Egypt Aims to Produce 10M cbm of Desalinated Water Daily within 6 Years

Egypt is targeting the production of 10 million cubic metres of desalinated water per day within the next five to six years, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said, noting Egypt’s plans to localise this industry.

Madbouly stressed the government’s interest in expanding the seawater desalination efforts through cooperation with specialised Chinese companies he met recently with Qingyun Kong, the head of a Chinese company experienced in this field.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Plus Meeting hosted in the Chinese city of Tianjin.

The prime minister underlined Egypt’s pressing needs in the field of seawater desalination, seeking to localise the industries related to the components of desalination plants.

For her part, Kong expressed her company’s interest in collaborating with Egypt and presented a Chinese-developed desalination model with a daily capacity of 10,000 cubic metres, powered by renewable energy and scalable to meet Egypt’s larger demands.

Madbouly concluded the meeting by proposing direct communication between the company’s representatives and relevant Egyptian authorities to explore avenues for joint cooperation in this critical sector.

Egypt relies almost entirely on the Nile River for its freshwater needs but is actively expanding its seawater desalination efforts to secure sustainable water resources and address water scarcity.

While the nation’s water needs amount to about 114 billion cubic metres annually, available water resources do not exceed 60 billion cubic metres per year.

The current per capita share of water is around 500 cubic metres annually, less than half the internationally recognised water poverty threshold.

Although desalinated water is not widely used for drinking, it, along with treated water, plays a critical role in supporting development projects, including agriculture and industry, as well as in serving coastal cities.

The country has adopted a national desalination strategy, beginning in 2017 with a first phase targeting a capacity of 1.3 million cubic metres per day. The second phase extends through six five-year plans until 2050.

According to Minister of Housing Sherif El-Sherbini, the strategy is focused on meeting growing water demand amid population growth and providing alternative water sources to halt the transfer of surface drinking water to several coastal governorates.

The strategy also aims at meeting water demands required for urban development.

Egypt is already operating around 100 desalination plants with a combined capacity of 1.2 million cubic metres per day, according to a study by the Egyptian Centre for Strategic Studies, citing official figures from the Ministry of Housing.

Plants are located in key coastal governorates including Matrouh, Beheira, South Sinai, the Red Sea, Port Said and Alexandria.

The water desalination strategy targets 11 coastal governorates where transporting Nile water over hundreds of kilometres is inefficient and costly, according to the minister.

Centralised desalination plants are now being prioritised to optimise land use, reduce production costs and limit water transport to no more than 50 kilometres to minimise loss and maximise efficiency.