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UNESCO-IHE INSTITUTE FOR WATER EDUCATION Fresh Water Swaps: Potential for Wastewater Reuse A Case Study of Alexandria, Egypt Masoomullah Hamdard MSc Thesis ES.10.03 April 2010 Fresh Water Swaps: Potential for Wastewater Reuse A Case Study of Alexandria, Egypt Master of Science Thesis by Masoomullah Hamdard Supervisors Prof. Dr. Meine Pieter van Dijk (UNESCO-IHE) Dr. Mathew Kurian (UNESCO-IHE) Examination committee Prof. Dr. Meine Pieter van Dijk (UNESCO-IHE), Chairman Dr. Mathew Kurian (UNESCO-IHE) Dr. Sunil Tankha (ISS) This research is done for the partial fulfilment of requirements for the Master of Science degree at the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft, the Netherlands Delft April, 2010 The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in this study do neither necessarily reflect the views of the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, nor of the individual members of the MSc committee, nor of their respective employers. This work is dedicated to my beloved parents Abstract Secondary towns are confronted with the challenge of rapid pollution growth, particularly in the developing countries. This has resulted in unplanned urban expansion, bringing in more rural areas within the boundaries of cities and causing many administrative conflicts and poor services delivery. This situation is more alarming in the context of water scarce countries. The escalating living standards with increasing water demand and the need to expend agriculture land to meet the food requirements, has resulted in water competition between various water competitors. Another challenge that developing countries are confronted with is the safe disposal of increasing urban wastewater. This study focuses on the reuse of urban wastewater by assessing the scope, financial constraints and social perception of acceptability on wastewater reuse. The overall aim of conducting this research is to explore scope for freshwater swaps in Alexandria, Egypt. Alexandria urban wastewater requires huge investments to upgrade the level of treatment to an extent where it can be reused. The current cost recovery system emplaced is not even enough to recover even the operation and maintenance costs. Also only technological solutions available at ground are not enough to treat wastewater to comply the National Standards set my Ministry of Health and Population. Social perception about wastewater reuse also play crucial role, because in many societies due cultural, religious or any other reason wastewater reuse is not encouraged. The study after assessing the public perception on wastewater reuse, proposes conjunctive water management to deal the wastewater and water scarcity problem. Based on the finding from the case study of Alexandria, the study concludes with some suggestions on policy options for sustainable wastewater reuse and also adds to the theory used in this study. Keywords: population growth, water scarcity, wastewater reuse, freshwater swaps i ii Acknowledgements First of all, I acknowledge the divine guidance of the Lord God (Allah) Almighty during the course of my study and research. His Name shall be praised forever! I would like to acknowledge and thank the Dutch Government especially the Netherlands Fellowship Program (NFP) for financially supporting me during my one and half years of Master in Environmental Sciences program at UNESCO-IHE. Many intellectuals contributed in various ways in the completion of this study, I may not be able to mention all of them, but I am deeply grateful to all and I apologize for not naming all of them here. I would like to express my sincere and heartfelt gratitude to my mentor Dr. Mathew Kurian, who through his knowledge and experience always guided me throughout this research; above all, his friendly behavior really impressed me. Without his assistance this research would have not been complete. I would also like to acknowledge my kind supervisor, Prof. Meine Pieter van Dijk, who gave me valuable suggestions during our progress meetings and always guided me beside his busy schedule. I am also deep grateful to Dr. Peter van der Steen and SWITCH project for financially supporting this research. My special thanks to Mohamed Elrawady and Eng. Ayman Ramadan for their love and support during my stay in Egypt. I am really thankful to all Egyptians for their kind hospitality. I would also like to express my warm thanks to all UNESCO-IHE friends, especially to Mariska, Egina, Nikola, Milan, Violeta and Ermal, whose friendship and love made my students life unforgettable in Delft. Finally, I take this opportunity to THANK my wife for her continuous support and love, especially when our daughter “ZALA” was missing my part of love. Likewise, I am greatly thankful to my parents and all my relatives for their support, encouragement and love. iii iv Table of Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................. iii 1 Introduction ...................................................................................... 1 1.1 Problem Statement ...................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Research Objectives ..................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Thesis Structure ........................................................................................................... 3 2 Background ....................................................................................... 5 2.1 Nile Basin and Egypt .................................................................................................... 5 2.1.1 Alexandria: ............................................................................................................... 6 2.1.2 Study Site Description: ............................................................................................ 6 2.2 Alexandria Water Supply System ................................................................................. 8 2.3 Water Competition .................................................................................................... 11 2.4 Alexandria Wastewater ............................................................................................. 11 2.4.1 East Wastewater Treatment Plant ........................................................................ 11 2.4.2 West Wastewater Treatment Plant ....................................................................... 12 2.4.3 Iskan Moubarak ..................................................................................................... 12 2.4.4 El Hannovile ........................................................................................................... 12 2.5 Tariff System .............................................................................................................. 13 2.6 Organizations ............................................................................................................. 14 2.6.1 Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI) ............................................. 14 2.6.2 Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (MALR) ......................................... 14 2.6.3 Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs (MoSEA) ........................................... 14 2.6.4 Ministry of Health and Population (MHP) ............................................................. 15 2.6.5 Ministry of Industry and Mineral Wealth (MIMW) ............................................... 15 2.6.6 Ministry of Housing New Communities and Public Utilities (MHNCPU) ............... 15 2.7 Water and Wastewater Related Legislation .............................................................. 15 2.7.1 Water Quality Management .................................................................................. 16 2.7.2 Protection of Nature Regulation ........................................................................... 16 2.7.3 Wastewater Discharge Regulation ........................................................................ 16 2.7.4 Water Resources and Wastewater Treatment Regulation ................................... 16 2.7.5 River Nile and Its Waterway Protection Regulation .............................................. 16 2.7.6 Environmental Protection Law .............................................................................. 16 2.8 Knowledge Gaps: ....................................................................................................... 17 3 Theory and Methodology Used ....................................................... 19 3.1 Theoretical Approach ................................................................................................ 19 3.2 Key Concepts and Theories ........................................................................................ 21 3.2.1 Common Pool Resources Management ................................................................ 21 3.2.2 Theory of Institution .............................................................................................. 22 3.2.3 Institutions and Organisations .............................................................................. 23 3.2.4 Formal and Informal Institutions ........................................................................... 23 3.2.5 Water Governance ...............................................................................................