Table 6.1 shows the country’s water needs for the last quarter of the
twentieth century calculated according to two different models. Here the
unreliability of the data and the fact that the subject is more or less a mat-
ter of speculation and of political manipulation become obvious. There is
relative accordance in the two models only concerning the water loss caused
by seepage in the irrigation system, as of 17 billion m3
 and 25 billion m3
respectively. The fact that such a great amount of water is available in culti-
vated areas but cannot be utilized by the crops grown shows the low degree
of efficiency of the irrigation which, according to the official statistics, is 51
per cent (CAPMAS 1987: 46).