Water in Renaissance Dam lake not harmful to Egypt: Ministry

CAIRO – 13 July 2017: The Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation affirmed that water accumulation in the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam’s lake is not a filling process of the lake but a result of the annual Nile flooding indicating that it is a small amount not affecting Egypt.

The spokesperson of the Ministry Hossam El Imam told press on Thursday that some media outlets took the press release issued by the Ministry on Wednesday out of context reporting that the filling of the dam’s lake has started.

Wednesday’s statement said that Ethiopia has not begun storing water in the Renaissance Dam’s lake yet. The statement came along the Blue Nile’s flooding season, which starts in June and ends in September.

During that period the flow carries the biggest portion of the water quantity before it slows down in the remaining months of the year. Blue Nile originates at Lake Tanna in Ethiopia.

Imam explained in a press release that the level and height of the constructions would create a lake in front of the dam as water flows through it; that is because the amount of water flowing from the origin exceeds the current dam’s drainage capacity as well as the emergency flood reservoir located in the middle of the dam.

The size of the lake will widen as the size of constructions increases but will regress gradually as the flooding months end, stressing that the current water quantities would not affect Egypt’s water share.

The spokesperson indicated that the filling process in the dam is abound to the Declaration of Principles signed in March 2015 including the cooperation of the three countries – Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan – to deploy the final output of joint studies in order to settle on the guidelines and rules for the first filling of the dam as well as the annual operating rules.

The Ministry conducts the continuous technical follow-up to the situation.
Constructions in the Grand Renaissance Dam started on April 2, 2011 at a cost of $4.8 billion. It is built by the Italian constructions and engineering company Sallini Impregilo headquartered in Milan.