Al-Masry Al-Youm has obtained official documents proving that seven different industrial and agricultural pipelines have been dumping hazardous waste into Cairo’s Mariouteya canal, explaining why tons of dead fish have recently been seen floating on the canal’s surface.
The documents reveal that the 6th of October City Municipality has been responsible for the use of the canal as a dumping ground for industrial and agricultural waste. They further indicate that fisheries in the area have been using the canal’s contaminated water for several years.
"I submitted a report to the Giza Municipality pointing out that fish raised in these fisheries were unfit for human consumption," said municipal council member Abdel Hakim Radwan. "We had been investigating the matter at the council only a few days before the dead fish began appearing."
"Hotels in the area also dump their sewage into the canal," Radwan added, "which hasn’t been sanitized in more than 25 years."
Fish producers, however, insist they were unaware that the canal was being used to dispose of industrial waste. "We thought it was being used to get rid of extra irrigation water from surrounding arable land," said local fish producer Saber Bakar.
An official investigatory committee recently found that fish in the canal had been poisoned by waste emanating from the nearby Hawamdeya sugar factory.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
