The Egyptian Western Desert: Water, Agriculture ...
23
8 Problems of Environment
Recently, new health issues started to arise which did not exist in the past such as
headaches and high blood pressure due to increasing temperatures in the summer and
the spreading of a new phenomenon such as air conditioner. The prevalence of these
diseases differs from one village to another depending on the different proportions
of soluble salts in the water. The higher the iron levels in the water, the more difficult
it is to cultivate land as it deposited on top of the soil and increases the proportion of
salt in the ground.
Some of the oases, though not all, are famous for their good environment for curing
many diseases (Siwa, Bahariya, Farafra) using alternative treatments and traditional
medicine derived from the inherited experience of the oasis people. This includes
burial in the sand or the use of sulfur water. Nonetheless, due to the lack of a holistic
developmental strategy and vision for such activities, such natural resources and
therapeutic capacities have not been completely exploited.
The inhabitants of the oases in Egypt cope with the winds blowing throughout
the year in various forms of methods that protect them. The wind carrying soft
sand is a threat to their lives, which might destroy their crops and groundwater wells.
Therefore, they windbreaks from date palm and tree planting. The inhabitants of the
oases called these winds Samum meaning “poison”.
The oases are surrounded by the sand dunes with crescent shapes that affect the
efforts of community members to create a comfortable environment, as they threaten
their farms and houses because they fall in the direction of the wind, which leads
people to move their houses toward south every few months. The village of Jinnah
in Kharga Oasis is an example. It was surrounded by dunes from north, west and
east, so that many houses and groundwater wells were buried. This resulted in a
new distribution of the population as the village was divided into two parts, AlGara and Ain Al-Houd. The villagers dug new wells near their houses (Hussein
1975).
The village Bulaq serves as a good example showing the impact and implications
of the environment on the oasis populations. The village was submerged and covered
by crawling sand from north to south. The vertical migration of the dwelling is shared
by most of the agglomerations, especially the old ones. Old deserted villages are often
used as windbreaks and scavengers and the new dwellings are established at a higher
altitude than the wind extensions. An example is the village of Baris, Al-Max AlBahary. These villages became like a high hill or a hill of sand, where a new village
established over an old village.
Due to the heavy rains in the 1980s, the building materials, kurshif (clay saturated
with salt of stiff saline clay), of Orgomy village was highly affected that some walls
of the residential buildings and houses were collapsed. As a result, people built new
houses at the foot of the mountain, where they used their old valid windows, doors
and the roof that was made of palm fronds.
All of these environmental factors have made the people of the oases in permanent conflict with the never-ending conditions. This ecological influence extends to
23
8 Problems of Environment
Recently, new health issues started to arise which did not exist in the past such as
headaches and high blood pressure due to increasing temperatures in the summer and
the spreading of a new phenomenon such as air conditioner. The prevalence of these
diseases differs from one village to another depending on the different proportions
of soluble salts in the water. The higher the iron levels in the water, the more difficult
it is to cultivate land as it deposited on top of the soil and increases the proportion of
salt in the ground.
Some of the oases, though not all, are famous for their good environment for curing
many diseases (Siwa, Bahariya, Farafra) using alternative treatments and traditional
medicine derived from the inherited experience of the oasis people. This includes
burial in the sand or the use of sulfur water. Nonetheless, due to the lack of a holistic
developmental strategy and vision for such activities, such natural resources and
therapeutic capacities have not been completely exploited.
The inhabitants of the oases in Egypt cope with the winds blowing throughout
the year in various forms of methods that protect them. The wind carrying soft
sand is a threat to their lives, which might destroy their crops and groundwater wells.
Therefore, they windbreaks from date palm and tree planting. The inhabitants of the
oases called these winds Samum meaning “poison”.
The oases are surrounded by the sand dunes with crescent shapes that affect the
efforts of community members to create a comfortable environment, as they threaten
their farms and houses because they fall in the direction of the wind, which leads
people to move their houses toward south every few months. The village of Jinnah
in Kharga Oasis is an example. It was surrounded by dunes from north, west and
east, so that many houses and groundwater wells were buried. This resulted in a
new distribution of the population as the village was divided into two parts, AlGara and Ain Al-Houd. The villagers dug new wells near their houses (Hussein
1975).
The village Bulaq serves as a good example showing the impact and implications
of the environment on the oasis populations. The village was submerged and covered
by crawling sand from north to south. The vertical migration of the dwelling is shared
by most of the agglomerations, especially the old ones. Old deserted villages are often
used as windbreaks and scavengers and the new dwellings are established at a higher
altitude than the wind extensions. An example is the village of Baris, Al-Max AlBahary. These villages became like a high hill or a hill of sand, where a new village
established over an old village.
Due to the heavy rains in the 1980s, the building materials, kurshif (clay saturated
with salt of stiff saline clay), of Orgomy village was highly affected that some walls
of the residential buildings and houses were collapsed. As a result, people built new
houses at the foot of the mountain, where they used their old valid windows, doors
and the roof that was made of palm fronds.
All of these environmental factors have made the people of the oases in permanent conflict with the never-ending conditions. This ecological influence extends to