Qena Governor Adel Labib on Tuesday banned the use of tap water for sanitation and irrigation purposes.
According to the decision, individual violators will be fined LE1000, while violating establishments will face closure for a ten-day period. Repeat offenders will face fines of LE3,000 and three-month closures.
Shop and café employees often use tap water to hose down the pavements outside their establishments in order to cool the streets and reduce the level of dust in the air.
As for the use of tap water for irrigation purposes, Labib said that violators would see the water supply to their respective areas cut off.
The decision is seen as a move aimed at rationing water consumption.
Concerns have recently mounted in Egypt that future water supplies would be affected by Ethiopia's Renaissance Dam project.
On Tuesday, Ethiopia began diverting the course of the Blue Nile, one of the Nile River’s two major tributaries, as part of its project to build a $4.7 billion hydroelectric dam.
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