Ethiopia not to fill Al NahdaDam 2017: Source

CAIRO - 07 August 2017: An informed source from the Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation dismissed reports on Ethiopia to start storage of water behind the Renaissance (Al Nahda)dam as groundless.

According to the source, Ethiopia will not start storing water during the current flood season. Technical estimates confirm that this is not possible in 2017 due to structural considerations in the dam's body.

"The reason for the drop of the Nile water level in some areas of the country is normal in this period of each year, coupled with the increased water consumption used to irrigate summer crops, and this does not threaten Egypt’s water security, " according to the source in a press statement on Sunday.

Earlier Addis Ababa-Cairo relations were strained in the aftermath of the construction of the dam. Egypt said the construction would affect its share of Nile water, whereas Ethiopia has claimed the dam is necessary for its development. Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan, agreed to hold the tripartite talks that started in August 2014 and concluded in a signed agreement guaranteeing Egypt’s share of 55 billion cubic meters of the Nile water.