CAIRO — Ever since reports emerged about the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) and the implications of such a project on Egypt’s water share, there has been a parliamentary tendency supported by the state to enact laws aimed at rationalizing water consumption with the aim of confronting the water shortage plaguing the country.

The Egyptian House of Representatives is to pass legislation in the coming period in line with the state’s vision to rationalize water consumption and counter the effects of GERD. Chief among these is the Irrigation and Water Resources draft law, Hisham el-Hosary, a member of parliament and head of the parliamentary Agriculture and Irrigation Committee, told Al-Monitor over the phone. 

He said that parliament has been discussing this bill recently and is to pass it within two weeks. The government had submitted the bill in August 2018.

Hosary explained that the draft law will optimize the use of existing water resources, develop the irrigation system, tackle the encroachments on the Nile, impose harsher penalties on violators and use groundwater more effectively.