Rising Water Table Threatens Egypt's...

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."