{"id":4082,"date":"2015-04-22T05:44:18","date_gmt":"2015-04-22T05:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revoscience.com\/en\/?p=4082"},"modified":"2020-01-22T04:53:54","modified_gmt":"2020-01-22T04:53:54","slug":"international-experts-analyze-impacts-of-ethiopian-dam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/international-experts-analyze-impacts-of-ethiopian-dam\/","title":{"rendered":"International experts analyze impacts of Ethiopian dam"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Report from conference at MIT addresses potential effects of huge construction project.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Map<\/a>
Map showing the full extent of the Nile with its two main branches, the White Nile, which flows from Lake Victoria, and the larger Blue Nile, which originates in the highlands of Ethiopia. The location of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), now under construction near Ethiopia\u2019s border with Sudan, is shown in red. Copyright: Stratfor 2012<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

CAMBRIDGE, Mass<\/strong>–According to present plans, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) \u2014 now under construction across the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia \u2014 will be the largest hydroelectric dam in Africa, and one of the 12 largest in the world. But controversy has surrounded the project ever since it was announced in 2011 \u2014 especially concerning its possible effects on Sudan and Egypt, downstream nations that rely heavily on the waters of the Nile for agriculture, industry, and drinking water.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To help address the ongoing dispute, MIT\u2019s Abdul Latif Jameel World Water and Food Security Laboratory (J-WAFS) convened a small, invitation-only workshop of international experts last November to discuss the technical issues involved in the construction and operation of the dam, in hopes of providing an independent, impartial evaluation to aid in decision-making. The group\u2019s final report, which was shared in advance with the three concerned governments, is being released publicly today.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On March 23, the three governments signed an agreement to enter negotiations for final settlement of issues surrounding the dam\u2019s operations. Though the agreement is preliminary, it marks a significant step forward.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor John H. Lienhard V, the director of J-WAFS, was among the organizers of the November workshop held at MIT. He says that after the workshop was held, members of that team met with officials in Egypt and Ethiopia to review the technical issues. The group was carefully selected to include top experts on water resources engineering and economics and on the Nile Basin, and was charged with reviewing the current state of technical knowledge on the GERD and its potential downstream impacts. The idea was \u201cto give advice, and do it impartially,\u201d Lienhard says.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe went out of our way to find people who know about large dams and large rivers, and who are not affiliated with any of the three governments,\u201d including people with \u201chands-on experience with dams of this scale,\u201d Lienhard says. The meeting also included observers from Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technical issues<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The working group developed consensus recommendations, which were incorporated into the 17-page report. It reflects agreement reached at the November workshop, says Lienhard, who is also the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Water and Food at MIT.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report raises five technical issues that require resolution. First, the GERD will join the Aswan High Dam as a second large reservoir on the Nile River. Egypt and Ethiopia need to formulate a plan for coordinating the operation of these two dams, so as to equitably share Nile waters during periods of reservoir-filling and prolonged drought. Nowhere in the world are two such large dams on the same river operated without close coordination.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, the design of the GERD requires that a very large \u201csaddle dam\u201d be built to prevent water stored behind the GERD from spilling out of the northwestern end of the reservoir. The risks associated with a possible failure of this saddle dam may not have been fully appreciated, and must be carefully managed.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third, there is concern about the location and capacity of the GERD\u2019s low-level release outlets to provide water to Egypt and Sudan during the reservoir\u2019s filling or periods of drought.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fourth, the hydropower generated from the GERD exceeds Ethiopia\u2019s current domestic power market, and it will therefore need to be sold outside Ethiopia. A plan is needed for such sales, and for the construction of transmission lines to regional markets. A power trade agreement will ensure that the Ethiopian people receive a good financial return on their investment.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fifth, the ongoing accumulation of salts in the agricultural lands of the Nile Delta could accelerate rapidly; additionally, the GERD will enable Sudan to increase irrigation withdrawals upstream, further reducing the water available to Egypt. Studies are urgently needed to identify the magnitude of these potential problems, and to mitigate their impact.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Managing the flow<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the biggest question concerning the new dam is how Ethiopia will manage the process of filling its huge reservoir, whose capacity equals more than a year\u2019s flow of the Blue Nile. Egypt has expressed concerns that if the reservoir is filled too quickly, it could severely diminish the flow upon which Egypt depends; 60 percent of the nation\u2019s water comes from the Blue Nile.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Egyptians are very concerned about what a reduction in the amount of water would mean to them,\u201d says Kenneth Strzepek, a research scientist at MIT\u2019s Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, and a co-chairman of the November workshop.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dale Whittington, a professor at the University of North Carolina and a co-editor of the MIT report, says: \u201cEgypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan are currently hoping that a team of international consultants can quickly find technical solutions to these challenging problems to which they can agree. From our perspective, this is likely wishful thinking. The hard negotiations ahead will require that foreign policy and water experts from each of the three countries have a shared understanding of the technical issues and a willingness to compromise while hammering out detailed agreements on reservoir operation policy, power trade agreements, dam safety, and salinization control.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, Whittington says, \u201cA shared knowledge base and modeling framework is unfortunately lacking, despite over $100 million in investment by the Nile Basin Initiative over more than a decade of engagement.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Report from conference at MIT addresses potential effects of huge construction project. CAMBRIDGE, Mass–According to present plans, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) \u2014 now under construction across the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia \u2014 will be the largest hydroelectric dam in Africa, and one of the 12 largest in the world. But controversy has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":4083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-innovation","category-techbiz"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Nile-River.jpg",920,960,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Nile-River-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Nile-River-287x300.jpg",287,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Nile-River.jpg",750,783,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Nile-River.jpg",750,783,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Nile-River.jpg",920,960,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Nile-River.jpg",920,960,false],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Nile-River.jpg",767,800,false],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Nile-River.jpg",546,570,false],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Nile-River.jpg",600,626,false],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Nile-River.jpg",575,600,false],"newspaper-x-single-post":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Nile-River.jpg",470,490,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-big":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Nile-River.jpg",345,360,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-list-image":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Nile-River.jpg",62,65,false],"web-stories-poster-portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Nile-River.jpg",640,668,false],"web-stories-publisher-logo":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Nile-River.jpg",92,96,false],"web-stories-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Nile-River.jpg",150,157,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Amrita Tuladhar"]},"category_info":"Innovation<\/a> Tech<\/a>","tag_info":"Tech","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}