While collecting along the Nile from Damietta to Cairo, from apparently native populations of the species, we stopped off at a waste water treatment station, situated near the village of Samaha, Dakahlia. This is an example of a full scale, sub-surface, horizontal flow, constructed wetland, domestic waste water treatment facility, using predominantly Papyrus … and it's fully operational!
Schema of the waste water treatment facility at Samaha, Dakahlia, north of Cairo, Egypt. The wetland beds are populated with Papyrus.
A summary of the Samaha facility in 2002:
• Established by Abu Attwa Research Center at Suez Canal University and Portsmouth University of the UK
• Wastewater Treatment Volume: 1000 m3/day
• Population of the Village: 10,000 inhabitants
• Total Construction Cost: £E 600,000 (at 07/2016 exchange rates, equivalent to circa £51,000)
• Area of the Project: 4200 m2 (1 feddan)
• Monthly Operation and Maintenance costs are less than £E 1000 pounds
• Manpower required for Operation and Maintenance: Two full-time technicians and one part-time engineer.
Mohammed, a technician at the Samaha plant, was very pleased to show us around and allowed me to collect samples.
With so much industrial use of Papyrus …
… As here at Samaha,
Papyrus in use in beds at the operational Samaha Waste Water Treatment Plant, Samaha, Dakahlia. north of Cairo, Egypt
… but there are also facilities: near 10th of Ramadan City in the Sharkia Governorate, which is experimental but treats both industrial and domestic waste water; another operational domestic plant at Abu Attwa, Ismailia; and an engineered wetland for treatment of waste water arriving through the Bahr El Baqar drainage system at Lake Manzala. …
… And also agricultural scale cropping of it for the tourist-papyrus-paper trade, and to feed these industrial uses, at least near Damietta, north of Cairo and near the Fayoum Oasis (Qarun Lake) south of Cairo and maybe in other places too …
… The need for a clear understanding of the genetic and morphological differences, if any, between the recently discovered populations of this plant on the Nile, i.e. the putatively native plants, and the commercially grown ones, is urgent, in order to establish if there are genuinely native populations to conserve, and to take steps, if needed, to prevent genetic drift.
Rashed, A., & Fahny, H. (2007). The Role of Wetlands in Water Management – Egypt.
Rashed, A. (2002). DRAINAGE WASTEWATER TREATMENT TECHNOLOGIES AND APPROACHES. Technical Report. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.2483.3368
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