NWRC

THE STRATEGIC RESEARCH UNIT
Initiation and Objectives
The Strategic Research Unit (SRU) has been established since 1993 by the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI) and exists as an entity within the National Water Research Center (NWRC) organizational chart. SRU emerged from the coalition of two separate units, the Nile Water Strategic Research Unit (NWSRU) mainly funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Water Resources Strategic Research Activities (WRSRA) supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Both units were the fruitful outcome of cooperative initiative for the Government of Egypt and both CIDA and USAID.
Main objectives of SRU were set to include:
- Synthesizing the knowledge generated by various research institutes of NWRC and other components of MWRI,
- Analyzing water resources issues from broader and more holistic perspective for the benefit of the nation as a whole,
- Initiating new multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary research that supports water resources planning issues,
- Identifying both priority areas where urgent research is necessary and potential problems before they arise, and
- Contributing to enhance public awareness on the importance of rational management of the nation,s water limited resources, so that, if necessary, some tough decisions can be taken with full public support.
SRU Research Fields
The mandate of SRU encourages integration with the various research institutes of the NWRC, as well as multi-disciplinary studies including the following:
- Integrated water resources planning.
- Multi-sectoral water management.
- Marginal water resources including desalination.
- Water and food security.
- Water quality management.