The farmland of the Nile Basin is dissected by a complicated network of irrigation canals and drains. Major irrigation canals originate from the Nile or its Damietta and Rosetta branches. They divide repeatedly to bring fresh water to every plot of farmland. Smaller drains collect excess irrigation water from farm plots and bring it to larger drains which release their water into depressions such as Wadi Rayan in the Western Desert, or into the brackish lakes of the northern Delta.

There are efficient drainage institutions supporting this program in the field of implementation, research and training. The Drainage Research Institute of the National Water Research Center supports research in the field of drainage. The Drainage Training Center deals with drainage technology and applications. The Egyptian Public Authority for Drainage projects is the main organization dealing with implementation of drainage projects

Irrigation potential is estimated at 4 420 000 ha. The total area equipped for irrigation was 3 422 178 ha in 2002; 85 percent of this area is in the Nile Valley and Delta. Rainwater harvesting is practiced in about 133 500 ha in Matruh and North Sinai.

All irrigation is full or partial control irrigation. Surface irrigation was practiced on 3 028 853 ha in 2000, while 171 910 ha were under sprinkler irrigation and 221 415 ha under localized irrigation.

Surface water was the source for 83 percent of the irrigated area in 2000, while 11 percent (361 176 ha) of the area was irrigated with groundwater in the provinces of Matruh, Sinai and New Valley. The remaining 6 percent (217 527 ha) was irrigated with mixed sources. The power irrigated area in 2000 was estimated at 2 937 939 ha.

An extensive National Drainage Programme has been carried out over the last four decades to control waterlogging and salinity. The drainage system consists of open drains, sub-surface drains and pumping stations. In 2003, slightly over 3 million ha of the total irrigated area were drained, of which about 2.2 million ha with sub-surface drainage.

The sub-surface drained area represents more than 65 percent of the total cultivated area. There are 99 pump stations devoted to the pumping of drainage effluent. The power-drained area was estimated at about 1.65 million ha in 2000. Drainage water from agricultural areas on both sides of the Nile Valley is returned to the River Nile or main irrigation canals in Upper Egypt and in the southern Delta. Drainage water in the Delta is either pumped back into irrigation canals for reuse or pumped into the northern lakes or the Mediterranean Sea.

The system of open drains has been under construction since the start of the 20th century. This network of open drains does not solve the problem of waterlogging and salinity. To overcome these problems, subsurface drainage was found necessary to control the groundwater.

The Government of Egypt has launched a drainage program to provide all the agricultural land of Egypt with a complete drainage system.

The drainage system consists of construction of subsurface drainage system, open drains and installation of pumping stations. By the year 2000, an area of 4.98 million acres was provided with pipe drainage. A total of 130 major drainage pumping stations are constructed and a total area of 7 million acres are provided with open surface drainage.