June 04, 2002
Rising Water Table Threatens
Rising Water Table Threatens Egypt's Monuments
In the crowded, garbage-strewn alleys and market streets of Mataraya, one of Cairo's poorest and busiest neighborhoods, lies one of Egypt's most sacred sites—Ancient Heliopolis. The city and other archaeological treasures in Northern Egypt are under serious threat from forces above the ground, but perhaps even more from below.
A leaking sewage system, exacerbated by a rising population, has caused the water table—the upper level of groundwater—to rise and threaten to turn the ancient tombs and temples to dust, said Zahi Hawass, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.
Posted at June 04, 2002 02:29 PM | World
