A stone’s throw from Nile, Egypt’s taps are running dry
KIRDASA — Six months into her pregnancy, Tahani Rabia continues to ignore doctor’s orders and rises before dawn every morning, praying that when she turns on the tap the water will flow. But more often than not, the rusty tap runs dry in her little home a mere 10 kilometers (six miles) from the Nile River. “The doctor told me I had to rest, but I get up around 5 a.m. because if there is any water in the pipes it runs out by seven,” said the veiled 18-year-old, who lives on the outskirts of Kirdasa in Egypt’s Giza governorate. “I can’t carry water back from the Nile because it’s too heavy with the baby and it’s not suitable to drink anyway, so I store as much as I can from the tap and ration our daily use,” she explained. “When we run out, we turn to our neighbors to see if they have any to spare.” The tap in the single room that Tahani shares with her husband hasn’t worked for days, and the neighbors have been a lifesaver. Hers is a story echoed across Egypt, where thousands living just a stone’s throw from the Nile suffer supply and sanitation problems as their government becomes increasingly entangled in a war over water with up-river nations. Egypt has dominated the Nile for decades and refuses, along with neighboring Sudan, to sign a new pact the other countries say would lead to more equitable sharing. .... MORE Source: The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100603com7.html |
|
0 comments
Post a Comment