MISSION: WATER 34 INTERNATIONAL WATERS MOUNTING CONCERN "These pollution sources eventually cause a lot of diseases to the citizens, such as kidney and liver failure," Abd Elnasser notes. "These diseases cost the country millions of [Egyptian] pounds and affect the Egyptians' capability to live normally." Pressure on the government began mounting to curb pollution as water quality continued to degrade in recent years, Al Salem notes. "Existing laws didn't enforce legal actions against damage to the environment until recently, when the pressure on water quality increased," he explains. "Therefore, the government took major and ambitious steps to establish laws, as well as a monitoring network on the Nile." The country's parliament passed environmental legislation that will require every industrial facility to monitor its own wastewater quality in real time and report the data to the Ministry of Environmental Affairs, says Abd Elnasser. The laws are currently being reviewed by the minister. While rules requiring dischargers to monitor their wastewater work their way through the government, the ministry has begun a sweeping effort to conduct its own continuous monitoring effort. Dr. Sayed Mostafa, head of the Central Water Quality Administration of the Egyptian Ministry of Environmental Affairs, leads a continuous water quality monitoring program that currently covers nearly 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) along the Nile with 20 monitoring stations. The program, which began in the middle of 2015, started in the upper Nile and has been extending north toward the delta over time. "The result is an expanding network of continuous water quality monitoring stations that is extending every year from upper Egypt to lower Egypt and covering all types of water bodies such as the canals, drains and wastewater pumping stations," Abd Elnasser says. "This network will be expanded further in the near future, as it is becoming a national issue to manage Nile water quality." Mohamed Abd Elnasser and Mostafa Ahmed of Giga Systems install a YSI EXO2 sonde along the Nile. Photo Courtesy: Mahmoud Diab "...[It's] a national issue to manage Nile water quality."