Water everywhere but who will be able to drink it?

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam pushes back on centuries-old water rivalries as Egypt’s guarantee of water in perpetuity sinks

2 min read
Seen in this broad spectral image, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam reservoir fills near the Ethiopia-Sudan border
Seen in this broad spectral image, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam reservoir fills near the Ethiopia-Sudan border Seen in this broad spectral image, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam reservoir fills near the Ethiopia-Sudan borderPicture: Handout via REUTERS

It is likely that the last thing the engineers who built the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, or GERD, were thinking about when they designed the huge edifice now blocking the upper reaches of the Blue Nile was the chronic and severe medical condition called gastroesophageal reflux disease, also — and unfortunately — known as GERD.

Water wars: The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, built along the Blue Nile, has increased tensions between neighbours Reuters/Tiksa Negeri
Water wars: The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, built along the Blue Nile, has increased tensions between neighbours Reuters/Tiksa Negeri Water wars: The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, built along the Blue Nile, has increased tensions between neighbours Reuters/Tiksa Negeri

Seen from space, GERD, the dam, and its reservoir look a bit like a stomach. And just like the ailment is the backward flow of stomach contents into the oesophagus, so the dam pushes the waters of the Nile backwards into the reservoir. Both can and will cause different kinds of heartburn.

At 1,874km², the reservoir’s surface area is 300km² bigger than Greater London. Its turbines will produce roughly 6,000MW of electricity — juice which Ethiopia dreams of selling to the Gulf.

Egypt, meanwhile, fears that GERD will cut off the thin blue line that gave life to its ancient civilisation and upon which 107-million people now depend.

Since Ethiopia was not part of that agreement, no surprises about how that has all worked out

Ethiopia’s claims that the dam will, in fact, reduce evaporation in Egypt’s own Aswan High Dam, have not had much of a mollifying effect.

From the time the first stone was laid in 2011, Egypt, occasionally joined by Sudan, has tried to hold Ethiopia to a 1929 treaty brokered by the UK that blocked construction of dams upstream, and guaranteed Egypt’s water in perpetuity.

Since Ethiopia was not part of that agreement, no surprises about how that has all worked out.

At one point, Egyptian commentators apparently mused about blowing up this not-so-ancient wonder of the world.

It would take an awfully big device to breach GERD’s gigantic wall — certainly nothing that could be slung under a World War 2 Lancaster bomber.

That doesn’t mean, that someone won’t try, which is why the dam reportedly has Russian and Israeli air-defence missile systems installed. Because water is life, and life is especially hard in these parts.