This Resolution is composed of 5 Sections divided into 66 articles. Section I deals with disinfection of canals. Section II provides for Irrigation of new lands. Section III establishes the Trade Union of Water Employees in New Lands. Section IV refers to the management and use of developed irrigation systems in old lands by farmers. Section V establishes a fund for canal maintenance and development projects. The Minister decrees the establishment of a register for the disinfection of canals. The irrigation of new cultivation lands is to be carried out by the use of advanced technologies. This Decree, in Articles 43–54, concerns the implementation of some provisions relating to irrigation and drainage law, and includes the text that authorizes the creation of water user associations along improved or developed canals in old lands. All farmers using the developed irrigation canal shall form an association or operate and maintain water pumps and irrigation canals and private irrigation equipment, and shall determine the costs of irrigation and collect them from the farmers (art.45). In establishing a water user association, the engineer meets with the farmers to inform them about the decree and to explain the details. At the first meeting, called by the engineer, the farmers elect their officials. The head is called a “shaykh”; there can also be a treasurer and a secretary, as well as a system operator.
Egypt · 1995-02-27