Presentation by Emad Mahmoud (Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, Egypt) at the Hydrology Suite User Days (Day 1) - Hydrology Suite introduction and River Basin Management software (RIBASIM), during the Delft Software Days - Edition 2023 (DSD-INT 2023). Tuesday, 28 November 2023, Delft.

1. Canals Drains
RIBASIM set-up, calibration and initial results
of application
Joint Cooperation in Applied Research Programme – Water
JCAR – Egypt & The Netherlands
Emad Mahmoud
Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation.
Planning sector
Egypt

2. The presentation will discuss the following topics:
✓ Irrigation and drainage systems in Egypt and National Water balance.
✓Major improvements to the RIBASIM model in Egypt
✓Set-up of a new RIBASIM model for Egypt.
✓Calibration stages of the new model.
✓First results for scenarios and strategies.
✓The way forward (inside and outside JCAR A4I).

3. Meska
Drain
Canal
Drain
‫ترعة‬
>= 25cm

4. Canals Drains
Irrigation and Drainage System In Egypt
Irrigation Canals
33,000nKM
Drainage Canals
20,000nKM

5. • Egypt is classified as a hyper-arid country, suffers
from physical water scarcity. The fresh water stress
indicator reaches 104% in 2021 (which means fresh
water resources is over exploited).
• A fixed 55.5 billion m3/year represents 97 % of the
country's total renewable water resources (Egypt’s
share from the Nile water), the remaining 3% being
minor quantities of renewable groundwater plus a
few showers of rainfall.
• Egypt’s total cultivated land is about 3.6 million ha.
included old and newly reclaimed areas.
Country profile

6. Water Resources Dependency Ratio
𝑬𝑹𝑾𝑹
𝑻𝑹𝑾𝑹 = (𝑬𝑹𝑾𝑹 + 𝑰𝑹𝑾𝑹)

7. Water stress Indicators
Water stress Indicator
WSI = Total Fresh Water Withdrawals for all uses
Total Renewable WR - Env Flow Requirements
W Stress Index =1.04
= 550 m3/ capita
Overexploited
WSI = 2.5
that means the Economy is Engaged
Faulkenmark stress Indicator
Water security Index (WSI)

8. Egypt’s Available Water Resources
water resources
81.5 BCM
Conventional water
resources
59.3 BCM
The Nile
River
55.5 BCM
Precipitation
1.3 BCM
Deep
Groundwater
2.5 BCM
Non-Conventional
water resources
22.2 BCM
Agr. drainage
water+
Shallow G.W
16.6 BCM
Treated
wastewater
5.23 BCM
Desalination
water
0.38 BCM
* MWRI 2023

9. Water uses (total Demand)

10. Egypt has developed its strategy for water resources management until 2050
and the National Water Resources Plan until year 2037 titled “Water
Security for All” to support socio-economic development in Egypt and to
face the water scarcity.
Develop
Water Resources
Create
Enabling
Environment
Enhance
Water
Quality
Rationalize
Water Use
• Treatment
Plants
• Sewage
coverage
• Industrial
Waste
• Canal
Rehabilitation
• Modern
Irrigation
• Smart irrigation
and digital
farming
• Desalination
• Sustainable Use
of GW
• Rainfall
harvesting
• Awareness
• Capacity Building
• Enhance
cooperation
Egypt National Water Resources Plan 2037

11. Decision Making Using Planning Tools
• Increasing the agriculture Area.
• The system response under different releases.
• The Impact of the irrigation modernization on system
efficiencies & salinity accumulation.
• Decreasing the Environmental Flow.
• Climate change impacts on crop water requirements &
crop production and Groundwater abstraction. RIBASIM

12. River Basin Planning and Management Simulation Model (RIBASIM)
is designed for any analysis which requires the water balance of a basin to be simulated. The
resulting water balance provides the basic information on the available quantity of water as well as
the composition of the flow at every location and any time in the river basin.
Agricultural Sector Model of Egypt (ASME)
Identify the best cropping pattern considering water, land, and labor. Maximize agricultural returns
with available resources.
Water Accounting
Water accounting is a systematic quantitative assessment of the trends and status in water supply,
demand, allocation and uses, for certain domain producing information. Accurate water accounting
is vital for understanding hydrological process, managing water flows, and for future planning.
Strategic tools for water resources
Management and Planning

13. RIBASIM Model Set-up
Model data base
for base year 2021
RIBASIM
DELWAQ
Historical hydrological
data
1965 - 2021
Results
Measure and strategy
data files
Agriculture
sector
scenarios
Change of
hydrological data
Climate change
scenarios
Interventions,
management
actions
Water Salinity
Crop Pattern plan
data
Water
quality
scenarios

14. Major improvements to the RIBASIM model
Four models developed for NWRP.
• No dynamic links between the four
models (empirical fixed ratios).
• Total of 400 Nodes cluster
• New schematization
From four models to one
• Total of 61 Nodes Cluster

15. Major improvements to the RIBASIM model

16. RIBASIM Model
• Inflow Data:
• High Dam
Releases.
• Rainfall
patterns.
• Agricultural Data:
• Cropped Areas.
• Evapotranspirat
ion.
• Cropping
patterns.
• Cropping dates.
• Crop Factors.
• Yield Factors.
• Other Demands:
• Domestic.
• Industrial.
• Water Reuse.
• Split AIRs.
• Shallow GW.
• Efficiencies.
• Ground Water:
• Extraction
Rates.
• Static Depths.
Input data:
• Water Balance
• Gross water supply
• Groundwater use
• Net crop water use
• Outflow to see and lakes
• Salinity
• Crop production
• Shortage Areas
• Consumtive use
Output data:

17. Model Calibration Results
• Now the calibration (Egypt level)
focuses on:
− Overall water balance (2021 -
2022)
− Crops production (FAO)
− Water Salinity
Supply 2021-2022 RIBASIM
Shallow groundwater 3.88 2.57
Re-use of agr. drainage water 13.71 10.55
Re-use of waste water
Abstracted Demand 2021-2022 RIBASIM
Public water supply abstraction for
industrial and domestic use (excl. 4
bcm cooling water)
12.36 11.10
Agricultural abstraction 60.43 59.37
Open water evaporation (Fish farm) 4.20 2.60
Discharge to the sea 13.25 13.45

18. Calibration Results
Comparing Ministry of Agriculture
(MALR) reported productions per crop
to Model simulated productions.
Using MEASURED salinity data
to evaluate simulated salinity
values on Command Unit
(Agricultural Area) level.
Crop production
Water Salinity
Actual Crop Production MLAR 22 RIBASIM
Rice production (1000 ton) 4,107 4,212
Wheat production (1000 ton) 8,705 8,689

19. Water Balance Under Different Release and
efficiencies
High Aswan Dam Release (BCM) 53 46 31
Field evapotranspiration 37.41 36.7 31.89
Irrigation water supply 56.48 52.62 38.74
Re-use shallow groundwater 3.48 4.66 7.32
Re-use drainage water 10.16 9.64 8.12
Municipal water Demand 11.1 11.1 11.1
Municipal water Supply 11.1 11.1 11.1
Outflow to the Sea 8.23 5.8 3.61
Average canal salinity (ppm) 258 269 308
Wheat production (1000 ton) 8687 7799 5522
Rice production (1000 ton) 4212 4184 1365
Input: SW Eff 70% 70% 70%
System efficiency (%) 84% 89% 91%

20. Water Shortage Under Different Releases
Release: 53 BCM
Shortage : 6.22 BCM
Release: 46 BCM
Shortage : 13.53 BCM
Release: 31 BCM
Shortage : 38.64 BCM

21. New Mega Projects - Drainage water Reuse

22. The way forward
•Water quality parameters
•Update the Model to be used
as a Water allocation model

23. The Working Group

24. Questions ?
Thank you