Opportunities for Woody Crop Production Using Treated Wastewater in Egypt. I. Afforestation Strategies

Abstract

The Nile River provides nearly 97% of Egypt's freshwater supply. Egypt's share of Nile waters is fixed at 55.5 billion cubic meters annually. As a result, Egypt will not be able to meet increasing water demand using freshwater from the Nile and has been developing non-conventional wastewater reuse strategies to meet future demands. The USAID Mission in Cairo began promoting strategies for water reuse in 2004, and guidelines for safe and direct reuse of treated wastewater for agricultural purposes were approved in 2005 (Egyptian Code 501/2005). Twenty-four man-made forests were established that have been useful for assessing the efficacy of using treated wastewater for afforestation. At present, approximately 4,340 hectares are under irrigation with treated wastewater, utilizing a total daily volume of 467,400 cubic meters. Wastewater has been applied to trees along roads, greenbelts in cities, and woody production systems. Currently, a joint USDA Forest Service—Agricultural Research Service technical assistance team has been evaluating the feasibility of scaling up such afforestation efforts throughout Egypt. We describe information about: 1) suitable tree species that have been identified based on local soil characteristics, water quality, and quantity of water supply; 2) the benefits and consequences of using these species; 3) strategies to maximize the potential of afforestation with regard to improving water quality, maximizing resource production, increasing biodiversity, and limiting commercial inputs; and 4) potential long-term impacts on the natural resource base from afforestation. A companion paper addresses irrigation recommendations based on species and local conditions (see Evett et al. 2000).

KEY WORDS:

• afforestation
• forest products
• phytoremediation
• phytotechnologies
• resource production
• water quality

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

R.S. Zalesny Jr. presented this information at the Sixth International Phytotechnologies Conference; 2–4 December 2009; St. Louis, MO, USA. We thank Engineer Wafaa Faltaous (Cognizant Technical Officer, USAID Cairo), Professor Hamdy Khalifa (Director of SWERI), and Dr. Taha El-Maghraby for collaborations and help during our technical assistance mission in Egypt. We appreciate review of earlier versions of the manuscript from: David Coyle, Eric Gustafson, Freddie Lamm, Mick O’Neill, Tom Schmidt, Clint Shock, and Jill Zalesny.