Environmental flow assessment and implications on sustainability of aquatic ecosystems in Ethiopia: A literature review on global and national evidences

As part of water resources management policy, water resources projects undertake environmental flow assessments (EFA) to determine how much water should be maintained or released to the downstream part of rivers to protect the health of aquatic and riparian ecosystems and societal wellbeing. In Ethiopia, EFA is being undertaken mostly in...

Operational planning of WEF infrastructure: quantifying the value of information sharing and cooperation in the Eastern Nile basin

Integrating the planning of a multi-reservoir system in nexus with agricultural and electricity infrastructure could alleviate security concerns for these resources in regions where demand is growing while water and land scarcity are exacerbated by climate change and anthropogenic pressures. This study focuses on the benefits of resource...

Alteration of the Fogera Plain flood regime due to Ribb Dam construction, Upper Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia

The Fogera Plain, Ethiopia, is affected by recurrent flooding of the Ribb and Gumara Rivers. A large dam on the Ribb River is under construction for irrigation, but also to reduce flooding. We investigated the effects of the dam on the flood regime of the floodplain wetlands using a combination of hydrodynamic and a rainfall-runoff models....

Distributive Justice and Sustainability Goals in Transboundary Rivers: Case of the Nile Basin

The importance of cooperation on transboundary waters is stated as a target in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG6: water). Cooperation on transboundary water management is critical, particularly because it concerns issues across multiple states, SDGs and targets regarding agriculture, energy, ecosystems,...

Morphodynamic trends of the Ribb River, Ethiopia, prior to dam construction

The meandering Ribb River flows in northwest Ethiopia to Lake Tana, the source of the Blue Nile River. The river has already undergone changes due to several human interventions, such as embanking, sand mining, water extraction and lake level regulation for hydropower. At present, a dam and a weir are under construction to store and divert...

Impact of water resources development on water availability for hydropower production and irrigated agriculture of the Eastern Nile basin

The Eastern Nile riparian countries are currently developing several reservoir projects to contribute to the needs for energy and food production in the region. In the absence of formal mechanisms for collaboration, the transboundary nature of the Eastern Nile basin makes water resources development challenging. The large seasonal and...

Transboundary sediment transfer from source to sink using a mineralogical analysis. Case study: Roseires Reservoir, Blue Nile, Sudan

Sediment accumulation hampers optimal water resources management of reservoirs. In the Roseires Reservoir across the Blue Nile River, in Sudan, about 30% of the storage capacity has been lost by sedimentation before dam heightening (2012), despite regular sediment sluicing and flushing. At the same time, increasing soil erosion in the upper...

Nile Basin Scenario Construction

The Nile river traverses eleven countries in Africa. It is the source of life for millions of people and its aquifers, tributaries, lakes, and surface waters provide valuable nature (wetlands), drinking water, hydropower and it provides large areas of arid soils with irrigation water. Rapid urbanization, overexploitation and the construction of...

Earth observation based assessment of the water production and water consumption of Nile basin agro-ecosystems

The increasing competition for water resources requires a better understanding of flows, fluxes, stocks, and the services and benefits related to water consumption. This paper explains how public domain Earth Observation data based on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Second Generation Meteosat (MSG), Tropical Rainfall...

Estimation of Reservoir Discharges from Lake Nasser and Roseires Reservoir in the Nile Basin Using Satellite Altimetry and Imagery Data

This paper presents the feasibility of estimating discharges from Roseires Reservoir (Sudan) for the period from 2002 to 2010 and Aswan High Dam/Lake Nasser (Egypt) for the periods 1999–2002 and 2005–2009 using satellite altimetry and imagery with limited in situ data. Discharges were computed using the water balance of the reservoirs. Rainfall...