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Case Study : |
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Water
Conflicts - Case Study
It
is the cradle of civilization, the riverbank where the Egyptian
pharaohs and the pyramids flourished. Today it is the scene
of conflict and a potential theatre for a war over water.
There are nine countries in the Nile basin: Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia,
Burundi, Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Eritrea. Egypt
lies at the mouth of the river, yet it uses the maximum water.
Egypt gets very little rain and has no groundwater and is thus
totally dependent on the Nile. This fact is the source of the
conflict and perhaps the trigger for a future war.
The Nile has two major tributaries, the Blue Nile and the White
Nile. While the Blue Nile originates in Ethiopia, the White
Nile has its source in Lake Victoria in Tanzania. The two tributaries
join in Sudan, before flowing into Egypt.
In 1970, Egypt completed building the Aswan High Dam across
the Nile and created a huge reservoir called Lake Nasser. The
dam prevented flooding of the lower basin, increased the area
of cropland through irrigation, and improved transportation.
It saved crops during droughts and averted mass famines. The
dam also generates a third of Egypt's electricity.
The dam has also created problems. It is now clogged by millions
of tons of silt that the Nile brings from the Ethiopian highlands.
In due course, the silt will make the dam useless. Previously
this silt used to enrich the soil of the Nile delta. Now Egypt
has to compensate for it with heavy fertilizer inputs in agriculture.
Lack of natural flooding has increased salinization and reduced
land productivity.
In 1959, Egypt signed an agreement with Sudan giving itself
the right to 'full utilization of Nile waters'. Of the 84 billion
cu. m passing through Sudan, Egypt is supposed to take 55.5
billion cu. m. Often it uses up a part of Sudan's share too.
The agreement excluded all the other states of the basin including
Ethiopia, the source of the Blue Nile. Ethiopia, which has faced
many droughts, now wants to use the Nile waters to grow more
food. So does Sudan. Egypt, of course, does not want any cut
in the inflow due to economic projects upstream. Its agriculture
and energy production are at stake. Of the water flowing into
Egypt, 85 per cent comes from the Blue Nile. If Ethiopia tries
to build a dam on the river, a war with Egypt could erupt.
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