reporter: here in the nile delta, there are wide canals, and water seems plentiful. this is a fertile area, but people don't appreciate how valuable natural resources are. rubbish floats on the water. although egypt is already dealing with water shortages, farmers often use an ancient irrigation method -- they completely flood their fields. hassan el sayed cranks up his water pump. experts say this old-fashioned method of irrigation wastes much too much water. the solution would be that farmers like hassan should learn how to save water. water shortages in the summer months are nothing new. hassan, however, blames it all on the ethiopian dam. hassan: the dam is already having an impact. this canal always used to be full and i didn't need a pump. there's clearly less water now. reporter: kirsten nyman is from the giz. the german development agency is providing support to a farm school in the nile delta. these farmers don't just need to save water, but must learn to grow more food with less of it. egypt's population is growing dramatically -- there are two million more

here in the nile delta there wide canals and water seems plentiful. this is a fertile area but people don't appreciate how valuable natural resources are rubbish floats on the water. although egypt is already dealing with water shortages farmers often use an ancient irrigation method. they completely flood their fields. cranks up his water pump. experts say this old fashioned method of irrigation wastes much too much water. the solution would be that farmers like should learn how to save water. water shortages in the summer months are nothing new. at all in the ethiopian dam. the downs are already having an impact. on this canal always used to be full and i didn't need a pump. clearly less water now. kiersten eamonn is from the g.i. z. the german development agency is providing support to a farm school in the nile delta. these farmers don't just need to save water but must learn to grow more food with less of it. egypt's population is growing dramatically there are two million more mouths to feed every year even small changes can have major consequenc

my father grew up in a small -- was born in a small village in the nile delta in egypt. but he was able to over time through education come to the u.s. and it's a cliche, obviously but in some sense in a very important sense live the american dream and become american. this is their country and they have a stake in it and they're going to fight for it to become better and that's something we have to remember and draw inspiration from going forward. >> and i want to end on a positive note. with every crisis comes opportunity and it repeats. so there is an opportunity and that is that the mainstream, the majority of religious communities, ethnic communities do not share this nationalist agenda that we're seeing in the world whether we're talking about jewish nationalism, it's not about religion. it's about power. if we want to work for religion, then we have to work for the values and ethics that come from our religions and that is what we can share together. but we have to break out of our bubbles. we have to break out of our cocoons and engage each other. so i invite the

nile in the mid nineteenth century. to this day the old brick dam known as the delta still stands. in a new land as long as i live in the nile was on muhammad ali's agenda it was extremely important because egypt was threatened by drought that if. you wanted more cotton and drain plantations as well since in those days egypt used to export these products to your. muhammad ali himself laid the dams first stone in eight hundred forty seven. but this was only the beginning. as demand for water grew more irrigation projects were completed in the first half of the twentieth century. but it wasn't until that early one nine hundred fifty s. that egypt began to put in place plans to finally control the nile once and for all . in july nine hundred fifty two a group of army officers carried out a coup d'etat. egypt's king was dethroned then exiled a new regime to power. the main office a behind the coup was jamal abdul nasser we're going to gender to modernize and strengthen egypt. adoptive plans for a massive new dam to be built in southern egypt to harness the full potential of the nile. ca