Management of water and salinity in the Nile Delta:
A cross-scale integrated analysis of efficiency and equity issues
TOPIC: 5
Water management under collective pumps and improved irrigation in the Nile Delta of
Egypt
Background: The Nile Delta covers an agricultural area of approximately 2.5 million ha,
irrigated by a dense network of waterways, including 40,000 km of canals that branch off the
Nile River and convey water to over 2 million farmers across several nested geographical
scales and institutional levels. The delta is divided in three independent ‘slices’ (left, center
and right). Conventional irrigation efficiency at the on-farm level is relatively low on average
(irrigation is conducted by gravity), but the intensity of water reuse (from drains and wells)
drastically increases macro-level efficiency. At present, approximately one third of the Nile
water passing through Cairo is pumped out to the coastal lagoons or the sea. However the
water balance cannot be discussed without the corresponding salt balance and a large part
of this outflow is necessary to control water quality (both in terms of salt and pollution
loads) in the northern extremity of the delta, but also in the aquaculture areas and lagoons
‘downstream’ of it.
The Irrigation Improvement Project (IIP) and Integrated Irrigation Improvement and
Management Project (IIIMP) have been launched to modernize irrigation, associating
continuous flow in secondary canals and collective pumps at the tertiary level (mesqa), in
replacement of individual pumps.
This technological intervention also implies social and organizational changes. Securing
physical and financial sustainability of the infrastructure, as well as equity and efficiency in
water management, requires collective action. Water users have to collectively manage a
new technological device, -the pumping station-, and take care of the operation,
maintenance and financial administration. They also have to improve coordination with
other mesqas at the secondary canal level. Water Users Associations have been set-up by
the Irrigation Advisory Service (IAS) in order to take over these responsibilities.
WUAs have received training by IAS and it is assumed that they are capable and willing to act
collectively in an efficient manner, resulting, among other things, in water, energy, and time
savings, as per project design. However, whether and how farmers collectively carry out
their main tasks (operation, maintenance, water management, financial management), and
how this management can be improved, is not well known.
Research topic:
One mesqa (tertiary unit) will be selected in the Meet Yazid main canal command area
(Gharbiya/Kafr El Sheik governorates). Two master students (one Egyptian, one westerner)
will work in tandem to monitor and document how WUAs tasks are performed on a day-today basis, assess irrigation management in terms of equity, efficiency, collective action
problems, conflict resolution. They will also look at the functioning of the WUA itself, the
diversity of farming systems, and the problems they face.
The main objectives are to evaluate the benefits (water, energy, and time savings) brought
by the IIP/IIIMP project, assess day-to-day social dynamics and how collective action has
been organized to respond to collective challenges, give recommendations on how WUAs
can be made more efficient and sustainable.
Benefits: NWRC/IWMI offer a highly competitive scholarship under activities of the Water &
Salinity Management in Nile Delta Project Managed by ICARDA and funded by the Australian
Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). The Master degree scholarship
attributed to an Egyptian student is a two-year program involving research work and thesis
(but support can be limited to one year if the student is to complete his/her class work in
2013). The selected Egyptian student will receive funding that provides tuition and a stipend
to support a student’s educational and research expenses; and be eligible to on-job training
opportunities associated with their research topics, to improve their skills and their
understanding of research approaches.
The western student will have his/her air ticket and research expenditures in Egypt fully
covered.
The two master students will work closely with their respective academic supervisor, as well
as with research supervisor from national research system (NWRC) and international
research organization (IWMI).
Requirements: The students will be registered master students who 1) can still select the
topic of their thesis; 2) can change the topic they have already identified; 3) have adequate
background (and a related topic) and want to dedicate three months (including two of
summer break) to do field work and build their capacity and experience. Field work will
include quasi-permanence on the field for three months (ideally between May and end of
August), with accommodation to be found close to the site surveyed. Good command of
English is mandatory.
They will be students in the field of either social science (human geography, rural sociology),
or water management engineering. The team of students will use a variety of quantitative
and qualitative research methods, including flow measurements, semi-structured interviews,
and field observations, etc.
How to apply: Send your C.V along with supporting documents including two
recommendation letters from your university to: François Molle, IWMI at [email protected]
Deadline : 28 February, 2013