Prior to becoming Egypt's president, then-Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met July 3, 2013, with representatives of the political forces to agree on the steps to oust President Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood from rule. The meeting was also attended by Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, as well as Pope Tawadros II, the pope of Alexandria and patriarch of the See of St. Mark.

Despite the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is seen by many in Egypt as an anti-civil movement seeking to establish a religious state, religious institutions are still very much present in every strategy or plan set forth by the state, the latest being the strategy of rationalization of water use.

On Feb. 6, the Egyptian government set up a governmental committee called the Water Conservation Committee, made up of Minister of Agriculture Abdel Moneim al-Banna, Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Abdel Ati and Minister of Religious Endowments Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa, to develop a strategy to this effect.

In fact, the Ministry of Religious Endowments appeared to be the most involved in the strategy’s activities and action plans, including the most recent joint workshop between the water program at UNICEF Egypt, the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation and Egypt's Holding Company for Drinking Water and Sanitation.