Areas Of Discord…Way Forward

The incessant wrangling between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan over the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is twelve years old. The tensions which now run downstream on the waters of the Nile began in 2011 when Ethiopia started the construction of the GERD which would become the largest in the continent. With a capacity of 63 million cubic metres of water and a total of 16 turbines, it would be capable of generating 6,450 megawatts of electricity, about 15,000 GWH per year. Despite the loftiness of this project, Egypt and Sudan are skeptic with regards to the future and wants that the different points of discords be ironed out before full exploitation begins.
Among the numerous areas of discord are, the amount of filling that can be allowed depending on the season, dry or rainy. Ethiopia, according to the technical documents presented to Egypt and Sudan, did propose to fill the dam in four to seven years to avoid any water shortage to downstream countries. But Egypt has rejected the plan because it would aggravate the severe water stress given its geographical location and the increasing effects of climate change. 
Another sticking point of discord is how the dam will be managed during different periods of drought, which comes down to how much water Ethiopia would be willing to release from the dam reservoir. Without enough water, there will be an increase in droughts or high temperatures favouring rapid water evaporation that could have serious consequences on the stability of the country. Similar situation with Sudan, even though it has changed her initial position and seems to be in favour of the benefits that the GERD may bring, it might also witness a low production of energy or see its own dam damaged by the new ...