Preventing water crises
Küldés e-mailben Facebook Twitter Nyelvváltás
Preventing water crises

The endangered Nile


To this day, the country of 98 million people is highly dependent on the river: 95 percent of the population lives along its banks, and 90 percent of the country’s water is also supplied by the Nile.

In recent years, however, the river’s water yield has undergone a number of changes due to global warming and human activities. Although in the region of the source of the Nile there is actually more rain than before, the distribution has become more irregular, and the torrential rains wash out fertile soil and block up the water channels of dams. In the near future, it is expected that there will be fewer years with near average water yields, while extremes (floods and droughts) will come to dominate.

Yet the country’s water demand exceeds what the river is able to supply year after year: reserves are running out, and the annual water deficit is as much as 20 billion cubic metres.

Since 1947, the per capita volume
of available water has dropped to
a quarter, and according to
UN forecasts, water shortages
are due to hit the region by 2025.

In Cairo, the water supply already fails regularly. In some districts, the taps are only turned on for three hours a day during the warmest months, but even then, a significant portion of the water is wasted due to the poor quality of the water network.

The population of the countries along the Nile has quadrupled since 1960 – by 2050, half a billion people may be dependent on water from the river Photo: Shutterstock

Source: Index.hu

Further information: BBC

Hundreds of Australian towns face water crisis


Water shortage threatens the Panama Canal


Extremely low water levels on the River Maros


Millions left without water in Zimbabwe




One of the driest and warmest summers in Germany


Sad pictures of a lake that disappears in Chile


One billion tonnes of carbon dioxide released into the air in Africa


UN report: climate change could cause global famine


European Union aid for drought-stricken Africa
