainage districts are to be realigned to overcome territorial and managerial fragmentation. Integrated water management districts would be created to address matters related to the management of irrigation and drainage systems as well as aspects of water quality and groundwater resources.
To date, integrated water management districts' objectives, as to how they will be organized to achieve integration, are still unclear. A strategy will be required for the integration of irrigation and drainage management over larger areas of the project area. This would include the on-site and offsite aspects of water management interventions and the protection of freshwater bodies such as the northern lakes will be a key component of such a strategy. Units such as the east, middle and west Nile Delta, which are hydraulically subdivided by the Rosetta and Damietta branches could be established. Possible water users and stakeholders include irrigation, cities, villages, industries, fishermen and fish pond operators.
Capacity development is required at all levels to initiate and put into practice the concept of integrated water resource management and to include the national, governorate, district and community levels. Strengthening water user associations and those at the branch canal level requires their official recognition as legal entities, including the creation of a sound financial basis in order to fulfil their management tasks. If multiple benefits are recognized, and multiple services provided (charging nonagricultural users), the financial basis could be broadened. As part of this, farmers' organizations need support in building capacity in management, accounting and levying charges.
There is great economic potential for the downstream use of drainage water. For this reason, the user rights of fish pond operators and land cultivators should be recognized. IIIMP could establish institutional linkages between agricultural water use and the fishery sector so as not to harm the economic benefit of downstream users.
Implementing effective mechanisms for cost recovery
In order to improve the collection rates for mesqa improvement cost recovery, the individual mesqa WUA rather than the individual landholder is proposed as the charging unit, assuming that the mesqa WUAs are able to develop agreed-upon lists of their members and their holdings. WUAs would then allocate the cost among their members based on the size of the landholding and the Land Tax Authority would collect the charges from the WUAs. The recommended unit for the assessment of drainage improvement cost recovery would be the branch canal user organizations, rather than the water user associations or the collector user associations. since they are the meaningful units for drainage project design and are the appropriate scale for realizing maintenance at the collector level.
Conclusions
The diversity of irrigation institutions calls for a systematic review of the various institutional models with respect to their functions, responsibilities and governance. IIIMP can therefore play a role in collaboration with the Central Department for Irrigation Advisory Services (IAS) of the MWRI and the Institutional Reform Unit. As a part of this, farmer organizations need support in building skills in management, accounting and levying charges.
It is recognized that water user associations fulfil an important and successful role in the operation and management of improved irrigation facilities at the mesqa level. Success is attributed to the fact that water user associations have succeeded with equitable water allocation and distribution along mesqas. Building upon their success, their mandate could be expanded to include drainage or irrigation water quality control.
The success of water user associations has encouraged the Government to move on to a higher branch canal level. Water boards and branch canal water user associations are identified as effective institutions for local water resource management. Such institutions play an important role in the identification, prioritization and budgeting of water works. Stakeholders include farmers, domestic households and industrial facilities.
A thorough evaluation of existing models is needed to avoid inflationary development and implementation of alternative models of water user participation at the branch canal level. This could be done in collaboration with the Central Department for Irrigation Advisory Services (IAS). IIIMP should "organically" develop existing models into effective and efficient institutions based on multiple water user participation. Water boards and branch canal water user associations need to be recognized as legal entities and a sound financial basis created so that they can effectively fulfil their management tasks. As part of this, farmer organizations need support in building capacity with respect to management, accounting and levying charges.
Although the branch canal appears to be the most appropriate level for the integrated management of irrigation and drainage, plans are underway to establish district water boards that will assume responsibility for integrated water resource management at a higher level. It is, however, questionable whether an "Integrated Water Management District" is the adequate level to facilitate integrated water resources planning. It would probably be better to use larger spatial units to integrate water quality objectives into irrigation and drainage management, including reuse policy, while taking due consideration of the protection of freshwater bodies such as the northern lakes. These units could be the east, middle and west Nile Delta, which are technically divided by the Rosetta and Damietta branches and form sub-catchments. They entail all water uses and users including irrigation and drainage, urban centres and villages, industries, fishermen and fish pond operators. Developing procedures for participatory planning on this scale would mean moving a step towards integration.
Water quality and pollution control is a crucial part of sustainable water management and essential to sustain agricultural productivity. Given the local circumstances, this requires the development of feasible (decentralized) options and support for solid waste management and sewage disposal at the village level. Maintenance will otherwise be an impossible task that farmer organizations would be unable to solve. Moreover, polluted water in canals and drains causes economic and social costs (health hazard) that directly or indirectly impact on agricultural productivity. IIIMP may facilitate solutions, together with the stakeholders and ministries concerned, and incorporate the provision of these services in its environmental management activities.
The huge economic potential drainage water provides downstream of the command area advocates expansion of IIIMP. The user rights of fishpond operators and land cultivators should be recognized. IIIMP could establish institutional linkages between agricultural water use and the fishery sector so as not to harm the economic benefit to downstream users.
Answers should be found to the organization and managerial objectives of the IWMD. These should relate to how the newly created districts should be integrated; the composition of the management unit; where would the budget come from; to whom does the IWMD report, and how would this affect the next higher administrative level?
The DrainFrame analysis identified a need for improved coordination of water resource allocation and management at the strategic level of basins and sub-basins, involving stakeholders from various sectors. Existing regional water resource management committees that coordinate the activities of MWRI directorates and sectors, could be further developed into fully fledged coordinating bodies based on broad stakeholder involvement. Stakeholders identified include fishermen, industrial and domestic users as well as representative environmental agencies.
The establishment of a body for integrated water resource management at the level of the subregion requires substantial capacity development to define its direction, role and responsibility. Ideally, the sub-regional body would link IIIMP with a national water resource management policy.
The implementation of the proposed cost recovery mechanisms entails a number of changes and new responsibilities; however, discussing and evaluating such changes and responsibility is beyond the scope of this study. Water user associations at mesqa and branch canal levels need to be institutionally strengthened by making them the legal units for cost recovery assessment and to facilitate their making payments for their members. Whether non-agricultural users should contribute to cost recovery or not should be investigated. So far, municipal, industrial and other users do not pay for the water and drainage services provided by the MWRI.
Problem areas
Blockage of canals and drains due to solid uncontrolled waste disposal
Solid waste disposal is a pervasive problem that hinders the performance of the irrigation and drainage infrastructure. The problem is caused by a combination of the widespread use of non-degradable materials (plastics); the lack of a solid waste collection system in most rural areas and the careless attitude of the population.
Increase of water-borne diseases due to poor sanitation and waste management
Diarrhoeal diseases are among the most serious causes of child mortality in Egypt. The number of cases of typhoid and paratyphoid diseases registered in Beheira was 1 123 and 998 respectively. Drains can be breeding sites for freshwater snails that transmit bilharzia (schistosomiasis). During field visits, vector snails of both vesicle (urinary) and intestinal bilharzia were observed in large numbers.
Water continues to be drawn from non-purified sources for domestic uses: drinking, cooking and washing and vegetables are habitually washed in the canals. Moreover, rural areas in the study area continue to be without access to piped water supply and solid and liquid waste disposal systems.
In most rural and urban communities, solid household waste dumped on the banks of canals and drains cause serious water pollution and obstructs the flow of water. Organic waste contributes to the high organic content of water and anoxic conditions and non-degradable plastics cause drainage congestion.
According to MWRI (2003), the economic damage caused by water pollution on health appears to outweigh all other damage or costs listed in Table 9.
Table 9 Estimated economic loss resulting from water-related health problems
|
Category of loss |
Estimated value in year 2003 (LE million) |
|
Recreation |
200 |
|
Non-user benefits |
0 - 400 |
|
Fisheries |
400 |
|
Health |
5 600 - 60 000 |
|
Municipal treatment cost |
0 - 400 |
|
Industrial supplies |
400 |
|
Agriculture |
400 - 2 000 |
|
Tourism |
200 - 1 000 |
|
Total impact |
7 280 - 64 880 |
Source: MWRI: Water Quality Monitoring Unit, 2003
Lake and wetlands pollution from industrial waste disposal in open drains
Industrial activities in the lower reaches of the Nile, the drains and around Lake Maryut lead to serious pollution. Existing regulations are not enforced and industries are allowed to dump their waste into open water. The apparent carelessness, with which industrial waste is dumped into the water, and the obvious lack of enforcement of regulations and licenses, makes an outsider think that water is not valued as the precious resource it is. Obviously, everyone knows this is not the case, so the situation is alarming.
The present status of biological diversity in the delta is alarming. The two Ramsar wetland sites in Egypt have, for a long time, been listed as problematic. It is very difficult to maintain the ecological character of these wetlands under the enormous pressure exerted by the water quality and quantity problems listed above. Land reclamation has significantly reduced the size of the lakes. Lake Maryut is, together with Lake Manzala, defined as a black area in Egypt's environmental action plan and is an alarming example of pollution. The Greater Alexandria area represents 35 percent of Egypt's national industry, with over 1 000 industrial units. Liquid waste, amounting to one million cubic metres per day, are discharged into Lake Maryut in drains or at sea. Lake Edku does not receive similar quantities of industrial waste.
Opportunities for interventions
Improved environmental management
Water boards can, in their action programmes, address environmental issues and attempt to organize the local community to clean up their immediate environment; the municipality (unit) has to organize the collection and safe processing or disposal of solid waste. Awareness campaigns are badly needed.
Integration of water resource management should start with a function-stakeholder-value analysis in all affected landscapes. Beneficiaries/stakeholders can be identified; both those who receive the positive benefits as well as those who are negatively affected. They should be involved in the development of integrated water management plans from the start.
The environmental management plan can only be developed together with stakeholder groups. Therefore, the practical environmental management planning and implementation should become part of the project implementation phase.
Impact on stakeholder values
Future economic development of the urbanized area around Alexandria will continue, so it can be expected that the relative economic importance of agriculture will decrease. However, it is likely that healthy recreational and residential areas will be in demand as income levels rise. The coastal lakes provide an enormous potential in this respect.
Around the world, restoration projects are launched to restore natural processes to maintain coastal wetland systems. In order to maintain the restoration potential of the coastal wetland system, the impact of large-scale interventions into the natural resource system must be carefully studied and understood and awareness of the value of coastal areas created.
Conclusions
This study has revealed that low water quality is one of the overarching problems in the water system of the study area. Environmental problems are caused locally and, therefore, primarily need local attention. Bad practices affect a number of functions on-site as well as off-site; and new interventions may provoke different environmental problems. Therefore, it is recommended that environmental assessment be made an integral part of the preparation plan at the levels of the command area, branch canal and mesqa.
Purpose of integration
It is in the primary interest of farmers that field irrigation and drainage systems function together effectively to achieve the best possible performance of the water use system. If integration is the key to improved performance of the core system, then the question is how to attain the best possible arrangements of technical, economic, institutional interventions to facilitate such a situation at the field level?
It is in Egypt's national interest that restricted available water resources are used as efficiently as possible. Attaining the highest possible water use efficiency under water-restricted conditions implies that at least two factors be optimized: agricultural output and the consumptive use of the cropping systems. The concept is widely known as "more crop per drop". If economic benefit, not productivity, is taken as the performance indicator, then the concept may be changed to "more value per drop".
The purpose of integration at the various levels is to arrive at the best mix of functional arrangements for natural resource use and the control systems relative to a set of goals and multiple objectives. Integration implies that synergies of the system components are more readily utilized and exploited for the sake of overall performance. It is therefore important that each component of the integrated system be aligned in a hierarchy of goals and objectives that are in harmony with the strategies of each sector.
Opportunities for integration
Most Egyptian water professionals consider integrated water resources management to be the undisputed approach, although it is still not operational. The approach is used as a catchphrase in policy formulation and planning rather than being adequately applied. Water resources managers and planners have realized the extent of the challenge when they began to transfer the approach from an abstract idea into reality. Planning and implementation of IIIMP constitute a real test for the IWRM approach.
Following an integrated land and water management approach, the study identified a number of important opportunities for irrigation and drainage integration including:
availability of fertile land and water resources in the project area;
existence of a productive rice-based irrigated farming system in the project area;
highly motivated and capable irrigated farming community, with a long tradition of irrigated agriculture;
availability of improved irrigation facilities and practices; and
availability of standard land drainage facilities in large parts of the project areas.
Irrigation integration is a concept that implies that irrigation is part of a comprehensive integrated water-resource management system. The foreseen impact of this type of integrated management concept will likely impinge on the economic, social and environmental value system as a whole. It is seen as a fundamental change from a sectoral view towards a multi-sectoral manner in which water resources are managed, used and valued. Integration will mean different things in different contexts; though, in every context drainage would benefit from being looked at from an integrated perspective, which would mean:
Acknowledgement of the multiple objectives served by the management of shallow water tables and the disposal of excess surface water, and the need to maintain the resource system over time (resource sustainability).
Adapting drainage interventions to the natural resources system, taking into account the diversity of drainage situations and attempting to optimize the goods and services produced by the natural resources system (planning and managing diversity and multi-functionality).
Instituting inclusive forms of (drainage) governance and decision-making with representation of the different stakeholders (democratization).
Improving the scientific knowledge base through a major shift in the focus of the scientific community towards the fields of sustainability, multi-functionality and stakeholder representation in governance and decision-making.
The basic implication of such an integrated, rather than a sector perspective, is that drainage is seen as part of the entire natural resources management system.
Strategies for improved project design
The conceptual framework of DrainFrame is an important tool used in the development of an integrated project approach that includes irrigation and drainage within the broader perspective of integrated water management. To fulfil its function as a project planning tool there is, however, a need to make
DrainFrame compatible with standard project planning tools such as the LogFrame Approach. This implies the following steps:
prioritization of landscape functions to be addressed by the project;
ranking of interventions according to their impact functions and values;
setting targets and performance indicators; and
elaboration of associated assumptions and risks.
Prioritization of landscape functions to be addressed by the project
Despite the diversity of landscape functions identified in the study, irrigated agriculture appears to remain the dominant (production) function. However, there are functions other than irrigated agriculture that may attain importance in preventing certain environmental or social risks. It is of vital importance for its success that the project addresses the functions for careful prioritization with the full participation of stakeholders.
Ranking of interventions according to their impact
Following the DrainFrame appraisal of the changes that proposed interventions are likely to perform on landscape functions and their values, it will be important to rank interventions accordingly. For example, the impact of the proposed change from rotational water distribution to continuous flow may be valued less than a proposed lining of the mesqa. As both interventions may affect the efficiency of water use, the importance of each intervention needs to be established relative to the achievement of the objective. This would allow project planners to make the right choice and to design the system accordingly.
In order to make the link between an intervention and achievement of its objective, it is necessary to develop a set of indicators that permit project designers to verify impact relative to overall goals (impact indicators).
Setting targets and performance indicators
After identification and ranking of project interventions, success can be achieved only if targets and objectives are clearly set within the formulation process. In order to verify the project's performance relative to its objective suitable performance indicators will need to be developed.
Integrated water resource management
A study funded by Winrock International and USAID (Keller et al., 1995) concludes that the basinwide effective irrigation efficiency of the Nile basin between the High Aswan Dam and the Mediterranean Sea is nearly double that suggested by classical water use efficiency (73.2 versus 40 percent). This is because of the value of return flows, which are not taken into consideration using the classical approach to irrigation efficiency. If water reuse is accounted for within the broader scope of efficiency, water savings through engineering interventions is actually less important than previously thought. Under water scarce conditions, real water savings, which may lead to increased water use efficiency, can come from reduced crop consumptive use rather than from increased classical irrigation efficiency. Efficiency gains at the level of canals are outweighed by reduced opportunity for reuse further downstream. If IIIMP wants to achieve its overall goal of increasing the efficiency and sustainability of water use, more attention should be given to the demand management of the agricultural water use system. Real water savings will be accomplished if supply management interventions are accompanied by demand management measures.
In order to achieve its overall goals of increased water use efficiency IIIMP should promote the concept of effective efficiency at the basin level. Water savings at one level of the system are outbalanced by efficiency losses elsewhere. Water savings must strive for real, rather than paper savings, if irrigation improvement is to be effective.
Our study demonstrates that integration of water resources management goes beyond irrigation and drainage. Considering the importance of public health concerns in relation to water quality and the multifunctional nature of the irrigation and drainage system, the so-called "external sources of pollution" should be a central element in any water resources management project. Interventions into the irrigation and drainage system have an impact on one or more of the functions performed by the irrigation and drainage system. In addition, direct or indirect secondary effects on the environmental functions, for instance water bodies need to be considered carefully.
Integrated water resource management should be introduced at all appropriate levels from field to basin level. Current efforts in irrigation supply management improvement need to be accompanied by improved water demand management measures. There is a need to integrate agricultural improvement technologies into IIIMP and to take advantage of improved water control technology such as controlled drainage. Moreover, educating farmers on where IIIMP water savings are intended to go will become increasingly important at the farm as well as at the mesqa level.
Key to the integration of planning irrigation and drainage systems, design and management is an appreciation of the functions that each subsystem fulfils to meet overall project objectives. Values associated by stakeholders to system functions need to be further quantified by IIIMP. Thus improved technical, economic, financial, institutional and environmental choices can be made that are both, effective and socially acceptable. The aim is to encourage stakeholders to promote sustainability in their operations beyond increased crop productivity.
Broad institutional development should be introduced that is based on stakeholder participation and streamlined within a national water resource policy. At this time, existing water user organizations at the branch canal level have no legal recognition. If such institutions are to be operational, their legal status should be clarified as well as their financial situation and their collaboration with the lowest level public authorities (interface).
It is recommended that a provision for substantial investment in capacity development of farmers and water user institutions be made within IIIMP. The programme should include a campaign to increase awareness of the importance of functions and stakeholder values and focus on the skills required for both water and financial management.
At the mesqa level, the Irrigation Improvement Project (IIP) has reduced the problem of water inequity and supply shortages effectively through a mix of technical and institutional interventions. Current IIP technical interventions imply that a change be made in the water supply systems, from rotational to continuous flow in combination with gravity flow in raised open mesqa canals or buried pipes operated at low pressure. At the time, this report was prepared, continuous flow conditions had not been reached, which renders the assessment of this intervention incomplete. The construction of lined canals and buried pipes has increased the conveyance efficiency considerably. A centrally operated pumping system has replaced individual pumping, managed by water users who have formed themselves into water user associations. Notably, the shift from individual to collective pumping has resulted in considerable cost savings in the order of one-third.
Institutional and organizational needs assessment
In order to initiate and put into practice the concept of integrated water resource management, there is a need for capacity development at all levels including the national, governorate and district, and community level. IIIMP provides a unique opportunity for the translation of the integrated water resource management concept to institutional arrangements, based on water user participation, which is widely valued by all stakeholders involved. The scope for practical institutional building at all levels is considerable, starting from the mesqa and branch canal up to main and sub-regional level.
The study identified an apparent need to strengthen water user associations. Existing water user associations lack important management skills such as planning, prioritizing work, accounting and financial management. Maintenance of canals and drains will become a crucial component of sustainable irrigation management. Given the local circumstances, this requires the development of feasible (decentralized) options and support in the development of solid waste management and sewage disposal at the village level.
Water boards and branch canal water user associations are identified as effective institutions for local water resource management, built around suitable design principles, multiple stakeholder involvement and the existence of a set of rules and regulations for water allocation and control. Such institutions play an important role in the identification, prioritization and budgeting of water works. Stakeholders include farmers, domestic households and industrial facilities. Their institutional design principles are recognized as effective and should be considered within IIIMP as an opportunity for successful institutional integration.
The branch canal appears to be the most appropriate level for integrated management of irrigation and drainage. Plans are underway that aim to establish district water boards that assume responsibility for integrated water resource management at a higher level. Current institutional design criteria of district water boards are at an early stage and appear to be encouraging.
The analysis identified a need for much improved coordination of water resource allocation and management at the level of strategic regional planning involving stakeholders from various sectors. The establishment of a body for integrated water resource management would require substantial capacity development in order to define its direction, role and responsibility.
There is a need to improve the collection rates for irrigation and drainage improvement cost recovery. On one hand, it is recommended that the individual mesqa WUA, rather than the individual landholder, be made the charging unit, assuming that the mesqa WUAs are able to develop agreed upon lists of their members and their holdings. On the other hand, the recommended unit for the assessment of drainage improvement cost recovery would be the branch canal user organizations rather than the WUAs or the collector user associations since they are the meaningful units for drainage project design and are the appropriate scale for realizing maintenance at the collector level.
Since farmers' contribution toward the cost of public irrigation and drainage systems is one of the key elements of the MWRI's reform strategy, selected public irrigation and drainage system cost for recovery is included. The MWRI and KfW study (2004) states that charging farmers with additional cost would not significantly reduce incremental net farmer income gains (only two to three percent). A finding that should be carefully checked. The major burden on farmers' net income gains would come from mesqa and drainage improvements, which remain the largest element in farmer's irrigation and drainage expenditures.
The implementation of the proposed cost recovery mechanisms entails a number of changes and new responsibilities. Discussion and evaluation of these changes and responsibilities is beyond the scope of this study. However, water user associations at mesqa and branch canal levels need to be institutionally strengthened so that they may become the legal units for cost recovery assessment so that they can make payments in the name of their members. Whether non-agricultural users should contribute to cost recovery or not should be investigated. So far, municipal, industrial and other users do not pay for the water and drainage services provided by the MWRI.
Environmental management
There is an urgent need for environmental management to control and reduce pollution, especially from the industrial sector. Introduction of modern pollution management is a vital component of IIIMP at all stages of the project cycle. The application of the DrainFrame approach identified a number of important environmental issues, which may greatly benefit from the proposed IIIMP Environmental Impact Assessment Study, arranged independently of the feasibility assessment.
Research needs
There are continuing urgent research needs concerning the processes that govern water use and irrigation efficiency, groundwater dynamics, drainage water quantity and quality and reuse practices. A change of management, from fragmented to integrated mode, should be accompanied by a streamlined research programme. The function of research is to provide a reference for changes, to evaluate the new approach and to correct ill-designed interventions if appropriate.
At the field level, there is need for the development of a simple groundwater monitoring system that would enable farmers and district engineers to monitor the effects of cropping patterns and irrigation practices on water table dynamics.
APRP (2002) concluded in their report that most of the available studies reviewed assumed that the organic loads received by drains are from domestic and industrial sources, while the effect of diffuse agricultural discharges from irrigated fields has been neglected. This situation calls for an increased research effort in this area.
The use of DrainFrame in the IIIMP process
The findings of this study suggest that the current planning and design of irrigation and drainage in Egypt requires the adoption of a broader approach (DrainFrame) that is multi-sectoral, multi-disciplinary and based on real stakeholder participation. The approach provides a platform for the formulation of adequate water resources management interventions at various levels of organization. It provides an opportunity for local participatory planning and will enable planners to identify additional economic, social and environmental benefits that are directly or indirectly attributable to the project. At a wider basin level, the view of IIIMP should be broadened to exploit existing and potential opportunities for downstream use created by the project, for example, fish cultivation. Equally, the cost of lost opportunities may be considered such as the pollution impact on fisheries.
The IIIMP project shares many characteristics of a programme that must make strategic decisions that ultimately result in project interventions. In its present stage, only intervention areas have been identified and not the activities; only a listing of potential activities exists. Before the project embarks on implementation of activities, an integrated analysis needs to be made of water resources management issues. Furthermore, an analysis needs to be made of existing institutional arrangements and gaps. An approach, such as that followed by the current study, could be used for this purpose (see Figure 8 for delineation of administrative boundaries).
If IIIMP finally follows an integrated design approach, room should be left for flexibility in the implementation of technical and institutional interventions. An overall study, such as the present one, is not suited for the mapping of local differences in land and water systems, their functional differentiation, related local stakeholders and the weighing of values at stake. A DrainFrame approach is therefore justified during project feasibility and design stages to sort out the details of the localized solutions. The role of stakeholders at this stage will be even more important. An independent well-trained processfacilitating party seems indispensable for the initiation of a participatory design process that includes all parties, i.e. stakeholders, engineers, agriculturalists, local governments and cooperatives.
DrainFrame is well suited as a diagnostic tool for the feasibility study of the IIIMP. The findings of the present DrainFrame exercise should be further elaborated and quantified to render them useful as a project planning and design tool. Only then, can the identified landscape functions be prioritized and beneficiaries precisely identified and targeted.
The adoption of the DrainFrame approach by IIIMP offers the opportunity to include important components and interventions that reach beyond the usual boundaries of the command area. Equally important, DrainFrame may be instrumental in the integration of "soft" components in the project concept of IIIMP that overcome existing borders between the water and agricultural sectors. Other examples include waste and environmental management plans.
The DrainFrame analysis identified a need for improved coordination of water resource allocation and management at the strategic regional planning level involving stakeholders from various sectors. The establishment of a body for integrated water resource management would require substantial capacity development to define its direction, role and responsibility.
Figure 8 Delineation of administrative boundaries plotted by sector institutions
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