This is the dam on the Nile that Ethiopia is building close to its border with Sudan. Egypt is unhappy with this project as they believe that it will reduce the amount of water available for them downstream.

Is Egypt right to be concerned? Probably, but it's a little more complicated than it seems.

All the water used to generate electricity would flow through the dam. There is no consumption of water in the process of generating electricity, rather the water is only used to spin turbines. After that, the water is released to flow downstream. This would cause a delay in its release but not a reduction in quantity.

Water entering the reservoir would take much longer to reach Egypt, but in theory, there would be exactly the same amount available downstream. Other than the initial few years it would take to fill the dam, there would be no extra consumption of water in Ethiopia.

However, there would very likely be increased evaporation from the much larger surface area of the reservoir compared to the river before the dam was constructed. Also, and perhaps more of a concern for the Egyptian government is that Egypt's main source of water would be under some control of the Ethiopians. If for example, there was a severe drought, and at that time Ethiopia wanted to limit the electricity generated from the dam they would potentially release less water than required by 110 million Egyptians.

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Pablo Manente
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Pablo writes about Africa, oil, politics, human rights and many other subjects. He is a full time... »

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Replies

• Addisu (Feb 21, 2024)
  The Egyptians have 4 hydro electric dams of their own on the Nile river. They don't own the whole river.

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