The War
Of Water
Conflicts
Countries don't like to share their resources, especially if that means that the country will get less of the resource for themselves. This includes water, as it is one of the essential resources that are required to live. Humans can only live for about 1 week without drinking any water, so countries try to get as much fresh water as they can for their people. One of the easiest ways of getting fresh water is by using freshwater sources, specifically lakes and rivers. The problem with rivers is that the major ones usually pass through many countries; the Nile passes through 11 countries. Then all the countries which the river passes through debate over who owns this resource. On this page, I will talk about the main conflicts over the Nile, Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
The Nile
Being the longest river in the world, the 11 Nile countries are having a heated debate over who owns the Nile. There are three main competitors in the competition; Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia. These are the three largest and most powerful of the 11 Nile countries. The Egyptians think they own the Nile because they were there first, but the Sudanese and the Ethiopians think they should have the same amount of rights as Egypt, if not more, over the river Nile. The three countries are nowhere close to coming up with a solution, as a new problem arises over the river all the time. Below are some of the reasons why there is a conflict over the Nile.
Grand Renaissance Dam
Dams are an easy way to generate electricity, so when a country has a river as large as the Nile running through it, it will take advantage of it. There are many dams on the Nie, but the largest and most controversial is the grand renaissance dam in Ethiopia. The Grand Renaissance Dam is a project in Ethiopia that is said to increase Ethiopia's electricity generation by nearly 5x. This will make Ethiopia the largest producer of Electricity in Africa! Unfortunately, this will also affect the amount of water that flows north; some experts say that the amount of water that Egypt receives from the Nile is going to decrease by 25% in the next 3 years, while other experts say that the effect of the dam is going to be very minimal, having no effect on Egypt. Nevertheless, some Ethiopians fear that Egypt might attempt to bomb the dam or even start a war.
Grand Renaissance Dam in Ethiopia
1929 Agreement
The 1929 Nile water agreement gave Egypt control of nearly two-thirds of the Nile. At that time, both Egypt and Sudan were both controlled by Britain, and the rest of the Nile river countries (Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, etc...) Did not have enough power to fight Britain, so they were helpless. Britain gave Egypt 2/3s of the Nile because Egypt had "Historic rights" to the river. Although the agreement is technically still in place today, none of the Nile rivers (apart from Egypt) follows it, as they believe that it violates their rights and that back then they couldn't change it. However, Egypt still believes that they still own the Nile due to the agreement, which is building up tension between the Nile countries
Egypt has "historic rights" to the Nile
Who "Owns" The Nile?
The most controversial debate over the Nile, just like nearly all other grand rivers, is who "Owns" it, more specifically which country should decide what happens with the river. With the Nile, there are three major competitors; Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan. Each country believes that they should own the Nile for a specific reason. Egypt believes that it is their "historic right", as the Nile is the reason why the Ancient Egyptian civilization flourished. They believe that they found it, and so they should own it. However, the ancient Sudanese civilization (Nubia) was there at the same time as the Egyptians, which is one of Sudan's main arguments. Ethiopia, however, believes that they should own the Nile since the Blue Nile river, which contributes to 60% of the Nile's total water amount, originates in Lake Tana. Lake Tana is the largest lake in Ethiopia, and it is said to be the source of the Blue Nile. The three countries are still having a heated debate over who "owns" the Nile.
Lake Tana, the source of the Blue Nile
Tigris-Euphrates
The Tigris and Euphrates flow through 3 countries; Turkey, then Syria and finally Iraq. Unfortunately, tension has been rising between the three countries because of the rivers. Not only that, but terrorist groups, like ISIS, are also taking advantage of the river. Below are some of the conflicts that are occurring over the Tigris-Euphrates river systems. In addition to that, there is a lack of progress over coming up with a solution.
Dams
As mentioned before, dams are an issue with nearly every major river in the world; this issue is also the case with the Tigris-Euphrates river system, as dams are heavily impacting the amount of water flowing downstream. To be more specific, Turkey has been using both the Tigris and the Euphrates to build dams and generate hydroelectric energy. Unfortunately, this affects the amount of water flowing down to both Iraq and Syria. Since 1975, Syria has seen a 40% reduction in water flow from the rivers, while Iraq has suffered a major 80% reduction of water flow. "This is of significance for Iraq, which has historically prospered because of the rich agricultural harvests based on water supplies sourced from these waterways." (futuredirections.org).
Ataturk Dam, which was built by Turkey on the Euphrates
Terrorism
As many people might know, Iraq and Syria have both recently been suffering heavily from an extremist terrorist group called "ISIS". ISIS has taken advantage of the Tigris-Euphrates rivers, basically using them to threaten nearby farmers and citizens. ISIS have stormed and taken control of many dams located in Syria and Iraq, such as the dams located in Haditha and Samara. ISIS also has control of a dam that is 30 kilometres north of the city of Mosul on the Tigris. The dam is built on fragile rocks, and if it were destroyed the wave would destroy the city of Mosul and it might even hit the capital city of Baghdad. Also, in 2014 ISIS took control of the Nuaimiyah dam on the Euphrates. They intended to use it to reduce the amount of water flowing to Baghdad, but instead, all the water that was piled up behind the dam instead went into an irrigation canal, which flooded the town of Abu Gharib and a few more dozen villages. 5 people died, and around 40,000 families had to move to Baghdad
