Draft bill on water conservation reportedly in the works, possibly ahead of expected impact of GERD: The Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation is reportedly preparing a bill to submit to the House of Representatives that would seek to replace the Nile’s supply of water to all of Egypt’s coastal cities with desalinated water, in addition to a number of other water-saving measures, according to an unnamed source at the ministry speaking to Al Monitor. The bill would reportedly double penalties on the “unlicensed cultivation of water-intensive crops” as well as aquaculture supplied by Nile water. The report also suggests that the water ministry is purposely keeping the public in the dark about this year’s flood levels to help its nascent water conservation and public education campaign succeed. “The Egyptian government should be honest with people regarding the embarrassing water situation in Egypt,” said Mubarak-era water minister Mohamed Nasr Eldin Allam. The ministry’s alleged political approach may also be to “prepare the public for a serious wave of water shortages when the Renaissance Dam starts to operate and be filled,” Al Monitor paraphrases Alexandria University’s chair of its irrigation and hydraulics department Haitham Awad as saying.