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Ethiopia announces diversion of course of Blue Nile starts Tuesday Amid Egyptian concerns over water needs, Addis Ababa says it will begin today diverting Blue Nile water to build dam to generate electric power
Ethiopia will divert the course of the Blue Nile Tuesday, one of the Nile River's two major tributaries, as part of its project to build a new dam, Turkish news agency Anadolu reported. The move, which has been called "historic" by Ethiopian government spokesperson Bereket Simon, will outrage Egypt and Sudan, which are downstream, because it will negatively affect their water quotas, Anadolu added. The Renaissance Dam is one of four dams that could be built along the Blue Nile, one of the two branches of the Nile River, which provides Egypt with around 60 percent of its annual 55 billion cubic metres of Nile water. On Monday, Ethiopia's Foreign Minister Gebre-Christos said the dam, which is under construction and will be able to store 84 million cubic metres of Nile water, would be used exclusively for power generation and it would not reduce Egypt's share of Nile water. The under-construction Renaissance Dam has been a source of concern for the Egyptian government. A joint committee of Egyptian, Sudanese, and Ethiopian experts has been meeting for almost two years to examine the plan of construction for the dam and its possible effects on, among other issues, Egypt's share of Nile water. Egypt will need an additional 21 billion cubic metres a year by 2050, on top of its current 55 billion metres quota, to meet the water needs of a projected population of 150 million people according to Egypt's National Planning Institute announced. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/72521.aspx
