A desert community lasting on a finite resource: Issues of irrigation and water management

The oasis’s life blood: The Nubian Aquifer System
A local system
Challenges to efficient and sustainable water use
Sustainability issues – SWOT analysis
Environmental sustainability
Economic sustainability
Social sustainability

---

The oasis’s life blood: The Nubian Aquifer System

Water in Abu Minqar is supplied by 15 deep wells that reach down to depths ranging between 600 and 1,000 meters. Some of these wells are artesian, and others are operated by motorized pump. As the rainfall in Egypt’s Western Desert is virtually zero, the oasis depends exclusively on the water supply from these deep wells, which tap the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System.

The Nubian Aquifer spans across Sudan, Chad, Libya, and Egypt and reaches Sinai and southern Israel in the North[1]. The aquifer system has a “subsurface extent of over 630,000 km²”[2]. The thickness of the sandstones that contain the artesian flow system ranges from 400 km depth near Kharga Oasis to a depth of over 2 km at Siwa Oasis. The aquifer system is stratified and consists of several different horizons – at Dakhla and Kharga Oases, for example, are two layers: an “upper aquifer, reported at the depth of about 400m”; and a “lower aquifer, reported at a depth of about 650m from the surface”[3].

The Nubian Aquifer System is a source of fossil water, as it was accumulated over thousands of years and experiences “negligible recharge in the present arid conditions”[4]. This means that the water is a non-renewable resource. It is not clear how long ground water will be available for extraction from the aquifer, especially as extraction rates are intensifying in most North-African countries that tap the aquifer system. Currently, about 0.6 billion m³ of water are pumped from deep aquifers in Egypt alone. Within Abu Minqar, the pressure on the aquifer is also increasing as new wells in and around the community are dug, partly by private companies and investors, with future plans for numerous additional wells. How such increased pressure on the finite water resource will impact the sustainability of agricultural production and livelihoods as well as the social cohesion within new settler communities remains a topic for future research.

A local system

Water management practices in the oasis differ with the type of operation at the various wells. In irrigation command areas served by artesian wells, agricultural water management is based on informal negotiation systems that are both ad hoc and highly flexible. As water flows out of the well day and night, the irrigation schedule covers 24 hours per day. Farmers usually receive 1 hour of water per feddan owned per 12 days, which means for the standard plot of 6 feddan the beneficiaries receive 6 hours of water every 12 days (The number of days is shifted by season and according to crops planted. For example, farmers who plant rice in the summer must irrigate more frequently than once every 12 days). A committee of “elders” – composed of the original beneficiaries whose experience is highly respected – oversees the informal water distribution schedule and report to the government irrigation officer in Farafra oasis. The informal water distribution arrangements are largely independent from government interference and provide much flexibility for negotiation and ad hoc arrangements. For example, farmers with adjoining irrigation time slots to form informal alliances to reduce the inefficiencies and waste associated with transferring water in the canal system from one farm plot to another.

In irrigation command areas serviced by pump-operated wells, on the other hand, water distribution is more formalized. Irrigation times are tied to pump working hours, which correspond with a ten-hour work shift for a government employee, who supervises and operates the generator at the well. As water supply is controlled by the pump, the supply can be tailored to better match demand, for example, by season or crop requirements. Irrigation hours vary immensely as the operator runs the well for as little as five hours in the winter and up to 12 hours in the summer due to the respective perceived water excesses and shortages, allowing for more efficient irrigation in these command areas. The downside, however, is the need for additional energy to operate the pump, which also causes some oil to spill into the irrigation water.

Challenges to efficient and sustainable water use

Research in Abu Minqar has shown that its population’s primary concern is not yet the long-term sustainability of water availability. Rather, people worry more about the current agricultural system’s water inefficiencies. First, available irrigation water is significantly limited in the summer months. The vast majority of landholders leave a portion of their land fallow due to the water shortages from heightened evaporation and plants’ water needs. For example, farmers who own six feddan generally only plant crops on two to four feddan in summer because the received water is not plentiful enough for all their agricultural needs, making the inefficient irrigation practices the issue rather than water scarcity. As DDC water flow studies in January and August 2007 revealed, about 25% - in some cases even up to 50% - of water are wasted because of poor irrigation infrastructure: the water running through unlined and uncovered canals evaporates quickly and seeps into the ground. Additionally, the lack of drip irrigation hoses and sprinklers forces farmers to use flood irrigation, the least efficient way to water a field.

The room for improving Abu Minqar’s irrigation infrastructure efficacy is vast. Farmers state that, for irrigation efficiency purposes, canals should be cleaned twice a year. The government is responsible for cleaning the main lined irrigation canals while they allegedly clean secondary canals “upon request” only. Otherwise, farmers are responsible for cleaning and maintain secondary and tertiary canals. In reality, as government authorities informed us, primary canals in Abu Minqar are cleaned every one and a half to two years – rather than twice a year. Moreover, farmers admit that inertia among local residents contributes to the suboptimal state of irrigation infrastructure in their oasis. Maintenance of irrigation infrastructure is thus an area in which significant improvements in water efficiency can be made. Lining secondary canals and removing weeds on a more regular basis would decrease evaporation and water loss. The WaDimena project is addressing the shortcomings in irrigation infrastructure management through mobilizing civic activism in the Bir 1 irrigation command area.

Sustainability issues – SWOT analysis

The study of an oasis such as Abu Minqar brings up several questions of sustainability.

• How sustainable is a desert settler community that depends entirely on a fossil source of groundwater for its existence, given that the exact quantity of water in the subterranean aquifer is unknown?
• Is the formation of a new community from a mix of people from all corners of Egypt socially sustainable?
• Are the economic livelihoods in the oasis sufficient to support sustainable livelihoods and maintain its population?
• Will continued population growth and settlement enhance the pressure on water and other resources and potentially cause future economic, social and environment conflict?

The DDC research team conducted a sustainability study which is summarized in the following SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis.

Environmental sustainability

Strengths	Weaknesses
The oasis offers a healthy living environment Land degradation as a result of agricultural production still low on virgin land High efficacy of informal water management negotiations	Limited concern for water conservation and water demand management Water loss due to irrigation infrastructure inefficiencies and flood irrigation system
Opportunities	Threats
Room for improvement in irrigation infrastructure Room for improvement in the choice of crop and livestock varieties	Rising salinity issues due to water logging caused by flood irrigation Non-replenishing water supply in the subterranean aquifer Increasing pressure on water resources

Economic sustainability

Strengths	Weaknesses
Most farmers are self-sufficient in producing forage crops for animal production No obvious reduction in soil fertility due to land degradation yet Government stabilizes market for certain cash crops (e.g. wheat) Ethnic ties and informal networks facilitate easier marketing	Distance reduces access to markets High transportation costs involved in marketing produce Limited opportunity for occupations outside agriculture Limited marketability of some crop varieties (e.g. citrus)
Opportunities	Threats
Growing number of tertiary sector enterprises, such as pharmacy, shops, mobile phone service Adjustments in crop and livestock varieties could significantly increase marketability	Large local agricultural businesses with more efficient irrigation systems and better access to markets may cut market share Animal production can be risky (e.g. camels suddenly dying with unclear cause of death)

Social sustainability

Strengths	Weaknesses
Strong social cohesion Flexible and functional informal networks of governance (e.g. water management) Ties to places of origin provide ongoing support Many young people in Abu Minqar plan to stay in oasis long term	Poor provision of government services (e.g. 24h electricity) cause social discontent Limited possibilities for education and livelihoods outside agriculture Many young people in Abu Minqar plan to leave the oasis due to a lack of opportunity, esp. for young women Non-functioning governance and marketing institutions (e.g. the agricultural cooperative)
Opportunities	Threats
Sharing of agricultural knowledge and experience among settlers from different backgrounds Intentionality, ‘frontier attitude’ and willingness to make things work contribute to constant small-scale innovation by residents Opportunities for marketing improvements through social collaboration, e.g. through a transportation cooperative	Continuing influx of people may increase pressure on water and land resources and compromise social cohesion Limitations in long-term subterranean water resources may call the very existence of Abu Minqar into question

---

[1] (Robinson et al., 2007; Wallin et al., 2005)
[2] (Dabous and Osmond, 2001 243)
[3] Dabous and Osmond (2001 244), quoting Shata (1982)
[4] (Robinson et al., 2007 37)