Controlled drainage in Egypt

This report documents the design, implementation, monitoring, and economic assessment of controlled drainage (CD) systems within the Controlled Drainage and Irrigation Improvement Project (CDIIR), implemented between 2022 and 2025. The project tested CD technology across three pilot sites in the Nile Delta and Middle Egypt: Hala (84 feddans, 70 farmers), Shereshra (55 feddans, 35 farmers), and Baha (26 feddans, 6 farmers). The pilots represent diverse soil types, farm structures, and cropping patterns. The purpose is to provide the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI) and the Egyptian Public Authority for Drainage Projects (EPADP) with evidence-based recommendations on integrating controlled drainage into Egypt’s drainage modernisation strategy, including the forthcoming National Drainage Programme Phase IV (NDP4). The evidence gathered is encouraging but remains based on the limitations of monitoring duration, sites, and project support during the pilots. It demonstrates potential benefits of CD while highlighting some requirements and uncertainties that must be addressed, before national level upscaling, via a phased implementation approach.