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Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Versus Aswan High Dam pp 75–93Cite as

Impacts of Constructing the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Nile River

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Part of the book series: The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry ((HEC,volume 79))

Abstract

The Nile River (NR) is the primary water resource and the life artery for its downstream countries such as Egypt and Sudan. This chapter focuses on the impacts of constructing the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on three main parts of the NR: close to Sudan-Ethiopia border; near Khartoum, Sudan; and the main Nile at the entrance of Lake Nasser, Egypt. The dam is designed to create a storage reservoir that will maintain a holding capacity of about 74 billion cubic meters of water at the full supply level. The impacts are divided into two main categories which are hydrological and environmental impacts. By studying the hydrological impacts, the study delineated the reservoir area to estimate the reservoir volume and its geometrical dimensions for all possible scenarios from starting the dam construction up to reaching the full operation and storage capacity. Results show that the best-accepted scenario for constructing the dam is by filling the dam reservoir with 10 BCM/year or less in 3.8 years. Furthermore, the impacts of the dam breach on Ethiopia and the downstream countries are studied via simulations from HEC-RAS model. In case of dam breach, a severe flood will result in inundation of the Sennar Dam, Sudan, 15 km wide and 200 km long, and the areas in between, until it reaches Khartoum, Sudan. Also, excessive water level with 3 m rise is expected from the dam until it reaches Nasser Lake. By studying the environmental impacts, particularly those of the population displacement, carbon dioxide emissions, agricultural lands, animals, and aquatic life, we will gain a better understanding of potential risks. This chapter discusses successes and many drawbacks of the GERD construction and its hydrological and environmental impacts on the Nile River downstream countries.

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Acknowledgment

The authors would like to acknowledge that the first draft of this paper was published in IWTC 2015 (IWTC18), 12-14 March, 2015, Sharm ElSheikh, Egypt [22, 23].

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Civil Engineering Department, Port Said University, Port Fouad, Egypt

    Mohamed Helmy Elsanabary

  2. Construction and Building Engineering Department, Collage of Engineering and Technology, Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transport – Port Said Branch, Port Said, Egypt

    Mohamed Helmy Elsanabary

  3. Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Aswan University, Aswan Governorate, Egypt

    Abdelkader T. Ahmed

Authors
  1. Mohamed Helmy Elsanabary
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  2. Abdelkader T. Ahmed
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Correspondence to Mohamed Helmy Elsanabary .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Engineering, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt

    Abdelazim M. Negm

  2. McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Sommer Abdel-Fattah

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Elsanabary, M.H., Ahmed, A.T. (2018). Impacts of Constructing the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Nile River. In: Negm, A., Abdel-Fattah, S. (eds) Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Versus Aswan High Dam. The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, vol 79. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/698_2017_228

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