Save Egypt's Water: 'Small is Big' - World Water Day

As reported by the United Nations, Egypt is facing an annual water deficit of around 7 billion cubic meters and is expected to experience a severe water scarcity by 2025 if it continues with current trends. 

Save Egypt’s Water is an initiative — in the process of being officially announced as a nonprofit organization — aiming to raise awareness of water scarcity in the country. Its main message is that all Egyptians can contribute to solving this problem by simply changing their daily behaviors.

“Imagine if 10 million Egyptians closed the tap for a minute while brushing their teeth for one year,” said Eslam El Kelesh ‘13, founder of Save Egypt’s Water initiative. “This would mean 3.6 billion liters saved annually, which is around 5% of Egypt’s consumption.” 

Save Egypt’s Water raises awareness by going to schools, universities and high-reach corporations, such as Uber, Nestle Waters, Mars and EG.

“We are working hand in hand with the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources as well as the Holding Company for Water and Waste Water on initiatives to help us in raising more awareness,” said El Kelesh.

The initiative has visited more than 30 schools and universities, organized over 40 events at corporations and sporting clubs, had posts with a reach of over 1 million on Facebook and were featured in several social media platforms, including Cairo Scene and The Daily Crisp.

“We got in contact with over 40,000 people with a success rate of 60%. ," said El Kelesh. "We are currently also installing smart water savers in schools, universities, hotels and hospitals with the aim of saving more than 50% of their annual water usage,. We rely on the power of media and social media to make a change. We believe that 'small is big' -- small actions by individuals can make a big positive impact.”