In this 2-part episode we want to take a look
at the Nile River in Africa. The river plays a central role for all nations
trough which it flows and it forces them to cooperate. At the same time, the sharing of water can
also lead to conflicts. We want to focus on these two aspects by looking
at two construction projects along the Nile. For one, the Aswan High Dam, one of the first
and to date the largest Dam along the Nile, and the Grand Ethiopian Rennaisance Dam, which
is still under construction but is already sparking a dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia. - Intro music - For some of this video we will rotate the
map by 90 degrees, so that we can better display the course of the Nile. The Nile river has a length of about 6,650
km or 4,130 miles and is therefore, together with the Amazon river regarded as one of the
two biggest rivers in the world. The Nile has two main tributaries, the Blue
and the White Nile. The white Nile is hereby considered as the
source river. It is longer and rises in Central Africa and
therefore determines the total length of the Nile. Lake Victoria is often referred to as the
origin, but this lake itself has many tributaries of considerable size. The Blue Nile, on the other hand, has its
origins in Lake Tana in Ethiopia. Although it is not considered to be the source
river, it contributes to a much greater amount of the water flow in the Nile. Of all water that reaches downriver Egypt,
about 60 percent annually comes from the Blue Nile And during the rainy months between June and
September, 80 percent of the water originates from here. The two rivers meet north of Khartoum, the
capital of Sudan. Here the reason for both names becomes clear. The white Nile is named after it’s lighter
grey color, which is a result of clay sediments in the water. For the countries along the nile, the river
is of significant importance. However, dependency on the Nile also creates
conflicts between nations. Let's take a look at the water situation in
these countries. Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania suffer water
stress, which means, that there are fewer than 1700 cubic meters of water per person
annually available. In Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan and
Egypt it is even less than 1,000 cubic meters of water, an amount at which it is considered
water scarcity. Securing water supply in these countries is
also a major challenge because of fast growing populations. Taken together, about 390 million people live
in these countries. And In 2030, the population in this region
is forecast to rise to 504 million. An increase of 114 million people. This graph shows the population growth in
percent per year. In 2016, the world population grew by 1.18
percent. The populations of the countries along the
Nile however, all grow well above this value. This illustrates the difficulty for these
nations to provide enough water infrastructure in time. Nevertheless, it is important to say, that
there are very different reasons for the difficult water supply. For example, in Egypt there is a physical
water scarcity. This means that there simply isn’t enough
water available in the region. About 90 percent of the country is desert
and the Nile is the only large source of fresh water. Since 97% of Egypt's water supply comes from
the Nile, the country is much more dependent on the river than the countries from which
the river originates. Just how significantly the river determines
life in Egypt can be seen on this map, which shows the country’s population density. A whopping 98 percent of Egypt's population
lives on just 3 percent of the country's territory. There are other reasons for problems of water supply in other countries. This is illustrated by this map, which shows
the annual rainfall in different regions. In regions where geographically there is enough water available, but can not sufficiently
be used due to inadequate infrastructure, we speak of economic water scarcity. Often, the necessary monetary means for funding
water infrastructure aren’t available. This is the case in Ethiopia, where most of
the water in the Nile comes from. However, this Nile water is mostly from the
rainy summer months, so it is seasonal. And more importantly, the amount of precipitation
during that time is variable, resulting in a number of problems. The main use of fresh water in all countries
we are talking about is agriculture, which is complicated by unpredictable rainfalls. Due to climate change, it can be assumed that
the number of extreme weather events will increase. For countries like Ethiopia, a flood that
makes large areas of agricultural land unusable is just as much a problem as increasing droughts. Nevertheless, there is also a lack of drinking
water. Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in
the world, and especially in rural areas, it lacks in sanitation infrastructure, which
in turn leads to water pollution. In Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, a disturbing
pollution of Lake Victoria has been apparent for some years. The lake is the main source of clean drinking
water in the area, but increasing pollution is driving up the cost of treating the water
to be usable drinking water. In 2011, South Sudan gained it’s independence
from Sudan. Yet in 2013, a civil war broke out, with several
forces fighting for political leadership in the newborn country. Since 2018, there is a fragile peace agreement
in place. The South Sudanese civil war killed almost
400,000 people and millions of people are displaced from their homes, which makes access
to water all the more challenging. While the white Nile runs through the country,
the water supply is challenging in areas not located on the river. The war has also led to a loss of infrastructure,
with many boreholes deliberately destroyed. So issues of water supply in countries affected
by economic water scarcity, have an impact on the Nile, but at the same time, the water
situation is affected by very different factors depending on the country and is a much bigger
topic in itself. So let's focus on the Nile and the many ways
in which countries seek to benefit from it. Historically, the water flow in Egypt was
subject to an annual cycle resulting from the summer monsoon rains in the Ethiopian
Highlands. In Egypt, after months of drought, in late
summer the Nile flood arrived. The Egyptians divided the agricultural land
into flood basins. These basins were surrounded by dams and equipped
with inflow and outflow channels. During the Nile flood they were filled and
then closed for about six weeks, so that the sludge could settle and the soil could be
moistened. The Nile brings more than just water to Egypt. the Nile water carries mineral-containing
silt, which transforms the shore land into fertile farmland. After the water was drained from the basins,
the sowing took place. And it took only three to four months to harvest. In the subsequent drought agriculture was
hardly possible. Thus, only plants that fit into this schedule
could be grown. The original Egyptian calendar, which subdivided
the year into three seasons, flooding, sowing and harvesting, originates from this natural
yearly cycle. In the 19th century, in order to increase
the agricultural yield and grow a greater variety of plants, there was a desire to dam
the Nile water and thus be able to irrigate fields even in dry months. Under the reign of Muhammad Ali Pasha, Barrages
were built on both the Rosetta and Damietta Arms in the Nile Delta to control the distribution
of the water. After Egypt came under British rule, further
plans were created to allow year-round irrigation of more fields. The construction of the Aswan Low Dam began,
which opened in 1902. At the time, this dam was the largest of its
kind in the world and it’s height was increased twice in 1912 and 1934. Due to the success of this dam, which was
able to store enough water for the annual low water period, the plan to build an even
bigger one arose. Construction started on what up until today
is the largest dam along the nile, the Aswan High Dam. This Dam, completed in 1970, created Lake
Nasser, named after the second Egyptian president, who commissioned the dam. The lake extends for a length of 550km, or
340 miles, reaching into Sudan. From here on, it is called Lake Nubia. This is the sixth largest man-made lake in
the world. One problem when creating the dam, was that
historic remnants were located at the now flooded site. Such as the Abu Simbel temples, which originated
during the reign of the Pharaoh Ramesses II. In one of the greatest challenges of archaeological
engineering, the temples were dismantled and reassembled at a new location that is safe
from the flooding. However Buhen, an ancient Egyptian fortress
and settlement, could only partially be rescued. The Horus temple of Buhen is now located in
the Sudan National Museum, the rest of the fortress was flooded by the lake. And more importantly, the Lake flooded an
area which was home to the Nubian people. For the construction of the dam, They were
displaced from their homes, resettled and hundreds of villages were obliterated. Ever since, there are Nubian efforts to be
able to go back to what is left of the land and to receive compensation from the Egyptian
government. Creating a man-made lake like this is fascinating
in how it speaks for our relationship with the status quo of nature and human history. With the lake, the annual flooding cycle of
the nile in Egypt, which has shaped civilisation here since ancient times, came to an end. At the same time, the artificial lake is absolutely
essential for agriculture in today's populous Egypt With this, we conclude the first part of our
two-part series on the Nile. In the second part, we look at a couple of
different dam projects on the river, especially a project in Ethiopia which is currently causing
a dispute.
