After a recent satellite image revealed Ethiopia’s preparations for the fourth filling of the Renaissance Dam, where the image showed that Ethiopia opened the western gate of the dam, and left the eastern gate to drain about 50 million cubic meters of water, an Egyptian expert explained that there are 20 damages to Egypt and Sudan.
Egyptian expert Dr. Abbas Sharaki told Al-Arabiya.net that there will be damages that Egypt and Sudan will have to face in the event of the Ethiopian insistence on the fourth filling without coordination, and these damages can be limited to 20 items, adding that the damages of the fourth storage vary between water, political, legal and environmental.
He also explained that among those damages is the imposition of a fait accompli policy, Ethiopian domination of international rivers, and its freedom to determine the quantities of storage and operation during the coming years without any coordination with any country, as well as the possibility of Ethiopia building its future water projects in the same manner as the Renaissance Dam.
water loss
Also, he mentioned that the damages of the fourth filling include the possibility of other upstream countries following the same Ethiopian approach when establishing water projects on the tributaries of the Nile River, and the existence of a water loss equivalent to the total that was stored during the previous three years, which is 17 billion cubic meters, and the lack of this amount from the dam’s reservoir. Al-Aali, stressing that the damages also include a decrease in the electricity production of the Al-Aali Dam as a result of the decrease in the level of Lake Nasser, and the loss of about 10% of the stored water, at least as evaporation and underground leakage.
The Egyptian expert revealed that other damages resulting from the fourth filling include the confusion of Egyptian agricultural policy due to the lack of accurate knowledge of the amount of fourth storage, and the reduction of rice, sugarcane and banana cultivation areas in Egypt, explaining that the weight of the main renaissance dams and the saddle constitutes a new weight for the region by about 150 million tons, in addition to To about 30-35 billion tons, which is the weight of the total water stored this summer, which activates faults and cracks and the possibility of earthquakes in the region.
of the. Abbas Shiraqi
Decomposition of trees and some objects
Shraki added that the damage includes an increase in water pressure on the Sarg Dam, which will hold water for the first time, and the decomposition of trees and some living organisms that affect the quality of the Blue Nile water, as well as a change in biodiversity in the dam area, a decrease in temperature and a possible change in the region’s rainfall. .
He explained that the damages of the fourth filling include the sinking of some mining areas that include quantities of gold, copper, uranium and platinum, the transfer of some associated heavy elements to the waters of the Blue Nile, the seizure of large quantities of silt, and the deprivation of agricultural lands of it in Sudan, which reduces agricultural productivity, indicating the presence of Another harm is Sudan’s shift towards the use of agricultural fertilizers to compensate for seizing silt, which increases the cost of agricultural production and the shift from organic to chemical farming.
Shrinking farmland
The Egyptian expert revealed that the damages of the fourth filling also include the shrinking of the flooded agricultural lands on both sides of the Blue Nile, and the rise in the groundwater level in the Sudanese lands on the Blue Nile and the land of the island, in addition to confusion in the operation of the Roseires and Sennar dams due to Ethiopia’s lack of cooperation in consulting in filling and operating. He also pointed out that among the damages is also the migration of about 30,000 Ethiopians, some of them to Sudan, as a result of the sinking of their lands and homes under the Renaissance Dam lake.
The crisis is escalating
It is noteworthy that a few days ago, Ethiopia announced again that it had finished building 90% of the dam, amid the escalation of the crisis with the downstream countries Egypt and Sudan due to the lack of agreement on filling and operation, and Addis Ababa taking a unilateral decision to act without advice or coordination with the two countries.
In turn, the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, confirmed earlier that his country has the right to defend the capabilities and interests of its people, and takes disciplined positions that take into account all considerations and relations, saying: All options are open in the Renaissance Dam crisis, and all alternatives remain available, and Egypt It has its capabilities and external relations, and it has its capabilities.
He also indicated that his country takes disciplined stances towards the Ethiopian “intransigence”, and Egypt’s impact on the filling of the Renaissance Dam stems from technical matters governed by policies and estimates related to accurate sciences, stressing that they are monitoring and following the situation accurately about what was reported about Ethiopian preparations for the fourth filling.
