Deadline looms to resolve Nile dam dispute

The foreign ministers of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan are aiming to settle a long-running feud over a massive dam project on the Nile River, which has raised fears of conflict over scarce water resources


Egypt: Depends on Nile for 90 percent of its irrigation and drinking water. Fears that filling of dam reservoir could significantly reduce water flow downstream

Ethiopia: Dam promises to provide much-needed energy to drive industrial development and lift people out of poverty

Sudan: Hopes dam can help it substantially expand agricultural production by better regulating annual floods


Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam

Blue Nile
Lake Tana
Addis Ababa
ETHIOPIA
200km 125 miles


EGYPT 
SUDAN
Nile
ETHIOPIA 


SUDAN
Blue Nile

Saddle dam
Keeps stored water from spilling out of reservoir

ETHIOPIA

Gated emergency spillway

Main dam and powerhouses 16 turbines – total capacity: 6,450MW

Estimated flood area

Reservoir
Will flood area of 1,874 sq km at full capacity, with total storage volume of 74 bcm*. First filling phase due to begin July 2020

Guba

5km 3 miles

*Billion cubic metres.
Volume is about 1.5 times average annual flow of Blue Nile at dam location


Sources: AFP, Asharq Al-Awsat, International Crisis Group, IHA, SpringerLink
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