The Nile River and Transboundary Water Rights

Abstract

The Nile River is a transboundary river shared by 11 countries: Burundi , Egypt , Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea , Ethiopia , Kenya , Rwanda , South Sudan , Sudan , Tanzania and Uganda . Among the riparian countries, Ethiopia is the largest contributor to the Nile River accounting to 82% of the annual flow. Nile River water rights are complex as a result of the basins geography climate and political history. Pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial claims and assertions of water rights are being challenged due to growing population, awareness and water demand. The Blue Nile is the largest of the tributaries, a collection of tributaries in the Ethiopian Highlands, flowing through settlements, farm fields and natural landscapes. Water demand in the basin is continuously growing as a result of population growth, climatic factors, and small to medium scale irrigation and water harvesting schemes. Small dams and control structures are being built on tributary rivers for both hydropower and irrigation. Ethiopia has been investing on multiple dams on Nile river tributaries and is building a major dam, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile since 2011. Although, there are over thirty dams and water control structures on the Nile and tributaries, dams on the Blue Nile raise attention as it is the main source of water for the Nile , The GERD has brought to the forefront the question of water rights of the Nile with a tug of war between Ethiopia and Egypt with the main concern of downstream flow reduction as the result of the dam. Negotiations and agreements have been murky as water rights and water sharing is not addressed directly. This chapter outlines the history of water rights, water use and water controls in the Nile basin, and current realities associated with the construction and operation of the GERD .