cairene1234

Pollution has become a major problem in Egypt.Cairo is a rapidly expanding city, which has led to many environmental problems. The air pollution in Cairo is a matter of serious concern. Greater Cairo's volatile aromatic hydrocarbon levels are higher than many other similar cities. Air quality measurements in Cairo have also been recording dangerous levels of lead, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and suspended particulate matter concentrations due to decades of unregulated car emissions, urban industrial operations, and chaff and trash burning. There are over 2,000,000 cars on the streets of Cairo, 60% of which are over 10 years old, and therefore lack modern emission cutting features like catalytic converters. Cairo has a very poor dispersion factor because of lack of rain and its layout of tall buildings and narrow streets, which create a bowl effect. A mysterious black cloud (like how Egyptians have named) appears over Cairo every fall and causes serious respiratory diseases and eyes irritations for the city citizens. Tourists who are not familiar to that high level of pollution should take extra care.

Cairo also has many unregistered lead and copper smelters which heavily pollute the city. The results of this has been a permanent haze over the city with particulate matter in the air reaching over three times normal levels. It is estimated that 10,000 to 25,000 people a year in Cairo die due to air pollution-related diseases. It is also estimated that the high lead content of the air can reduce a child's IQ on average by 4 points[citation needed]. In 1995, the first environmental acts were introduced and the situation has seen some improvement with 36 air monitoring stations and emissions tests on cars. 20,000 buses have also been commissioned to the city to improve congestion levels, which are very high.

The city also suffers from a level of land pollution. Cairo produces 10,000 tons of rubbish each day, 4,000 tons of which is not collected or managed. This once again is a huge health hazard and the Egyptian Government is looking for ways to combat this. The Cairo Cleaning and Beautification Agency was founded to collect and recycle the rubbish; however, they also work with the Zabbaleen (or Zabaleen ), a community that has been collecting and recycling Cairo's rubbish since the turn of the 20th century and live in an area known locally as Garbage City . Both are working together to pick up as much rubbish as possible within the city limits, though it remains a pressing problem.

The city also suffers from water pollution as the sewer system tends to fail and overflow. On occasion, sewage has escaped onto the streets to create a health hazard. This problem is hoped to be solved by a new sewer system funded by the European Union, which could cope with the demand of the city. The dangerously high levels of mercury in the city's water system has global health officials concerned over related health risks.There is also more concern about environmental issues among Egyptians than before.

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what do you think every egyptian should do?

cairene1234

I suggest that they build windmills .

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Well this is sadly related to several problems at the same time. Of course, there are things we could do like not throwing garbage in the streets -for God's sake!!- and checking our cars occasionally instead of driving with all these lovely gases coming from the exhaust pipes.

But the more aggressive solutions would be to improve the cultural and educational status of the people so that they appreciate -such problem and similar problems- and understand the different consequences of them. Also would make them think of different ways to cooperate together to fight such hazard. And may be they will understand that they can Protest and Vote against a governor and all those responsible for such problems.

Of course that's a long-term solution. Improving the culture of the people is not done in a month or a year.

There was a group on facebook promoting joining together to buy trash bins and place them in the streets. That's a nice idea . What is more important about it is the idea of Group work between us to solve and face such problems. I will try to find the link to the group and paste it here.

P.S: sorry for adding the link without asking you first. It's better to paste the link from which the text was copied/pasted. Please check the Announcent entitled "tips to use the forums". Sorry again

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oh, you're talkin about energy resources. That's another important thing of course. Europeans recently talked about solar energy and that the shiny sun of the Great Sahara can act as an important source of energy. I don't know why we can't figure out such things on our own .

Anyway, wind energy is already used on a small scale. I think there are two such energy stations in Egypt, one in Za3farana , the other don't know where.
Still and again, we need skilled people to manage, organize, construct and maintain such facilities.

I think 90% -if not more- of Egyptians lack skills in most fields of life. Thanks to the education system, the illiteracy rate, the laziness and zaman el fahlawa.