| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Africa Horn | |
| Egypt 'deeply concerned' over Ethiopia's stance on Nile dispute | |
| 2013-07-21 | |
| Egypt's foreign ministry expressed on Saturday "deep concern" that the Ethiopian government has not yet responded to an Egyptian invitation to discuss the dispute over Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam project. "Egypt is deeply worried that Ethiopia has not yet reacted to the invitation by Egypt's water and irrigation minister for a meeting in Cairo on the consequences of the dam," foreign ministry spokesman Badr Abd El-Aty said. The statement was given just days after Egypt's interim cabinet was formed, emphasising the new government's commitment to solving Egypt's water crisis.
Ethiopia's planned $4.2 billion hydro-electric dam on the Blue Nile has been a source of concern for the Egyptian government, which fears that the project, if completed, could negatively impact the volume of Nile water reaching Egypt. Sudan, another downstream country, could also be affected by the dam. In the statement, Abd El-Aty stressed that Egypt's "water security is not to be haggled with," condemning Ethiopia's continued construction on the dam while "ignoring the technical committee's recommendations." Abd El-Aty said that "no more time should be wasted in proceeding with the technical studies" on the dam. These studies are necessary to know the degree of the dam's potential impact on water flow to Egypt, according to the statement. The ministry's spokesman also said that he hopes the parties reach a consensus that guarantees the interests of all. For decades, Egypt held veto rights over all upstream projects, following powers granted by a 1929 colonial-era treaty with Britain. Egypt's subsequent 1959 deal with Sudan divided the Nile's waters between the two countries, with Egypt taking 55.5 billion cubic metres of a total 74 billion allocated yearly. According to Egypt's National Planning Institute, Egypt will require an additional 21 billion cubic metres of water per year by 2050, on top of its current annual allotment, to meet the needs of a projected population of 150 million. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #21 Huh, I'm actually hoping this doesn't happen. All the history and species lost. Then again we can clone the damn species back into life. And we have the internet and photo's, so I suppose everything is backlogged. Surfs up. |
| Posted by: Charles 2013-07-21 20:44 |
| #20 Regarding all of the above information, could we say? |
| Posted by: Au Auric 2013-07-21 17:41 |
| #19 If Egypt was pro-active they would make the equivalent of a "run-away-truck-lane" at Qena. One could envision a dike that would handle normal ebbs and flows but could be overridden by a large flow with a channel behind the dike heading toward the Red Sea. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2013-07-21 17:37 |
| #18 Using the emptying of the MegaLake that left the Great Salt Lake as an example model one might well assume the front wash would reach Cairo in 8 to 10 hours and would last for another 15 hours. So spread the destruction across that timeline. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2013-07-21 17:18 |
| #17 Turn is at Qena |
| Posted by: 3dc 2013-07-21 17:14 |
| #16 simple point is that if they ever lost the Aswan Egypt would have a 15.9 kiloton blast rolling down the Nile to the either the delta or cutting a new river bed to the Red Sea (where the Nile currently makes a hard turn to the West). |
| Posted by: 3dc 2013-07-21 17:11 |
| #15 from a simpler script -the joules at the base of the dam are: 66,427,162,890,004 or 15.9KT |
| Posted by: 3dc 2013-07-21 17:07 |
| #14 calculate energy in Aswan Dam At a dam height of meters 111.00000000002 the Joules of potential energy at sea level (med) are : 168,153,292,890,004 |
| Posted by: 3dc 2013-07-21 16:52 |
| #13 backslash n's were actualized by Rantburg software in above (they are new lines) code. Bring last quote's in both print statements to the line before and insert a backslash and "n" before the quote. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2013-07-21 16:43 |
| #12 #!/usr/bin/perl print "calculate energy in Aswan Dam "; # #assumptions: force of gravity at sea level. # 132 cubic km of water behind the dam viewed as # a flat rectanglular solid 111 meters above the dam base # altitude of dam base is 85 meters above sea level. # $g = 9.0665; $total_mass = 132000000000.0; $total_drop = 111.0; $drop_increments = 11100.0; $drop_count_max = 11100; $dam_base_altitude = 85.0; $drop_mass = $total_mass / $drop_increments; $drop_height_increment = $total_drop / $drop_increments; $height = 0.0; $total_energy = 0.0; for ($drop_count = 0; ($drop_count < $drop_count_max); $drop_count++) { $height = $height + $drop_height_increment; $slice_height = $height + $dam_base_altitude; $drop_energy = $slice_height * $drop_mass * $g; $total_energy = $total_energy + $drop_energy; } print "meters of dam height ",$height, " Joules of potential energy at the sea: slice ", $drop_energy, " total ", $total_energy, " "; |
| Posted by: 3dc 2013-07-21 16:38 |
| #11 Notice how they don't see Ethiopia having the right to one ounce of the Blue Nile's water even though the Blue Nile's headwaters are in Ethiopia. Maybe I am just evil but I think Ethiopia should dam the whole Blue Nile cutting off it's water's from the rest of the Nile until their dam fills. If the Egyptians are stupid enough to blow that dam the downstream surge wave might well collaspe the Aswan. It would also be a lesson in humility to both Egypt and Sudan. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2013-07-21 16:32 |
| #10 Stevie Wonder will move the FLA leg of his tour to Cairo - where Stand Your Ground doesn't apply |
| Posted by: Frank G 2013-07-21 12:12 |
| #9 Will Willie Nelson be there? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2013-07-21 12:02 |
| #8 Let me know when the concert is... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2013-07-21 10:48 |
| #7 Wake me when the mass starvation and killing happens. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2013-07-21 10:39 |
| #6 they're depending on the Four Horsemen to keep the population down. Given it's been a year or so since the country effectively ran out of childhood innoculations, that invitation has been issued and accepted. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2013-07-21 10:27 |
| #5 the actual answer is that they're depending on the Four Horsemen to keep the population down. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2013-07-21 10:18 |
| #4 Of course the answer is to bring in Israeli experts to help design improvements and train the farmers in both countries to use them, but that'll never happen. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2013-07-21 09:46 |
| #3 Can anyone do math over there? Yes there are---the mutaween are looking for them right now. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2013-07-21 09:45 |
| #2 Allan will contribute another 2.5 bcm in rainfall. And everyone else stops having allotments. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2013-07-21 09:27 |
| #1 let's see: by 2050, Egypt will need ....ummm.... (55.5 + 21 =) 76.5 billion cubic meters of.....74 billion allocated. That's gonna work fine. Can anyone do math over there? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2013-07-21 09:05 |