I've been in Egypt and India - they aren't that different, and it's Indian companies that are working on and helping financing these megaprojects in Egypt via the credit line established after the pandemic [0] and it's Indian companies like Wabag that are implementing water treatment projects in Egypt [1].
India uses something like a quarter of the world's groundwater. 20 years ago, it was all open channels, which lose 40-80% of water due to evaporation and seepage. Mexico and Egypt fixed this decades ago.
Nowadays, farmers have shifted to directly using groundwater, and just pump as much water as possible from wells (thus depleting them). This is exacerbated by:
1) Relying on flood irrigation (ie just let water flow across the field and evaporate, vs drip)
2) As temperatures rise, using even more water
The situation was already pretty dire, and despite various efforts, it's getting much worse.
Yes. And they're the same companies that were contracted and subcontracted infrastructure across the Khaleej and ASEAN.
Larsen & Toubro, Wabag, SP Group, EIL, Afcons, and others tend to have a chokehold on implementing and executing these kinds of projects in MENA because they co-finance projects with Gulf capital players who tend to have capital stakes in these Indian players as well.
Nowadays, farmers have shifted to directly using groundwater, and just pump as much water as possible from wells (thus depleting them). This is exacerbated by: 1) Relying on flood irrigation (ie just let water flow across the field and evaporate, vs drip) 2) As temperatures rise, using even more water
The situation was already pretty dire, and despite various efforts, it's getting much worse.
https://fse.fsi.stanford.edu/news/indian-groundwater-depleti...