Bright sunshine has replaced the rosy light of dawn. But Abel Gaber has no time to admire the view of Cairo on this spring morning. Now in his fifties, the agronomic engineer is too busy supervising his employees on his 130-hectare farm.

His is an unusual – and experimental – farm in the Egyptian landscape, in the governorate of Al Qalyubia in Cairo. As he explains, “The farm is irrigated using treated wastewater from the neighbouring treatment plant” in Gabal El-Asfar, the next-door district.

Designed to protect ecosystems and water resources, the Gabal El-Asfar treatment plant received $58 million in funding from the African Development Bank. It treats 2.5 million cubic metres of wastewater every day, serving 12.5 million people. It is now the biggest facility of its kind in Africa and the Middle East.

The plant has made a positive contribution to the development of economic activities in the region, especially agriculture. “Wastewater that isn’t treated is lost. But we can create a real opportunity by using wastewater to irrigate agricultural land, produce organic fertilisers and generate electricity using the gas produced by the sludge,” explains Heba Moustafa, who is responsible for electrical maintenance at the plant.

The innovative system reduces both the plant’s carbon footprint and its electricity consumption. The plant has “five generators powered by the gas, which produce up to 60% of the electricity needed to run it,” explains the 30 year-old.

For Abel Gaber, the project has been a resounding success. “This has been so successful that we’re planning to set up a new farm in another region. The annual production per half-hectare is 9 tonnes of fruit. We are keen to save water, and we’d like to see more treatment plants like this one, so that water is accessible to farms right across the country,” he says.

Project manager Abdel Wahab Helmy worked on the development and commissioning of the Gabal El Asfar plant.

“This is a unique project and the first sludge-treatment plant in Egypt. Lots of plants are trying to follow its example, by treating sludge and producing gas and ultimately, electricity,” he said. “It’s a very complex project. The African Development Bank offered us both the technical assistance and financial support we needed. We’re all working to the same end.”

Water is a prerequisite for any form of economic and social development in Africa. Protecting this scarce resource by protecting the environment is one of the Bank’s priorities in its work to improve the living conditions of millions of Africans.