Egypt’s water security endangered by climate change, GERD filling

Climate change, GERD adds to Egypt’s water security challenges: Egypt’s water security is now threatened by climate change, a growing population, and the imminent start of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD)’s reservoir filling this month, Aya Nader writes for Climate Change News. “The challenges for farmers are myriad: new diseases and insects, unprecedented humidity, rising seas contaminating groundwater with salt,” writes Nader. As for GERD, its effects are largely unknown yet. “Some studies predict a rise in temperature and thus little rain, and others predict more rain,” says Egyptian member of the tripartite committee on the dam’s effects, Alaa Al Zawahri. The government is working towards improving water access in light of these difficulties by collaborating with five UN organizations on a development project that has provided 150k Minya residents with new filtration technology, according to News Ghana.