HC Deb 03 August 1898 vol 15 c1190
MR. PIERPOINT

I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been drawn to an article on the pollution of the Nile in the British Medical Journal of 22ud July, wherein it is stated that by dams having been constructed in the Delta the current is in some places entirely stopped, and that, in consequence, poisonous filth accumulates and putrifies in the reaches; whether the water in those reaches is in nearly all cases the only drinking water; whether he is aware that it has been shown by Dr. Greene Pasha that during recent years the mortality during the summer months has in consequence largely increased; and whether he will draw the attention of the Egyptian Government to the state of the Nile in the Delta, and the desirability of undertaking some scheme for doing away with the pollution of the water?

* SIR E. GREY

I have not road Dr. Greene's Report. I am informed that drinking water in the Delta comes from the Nile or from canals fed by the river; but the point raised in the question is one which primarily concerns the Egyptian Government, who have in their service competent advisers for the consideration of such matters.