2023-07-09 02:00:56
Dr. Abbas Sharaki, a professor of water resources at Cairo University, revealed 7 fallacies in Ethiopia’s statements regarding the Renaissance Dam, through a post on his official Facebook page.
Dr. Abbas Sharaki said at the outset that Egypt is not once morest development in Ethiopia, and we wish our Ethiopian brothers all the best. We are not once morest the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam as a project, but once morest its exaggerated specifications and the danger of that to Sudan and Egypt, and its unilateral construction method that violates international agreements and norms.
Dr. Abbas Sharaki continued that the Ethiopian statements of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, on Thursday, corresponding to July 6, 2023, before the Ethiopian Parliament, contained many technical inaccuracies, which were as follows:
Firstly:
Ethiopia does not intend to harm the downstream countries, Egypt or Sudan, and that the previous storages did not cause harm, and the upcoming storage as well, and Abbas Sharaki explained, “Here we say, does the storage of 17 billion m3 during the past three years not constitute harm? Noting that the return of one billion m3 is regarding one billion dollars. Also, Egypt spends regarding 10 billion Egyptian pounds on every compensatory billion through the treatment of agricultural wastewater, and Egypt has spent tens of billions on treating agricultural wastewater, and others on lining canals, greenhouses, and defining the area of rice with a million acres, even though we planted more From 2 million feddans in 2008, the return from one million feddans (regarding 4 million tons of rice) is worth regarding 6 billion pounds at least in export.
secondly:
Is the fourth storage, which has an estimated capacity of 20-25 billion cubic meters at once, not harmful? This amount is equivalent to 50% of the annual revenues of the Blue Nile, and approximately 45% of Egypt’s annual share, and had it not been for the High Dam, 5 million acres would have ceased cultivation (most of the lands of the valley and the delta).
Third:
Last year, Ethiopia celebrated the end of the third storage in July 2022, and that it will extend the fourth storage until September so as not to harm Egypt or Sudan. Abbas Sharqi said that the truth is that Ethiopia finished the first and second storage in July, while the third last year was on August 11. And not in July, as mentioned, because July means weak storage. Some thought that the fourth storage would be postponed to September, and the truth is that storage instead of being from the beginning of July until the beginning of August, with the opening of one gate (the eastern one) and the passage of one billion cubic meters per month (30 million m3/day) through one of the two discharge gates during the months of July and August, Ethiopia claimed not to harm Egypt and Sudan and made it 2 billion per month by opening the second discharge gate at the end of last June when we noticed an increase in discharge from the Renaissance Dam at that time.
Fourthly:
Did giving Egypt and Sudan together one billion cubic meters per month for two months during the fourth storage prevent damage? Does preventing natural flood waters for a period of 70 days, which constitute 78% of the season, not constitute harm?! Abbas Sharaki explained that the concept of harm in Ethiopia means that Egyptians die of thirst or starvation, and this will never happen (God willing) and thanks to the High Dam.
Fifth:
Ethiopia fills the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam from heavy rains, not from the Blue Nile that originates from Lake Tana, and Ethiopia takes only 5% of the rainwater and cannot take all the rain, and 936 billion cubic meters of rain falls on Ethiopia, which irrigates rainy agricultural lands, pastures and forests and fills Rivers, lakes, dams and aquifers are recharged, and part evaporates, and the remaining between the two sides of the Blue Nile is 50 billion m3 (5% of the Ethiopian rain) flowing to Sudan and Egypt, and therefore Ethiopia benefits from at least 50% of the rain water, and is currently reserving the 5% The rest that used to go to Sudan and Egypt millions of years ago, does Ethiopia want to share with us the benefit of the rain (95%) of the rain is ours, and it takes the 5% of the river?!
Sasa:
The Renaissance Dam faces financial and technical challenges, and every delay costs Ethiopia one billion dollars annually, and the timetable for the Renaissance Dam was scheduled to end completely in 2017, but it has been extended so far. If Ethiopia costs one billion dollars annually for reasons that we have nothing to do with, then Egypt loses one billion A dollar for every one billion cubic meters reserved in Ethiopia, another billion dollars for every 3 billion cubic meters treated from agricultural drainage water, and tens of billions to develop irrigation, lining canals, and other projects.
Seventh:
Ethiopia has planted 6 million trees, and this increases the amount of rain. It is true that planting trees preserves the ecosystem and a slight increase in rainfall, but not an increase in the final water revenue. Because the water needs for agriculture far exceed “evapotranspiration” (a term that refers to water that enters the atmosphere in gaseous form from the surface of the earth and what is on it) from plants or trees, as if the Prime Minister wanted to say that what Ethiopia is holding back in the Renaissance Dam is from the increase in rain as a result The new trees have no effect on Egypt and Sudan.
And when the plant is irrigated, the calculation of its water needs, evaporation, and groundwater leakage is made, just as the rain system is complex and does not depend only on local evaporation.
Abbas Sharaki concluded his post, saying: “Finally, what reaches Sudan and Egypt constitutes only 1% of what falls on the eleven countries of the basin. There is no need for war of words, and let us cooperate for the sake of our peoples, because the water in the Nile Basin is sufficient for many times the current population.
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