Nile Water Issues: Egyptian Fish Farming Instead of Crops

 Quartz published on 4 November 2022 an article titled "To Save Water, Egypt Should Farm Fish Instead of Crops" by Tim McDonnell.

Egypt is the top producer of farmed fish in Africa.  Fish farming produces more protein and revenue per acre than crop farming, and with a lower water and carbon emissions footprint per kilo of product.  While water is used only once in agriculture, fish farmers are able to use it several times.  Although there are challenges, the author urges that Egyptian farmers move increasingly from crops to fish to conserve water and increase protein production. 

Nile River Faces Environmental Challenges

World Politics Review published on 4 February 2020 an analysis titled "As the Risk of a 'Water War' Fades, Is It Too Late to Save the Nile?" by Peter Schwartzstein, an environmental journalist.

Decades of mismanagement have left the Nile River polluted and drained. Climate change adds new uncertainty to the region. Erratic rainfall in the larger Nile Basin and especially in the Blue Nile basin near the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is the greatest threat to downstream states' water share in the long term. Nile Basin states need to work fast on tackling the river's pollution, its agricultural problems, and the shrinking per capita water shares as populations in the region increase.

MIT Study on Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently published a study titled "The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam: An Opportunity for Collaboration and Shared Benefits in the Eastern Nile Basin" by 17 scientists known as the International, Non-partisan Eastern Nile Working Group.

The study supported Ethiopia's right to develop its water resources for the well-being of the Ethiopian people, and argued that water storage facilities on the Blue Nile are economically and financially attractive investments.  However, in order to maximize mutual gains of the GERD and other future reservoir developments, four principal issues must be addressed:

1.  Need for an agreement on the coordinated operation of the GERD with the Aswan High Dam.
2.  Technical issues regarding design of the GERD.
3.  Need for an agreement on the sale of hydropower from the GERD.
4.  Potential downstream impacts on Egyptian and Sudanese agriculture. 

Egypt's Nile Delta Slowly Disappearing

The Inter Press Service news agency published a brief article on 29 January 2014 titled "Nile Delta Disappearing Beneath the Sea" by Cam McGrath.  It points out that the highly productive Nile Delta of Egypt is disappearing for three reasons: coastal erosion, saltwater infiltration, and rising sea levels.  Much of the problem is due to the construction of the Aswan Dam on the Nile River above the Delta, which now blocks about 120 million tons of silt annually from reaching and replenishing the Nile Delta.  Most of this silt comes from the Blue Nile and other tributaries in Ethiopia.