Negative Impacts Of Egyptian High Aswan Dam: Lessons For Ethiopia And Sudan

International Journal of Development Research

Volume: 
09
Article ID: 
16178
14 pages
Research Article

Negative Impacts Of Egyptian High Aswan Dam: Lessons For Ethiopia And Sudan

Abstract: 

River Mega dams are not always having positive advantage, but also have several negative impacts. The negative impacts will affects aqua fresh water lives; alluvial soils environment, fishing and fish migration, water quality; physical changes, agriculture sector, socio-economic, increases greenhouse gas emission, and human health. Since finishing the construction of Mega Aswan High Dam (AHD), in 1971 and even though it’s several benefits, but it has also several negative impacts. The main negative impacts of AHD are alluvial soil water logging, building up of soil salinity, overuses of chemical fertilizers and pesticides due to preventing of fine earth fertility particles by the dam, which affects the food productions and farmers health. Moreover; another impacts of AHD are decrease fishing in quantity and quality especially disappearing of Sardine fish species, contamination of groundwater; irrigation and drainage canals by the residual chemical fertilizers and pesticides, salt accumulation after absence of natural frequent annual leaching of soil by flooding for four months; and increases the vulnerability of delta lands against climate change and the raise of the Mediterranean Sea level that threating the delta coasts and ground water. Land degradation also become a common phenomenon needs to be mitigated. The increase of water demands in Egypt and the obligation of re-uses of all type of wastewater such as agriculture drainage water industry and sanitation will need to create more water treatments and remediation to keep the soil and food production more safety. The same impacts will similarly repeated in Sudan and Ethiopia after the finishing of Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in 2022.

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