As an African viewer, it's really cool to see you cover this. I was in Addis, the capital in 2021, spent a day exploring it on their new metro system and was blown away by the massive infrastructure developments in the city.
It was just by accident that Ethiopia lost its seat among the mighty nations of the world for a while but it will always come back to excellence for excellence is its true nature.
@@wsx3676 yea, when they brought them over they didn’t want them to really know where they were from or history and that’s why African Americans can’t really trace roots to where their descendants came from in Africa. Got them over throw a King James Version of the Bible at them and forced them into slavery. Also the Bible was a good way to say when you get hit you turn the other cheek because god wouldn’t like if you didn’t. That’s how a slave by the name of Kunta Kinte lost his foot, he tried to keep the name of where he was from but the slave owner didn’t like that and told him his name was Toby. He insisted on Kunta Kinte as his name even after being almost whip to death and ultimately they cut his foot off. I can only imagine individuals getting caught speaking their native language African Americans surely do not speak any African languages today nor could show you how to cook an African Cuisine.
"So large it has its own classification." I can't be the only person who expected them to call it a "God-dam." It was a huge, approximately London-size letdown when they just called it a "mega-dam."
God-damn, Son - you cracked me up with that one!... Similar to the Titanic - to call it that is flying in the face of Pestilence, Poverty and Privation
I hope this project goes well and all parties can come to agreement. It would be terrible to see such an impressively scaled infrastructure project lead to conflict.
its real tricky because ofcourse you need to reduce the downstream flow to fill the dam and generate energy, the more you let through the longer it will take to fill and start making power, let too little through and youre causing droughts downstream
@@vincentgrinn2665 Indeed Vincent. Engineers, lawyers, and of course politicians. However, pending extreme weather conditions, this can be conducted without conflict.
@@slyknowledged yeah but they are filling it in phases. Adding height to the middle section, slowly filling the reservoir more and more. There are talks of buying Russian or Israelian anti air systems. The complete fill/heightening of the middle dam is expected to take 6/7 years still. And for now they expect the majority of the water to fill the lake instead of going downstream. So still not out of the woods for possible conflict...
Yes there will be. But in general the dam will create a natural habitat for animal, birds especially and.provide them year round food with fish and water. It is really a boon for the area.
@@kazedcat The Assuan dam decreased the flow of the Nile in such a way that allowed the lessepsian species coming from the Red sea to the Mediterranean to pass through the delta without big problems. Where before there was freshwater that acted as a barrier due to lesser salinity, now there is more saltwater. So, no, effects are not local, every human action, even the most silly and insignificant, has an impact on the environment.
@@padox95 Dams don't delete water. If they want to extract electricity from it they need to let the water flow down. No flow equals no electricity. What removes water are irrigations which redirect water in the river into farm fields. So no if the water flow is reduce the reason is irrigation not the dam.
Not sure what Ethiopia is like today, but I remember as a kid growing up in the 80's and 90's that we were taught it was one of the most impoverished 3rd world countries on the planet, and that it largely due to their government given their abundantly rich gold, oil, and gas reserves. We would take part in food drives and stuff at school. I pray that they can find a way to peacefully resolve this so that the dam can be built and the people can have a better standard of living.
Quick correction on your map. The Blue Nile starts in Ethiopia and carries its waters into the Nile River proper at Khartoum by joining another tributary, the White Nile.
@@nicolasblume1046 How does building a dam affect any other down steam country if all the water going through the electric turbines ends up down stream? How?
Thanks for your honesty. I do wonder how Egypt will address the water shortage while Ethiopia fills the reservoir... which I'm guessing could take a few years. It's seems a conflict is inevitable.
@@JackRainfield They have already done 4 Major Fills and its Done absolutely Zero to the Nile. Only 40% comes From Ethiopia, 60% comes from Sudan and Surrounding areas.
From Nigeria's biggest oil refinery in all of Africa to Ethiopia's biggest dam in all of Africa... Keep it up Africa. Greetings from Nigeria to our Ethiopian brothers💚❤. Keep up the good work. Lets continue to develop.
That's great wonderful success of our brotherly people of Ethiopia bravo Ethiopian brothers and sisters 👏🫡💯 love and support from democratic civilian republic of Somaliland ❤️💯
@@RottieM Is what real? The video? We all just watched it. The damn? We all just saw it, and can see plenty of evidence with a simple search. The tensions over the damn? It doesn't take a brilliant geopolitical mind to understand them at a basic level. I know you're spouting some conspiracy theory here, but you didn't articulate well enough for us to know what it is. 😂
Why do people complicate things? The blue nile is in Ethiopia, it's literally flowing through their land, why won't they have the right to use it? Egypt has Aswan which is also pretty huge.
August 2022 Currently, the dam is said to be 83 percent completed. The project manager has announced that the dam will be completed in the next two and half years. So it is almost completed.
@@mlafi7 Or fall trap to prophecy and start war over water and treasure in the region, I would rather see Egypt and all those river cities turn green and prosper.
Why is Egypt complaining about Ethiopia’s dam? Egypt built the Aswan High Dam on the Nile and have been wasting 10-16 billion cubic meters of water through evaporation from its reservoir every year for over 50 years. The Egyptian reservoir has almost three times as much surface area as the Ethiopian reservoir and is located in a hotter climate. Ethiopia’s dam is much more efficient. If any dam should be destroyed, it should be the Egyptian dam, but a smarter person would just reduce the surface area of the lake by lowering its level.
Once the reservoir is filled the flow will be as it is currently. It is a matter of filling it slowly enough as to have minimal impact downstream. Having a reservoir is also a good back up in case of unusually dry seasons...
Going with less water for several years as it fills up is a pretty extreme problem for everyone downstream. And then there's also the problem of having a foreign nation control the taps, they can turn the river off on a whim.
That's not how damns work. Basically every major damning project has led to drought downstream. There's a reason why the fertile crescent isn't very fertile anymore and it's because Turkey and Syria damned the Tigris an Euphrates so much that Iraq has no water. The same thing happened downstream with China's major damning projects.
That's not how it works (2). A massive dam = a lot more surface area = a lot more evaporation. So there would be less water due to evaporation and Ethiopia would be able to get more out of the river too.
@RuhrRedArmy: are u sure evaporation is **significantly** greater?! More likely the dam might **encourage** the ethiopians to increase the use of the river water for irrigation/industrial/domestic usage. In the same way, it is not the Hoover Dam that limits water to the mexicans downstream but the excessive use of water from the Colorado River for Las Vegas, California crops, etc
thank you. that is exactly what Egypt has been saying. Build the dam but fill it slowly so we dont get drought. Ethiopia got greedy though and wants to put political pressure on Egypt. The government is also under pressure from the people as it sold the dream that this is the solution to everything. They’re now at a position where they cant afford to stop/turn around and so the only option is forward but that either means the damn will get destroyed naturally or will lead to a war with Egypt and Egypt destroys the dam itself (more likely)
If Ethiopia manages the dam well, they could stabilize the water flow for the downstream countries, which is good for them. The energy could also be shared between the countries.
When I was at school, many years ago, we were taught that Egypt became a rich farmland BECAUSE of the annual flooding of the river Nile, which spread fertile sediment across all the fields. That will no longer happen. This project WILL seriously change things. Interestingly 95% of the Nile's water and sediment comes down the Blue Nile from Ethiopia in the flood season. Only 5% comes from almost steady flow of the White Nile. It is sad that the three countries can't co-operate, because it is far more sensible, in terms of evaporative losses, to store the water in Ethiopia than in the roasting Egyptian desert of Lake Nasser.
If this dam does what it COULD do for the people of Ethiopia, and thus that entire region of Africa, it WILL be a miracle. I hope they can figure out how to do this peacefully with Egypt.
The pressure on the dam has nothing to do with the amount of water behind it. It has everything to do with how deep the water is at the dam. The reservoir could be only a few thousand cubic meters of water, but if it is the same depth at the dam, the pressure is the same. This blew my mind when i learned this in my engineering degree.
@@IK_MK ???? do you think this is really deliberate? one cool feature in a country of deteriorating infrastructure isn't gonna change the world opinion. Go visit Africa and come and tell us which parts are truly sociable. They are capable of just living off the land and have never needed society/cities/advanced technology that the colonizers forced upon them.
The main point you forgot to include is where each country's claim to ownership stems from. For Egypt, it claims 55.5bcm (~66%) belongs to them and 18.5bcm (~22%) belongs to Sudan and the rest to evaporation according to the 1959 Nile agreement which Ethiopia did not sign. So Ethiopia is not under any agreement that limits the use of her actual 85% share to the main Nile river as a tributary.
It’s not like they refused to sign it. Ethiopia was never even asked to be a apart of that agreement. Compared to how Ethiopia was treated in the past I think they have been very decent in how they have been in there dealings with the countries (Egypt) that deemed them not worthy of being included in the past.
@@jonathankerr4859 yes unlike Egypt who were puppet of british Ethiopia was independent, and less not forget that Egypt tried to invade Ethiopia twice and were defeated in both of them. In short the two countries were not in the same level
@@amanuelshawel3667 amazes me how Egypt just seems to believe that they have the sole right to the entire Nile. It’s a great example by Ethiopia, they have not been antagonistic or made threats in retaliation, being fair and understanding in response to unfair and threatening neighbours.
@@jonathankerr4859 most don't want that horn to be at peace, if those countries United they can chock the most important rout in the world, hence why Yemen is also a war zone.
@@jonathankerr4859 No one can own rivers, just because the rivers major tributary is from Ethiopia doesn't mean they own all of it. There's already an entire country of Egypt which is entirely dependent on Nile for water, I can understand why they are angry about it. Its not like they can look elsewhere for water, they need to negotiate and reach an agreement.
After a long tedious technical explanation about how dams are made where we learn very little we didn’t already know, there’s just one sentence at the end to cover the massive issue of the potential negative impact of this dam environmentally, politically and socio-economically for the whole of the NE Africa region downstream of the dam. That’s where the real story lies here.
What this video failed to mention, at least I didn't see it, is that Egypt already built a dam on the Nile (the High Dam), and flooded house and home upstream from it, so, they don't have much room to complain. And...Sudan has one too.
I live on the Mekong River in Thailand. It is a trickle of it's former glory 15 years ago. China has dammed it up within their borders. Nothing Thailand, Laos, Cambodia or Vietnam can do about it.
I think this video left out some context. Before Ethiopia starting working on this dam, Egypt had the largest dam on the nile (the Aswan Dam) whoch controlled the flow of the Nile. Now they are fearful that Ethiopia will do the same with it's dam. I hope that both sides will resolve the dispute peacefully and that both countries will benefit from this somehow.
Egypt is the last country on the Nile, No harm will ever come from saving the water from destroying our country or just being wasted in the mediterranean sea! On the other hand, Ethiopia building a dam that will be blocking the river flow and effecting the rest of the country's share of the water will never be resolved peacefully.
It's different.. Ethiopia never suffered from the ASWAN dam, which in fact increased water and kept levels more stable to the upstream countries. Building a dam near the head , however, means less water for everybody downstream.
@@sgdeluxedoc well not exactly. It is true that Egypt is at the end of the Nile. However, that does not mean the Aswan dam cannot have an effect on the flow of the Nile. It has and it has impacted Ethiopian agriculture. However, I am unsure if GERD is the best solution. It has increased tensions and will likely reduce water supply to Egypt. It's complicated to say the least.
Well Ethiopian people used to be the butt of jokes because the famine , now they want to keep all the water.they had big swollen belly when starving imagine them with food and water 😂😂😂😂😂
There are already several dams along the Nile the rate of fill is the primary contention of those downstream. Egypt has threatened to “remove” the obstacle to river flow if their water supply is disrupted……
Gonna break out the Lancasters and Drum bombs. It would not be difficult to take out a Dam anymore. You just changed the permanence of these dams, it may take 30 years to build but can be destroyed in one night. They are not a threat to the people down stream for more than a few days.
@@marcspence1905 Water wars are already a thing mate and have been for past 10 years, and they will only be more common in the future, Ethiopia has been on a massive military build up since they started constructing this dam, its not without reasons.
It seems that he did not want to touch the point of the implication of the United Kingdom in the problem. When the United Kingdom made the agreements that everything belonged to Sudan and Egypt, it did not consider Ethiopia, which has led Egypt to think that it has a right to that water, despite the fact that a large percentage is generated in Ethiopia and the Blue Nile .
Then what do you think about millions of people in Egypt should do?, if they can't get water they would most probably flock to Ethiopia as economic refugees and devastate the economy.
How much the Blue Nile contribute to? Legit question. A river is made by its tributaries, and I have no idea how big a impact on the "Egypt Nile" something on the Blue Nile would have. Are we talking 10%? 30%? 70%? How much would it impact?
@@sysbofh About 80% of the flow of the Nile. That's why I think it's wrong that Egypt believes itself to be the owner of the Nile and does not take Ethiopia into account.
@@retired-s5h Egypt should take water-saving measures to reach a middle ground with Ethiopia on the dam. Egypt's position seems too extreme to me, more so when it is not Ethiopia's fault that Egypt did not control the growth of its population or the use of resources even knowing how dependent they were on them.
I think the big issue here is how much water is going to be let through while it is filling, because once it's full the same flow rate will happen downstream as a dam doesn't slow or prevent water from going anywhere. Now if they completely block off the river and the Nile goes dry for 3 years then yeah that is a huge issue and if I was Egypt that uses 85% of that fresh water I'd be quite pissed too.
The bigger issue is that any time there is a drought, Ethiopia will control the tap. They can hoard water behind the dam for themselves and not release to down river countries. During a drought, that water will be very valuable, life and death.
This dam controversy reminds me of something three thousand years ago in one of the participants. A scribe was buried with instructions for the afterlife, instructions that included asserting “I did not stop the flow of water.” So water access was an issue back then also.
actually the issue back then was not limited water, it was, and remains in a lot of places; annual flooding. The Aswan Dams were developed primarily to control flooding, as was the Three Gorges
The reason to mix batch the concrete is also to help with consistency of quality as well as efficient delivery as you say . I worked in road bridge construction and found out how important consistent mixture is as not to have a collapsible situation at some life of the dam.
It's actually insane to let any Chinese company assist with this, all the roads they've built in Africa fall apart right after they're finished, you'd think they'd learn?
@Ratking_Actual China just wants empty gestures to win hearts and minds of a desperate people. While the Chinese funded Junta overthrow the governments perceived as community support.
4:39 - If 85% of your water - or anything else - comes from a single source, you need to develop backups regardless of anything else. Desalination is a viable alternative throughout the middle east and it would behoove Egypt to take advantage of its massive coastline to look into that.
Desalination is not a viable alternative. Rivers are a natural water source which allow for farms to operate with a plentiful and immediate access to water that does not have to be pumped or transported long distances. The land around rivers are often very fertile for farming as well. 11% of Egypt's GDP comes from agriculture which relies on the Nile River. This dam would damage the Egyptian economy and food shortages would be very likely. And with the history of this region, this often leads significant social conflict, war, and then finally a migrant/refugee crisis.
As Ethiopian it feels incredibly proud of what we are doing to overcome our poverty....we are building this dam despite of our poverty by the unity of the people
@@KingK2205 there is no any damn loan on this project, research first. Any country refused to finance it not to ruin their diplomatic relation with Egypt. Ethiopians finance it wholly!
@@arnonym1525 with loyalty to the nation and the hope of a more prosperous future? Money isn't everything, the truth is the only thing that is truly valuable is humans themselves and everything else is just to motivate them into doing things.
One concern with new hydro systems is changes in rainfall as climate patterns shift. We're already seeing reduced generation from many huge hydro projects (eg, Hoover Dam, Glen Canyon Dam) because there is no longer enough rainfall in an average year, and those changes are likely to get more significant over the 100+ year lifespan of a new project. Of course some parts of the world will see more rainfall, not less
The reduction in generation from the Hoover dam is more the result in an overdrawing from lake mead being piped to California. The lake was meant to supply the greater Las Vegas area with fresh water, not an entire state!
Overall rainfall is increasing. Rain is caused by the sun heating bodies of water and evaporating humidity. This humidity then cools and falls. In the winter that water mixes with atmospheric dust and becomes a light fluffy droplet instead if hard ice balls.
I think it's important to talk about where the funding comes from for these projects and possibly what kind of compromises have to be made in order to get that funding.
Haters had Already tried that. Ethiopian people every citizen Government and private sector employees pay some part of thier monthly income . Business man pay annualy along tax. Each transaction in Ethiopia 🇪🇹 pays fraction of its amount to GERD. PROUD , HONORED , FREE CITIZEN OF ETHIOPIA are building their Dam with money, sweat and blood.
@JIMIIXTLAN Correct! China is throwing money in a lot of developing countries. They invested lots and lots of money in the country of Panama to build the new locks.
Fun fact, the Nile is the “longest river” but it is not navigable for huge parts of it. The Mississippi is by far the longest and largest navigable river in the world. Which lends to the US being capital rich as we completely own this easy transport.
This answered all my dam questions, and many more that I didnt even know to ask. There's a lot of dam information here, and it's clear that somebody did their dam homework. I look forward to more of these dam videos, thank you.
I think it's also very important to consider the political and military advantages that this dam allows. In most of the developed world, namely in Asia, Europe, and America, there is a fairly ample supply of water. It certainly gives great advantages if you are able to control water sources, but these countries have ways around it. In North Africa, this is not the case remotely. Water is a major source of conflict in the area, and while in some cases these limitations in water availability can aid in peacebuilding, such as in Israel and Jordan, where the need for equitable management of the Jordan River has encouraged cooperation to manage the resource, it can also lead to wars. In the case of Ethiopia, the Nile is an important resource for both Egypt and Sudan. Of course, there are other tributaries besides the Blue Nile, namely the White Nile, but it still allows them to cut off of chunk of the river's supply, and can very easily be used as a powerful bargaining chip
The US, in particular, does not have an ample supply of water. The aquifers underlying almost all of the midwest have been overdrawn for decades and will be depleted within a few decades. The Colorado River, infamously, has so overburdened for irrigation that it no longer reaches the sea.
They absolutely didn’t state how much energy the project is going to produce. What they did do was showing numbers of installed power, first 5000MW and then 5700MW(2000+3700). I would not say that they are clear on the subject.
As far as I know it, Egypt and Sudan made a deal and split all the water rights between themselves, without even considering Ethiopia and their needs. They are getting what they deserved.
@@zacharykurtz2149 Yes so this makes no sense LOL, the Nile originates from Ethiopia from myriad of smaller rivers that converge into a much larger one, in essence, Ethiopia can literally shut off the Nile if they so wished.
@@am9826 The white nile originates from Lake Victoria and runs through Uganda. Ethiopia is damming the Blue Nile, which originates from a lake in Ethiopia. Its confusing to just refer to it all as 'The Nile' when its really many separate rivers that eventually converge in Sudan into the greater Nile that runs through Egypt. I am not at all an expert but the water that Ethiopia is controlling originates completely from within their own borders.
A few physical corrections: Pressure does not push, pressure prevails (It is not a directed force). Only the height of the water column matters, not the amount of water in the reservoir.
However that has no impact on any other nation, this dam will cause issues for multiple countries their water sources and the things living in it. There will be conflict
title: This Mega-Dam is the Size of London 0:08 - The reservoir behind it will be roughly the size of London 0:17 - while the dam itself will be twice as tall as the Golden Gate Bridge. so 2 Londons??? the Golden Gate Bridge is as tall as half a London??? hmm 🤔
Seeing small breakthroughs of sustainability in Africa is quite beautiful. Of course dams are very risky works in terms of their economical and environmental impact. I hope this project works out well.
i AM GUESSING IT WOULD HAVE COST A LOT LESS TO RUN SEVERAL PIPELINES TO WERE WATER WAS NEEDED , TO HELP PEOPLE AND BUILD A SOMEWHAT SMALLER DAM TO SUPPLY POWER TO WEE IT WAS NEEDED .
Yes I am sure the people that dams effect hope it works to , but is upsetting peoples lives worth it , making them relocate taking their homes and giving them next to nothing in return ,and if and when the dam fails , are the lives lost also worth it .I know oh it is all for the greater good .For who though .
Ive been hanging out for a B1M video on this, although upset it wasnt longer. Fingers crossed you'll be able to make a longer one coinciding with a site visit in the future though 🙏
Well, let's see. They want to fill 74,000,000,000 m³ in three years. If we divide that by 3, then by 365, then by 24, then by 3600, it comes down to taking 782 m³/s from the Blue Nile's total discharge. According to Wikipedia, the Blue Nile's discharge is 1542 m³/s. This means that Ethiopia is planning to roughly halve the amount of water flowing into Sudan and Egypt (both of which also get water from the White Nile) for a period of three years. There's probably going to be constant evaporation from the massive lake as well. Now I haven't done any research, but I can imagine that both Sudan and Egypt get a bit worried about this.
Blue Nile's discharge 1542 m3/s is to the delta (flowing into sea). At Aswan (up stream Egypt) is about 2633m3/s. That means Egypt only use about 1100m^2/s. Since Egypt is throwing away 1542m3/s to the sea, Ethiopia taking 782m3/s should not be a problem as long as they took during high discharge season. I think Egypt is mostly political problem. They are just hedging someone to blame if their people having any problem.
Thank you for doing the calculations for us. I think that any country downstream of such a dam would be right to voice serious concern. If memory serves, Ethiopia has offered to sweeten the temporary drop in river volume by supplying electricity at preferential rates.
@@DiabloDiam77 sudan should thank ethiopia, the border with sudan is less than 40 km from the reservoir's floodgates, which means that all the water released by the hydroelectric plant will be used by sudan, now if sudan uses all this water for irrigation then that is problem between sudan and egypt.
So far they've been taking opportunities to fill it whenever there's excess flow, so its less bad than this. But yeah ideally they'd strike a deal and fill the dam more slowly to avoid causing devastation upstream.
Odd how the project is presented as controversial given its long list of positive attributes: green source of energy and water security that will lift millions of people out of poverty, reduce drought and flooding disasters, serve as a source of jobs, recreation and generate no pollution - wins all around - the world needs more dams like this
If they can pull this off without destroying the flow downriver it will be an amazingly enriching addition to a country that desperately needs it. If the flow gets disrupted and Egypt is affected that dam is as good as gone though.
@@gabrielclark1425 And what happens when water isn't available to an entire country, even temporarily? We're always 3 missed meals away from chaos, and water is even more needed by people.
@@dna9838 and what of the selfish interest of Egypt and others that would prevent Ethopians from coming out of poverty if the dam isn't constructed? I don't see them offering an alternative of equal measure. Ultimately its a difficult question but typically ones duty and dedication to the domestic population comes first.
@@robosoldier11 wonder what the Ethiopian population will think when some sort of war starts with Egypt and Sudan. Will it have been worth it to act antisocially with the neighbours over a shared resource crucial for all Nile countries
Build the Dam FK the haters. There are ways to get water & resources for the other countries (Egypt). Ethiopia isn't breaking any laws as they're acting inside of their territory. Once it's built Other governments can trade or pay money for commodities & resources like the rest of the world
@@dna9838 The British colonial government is the one that made the mistake. Egypt has monopoly over the Water so even Kenya doesn't have much rights to rivers draining to Lake Victoria. Egypt would have thought it out first instead of being selfish
Hey B1M, I live in British Columbia where they are building a Dam in the north of the province that is piggy backing off of another Dams reservoir which is the size of this Dam's reservoir to generate electricity with a smaller impact on the environment - Site C Dam and W.A.C. Bennett Dam
They're damming the white nile regardless. And you've been asked incredibly politely by Canada NOT to do that, but as usual you know best how to keep us all safe.
so, you deny the right for 100+ million people to live because you assume the water is filthy! This is like saying to someone the restaurants here are bad and also your kitchens, don't ever talk about your right to getting food! @@MoreThanRuan Disgusting mentalities.
There will ALWAYS be pros AND cons to EVERY project, every idea, every personal view, every law, every decision you EVER make. Just so, there's also ALWAYS a solution. Some simple, some not so much.
There's never pros on building dams on large rivers. Every time leads to major ecological disasters, animal and plant habitat loss and at the end people end up in even more poverty than before. That's why so many countries are starting slowly to destroy dams because they are realizing that there's more harm than benefit. If those countries instead focusing on delivering clean drinking water and sustainable farming practices and education for their people instead of building dams most African countries problems would be solved. This is all about money and political interest and whoever views it otherwise is an absolute fool.
Ethiopia has the right to do whatever the hell it wants to do. I'm so sick of western media framing shyt as though their perspective is always the "right" one. Egypt has thrived for thousands of years and is shyt right now, no fault of Ethiopia. It's time for African countries south of the Sahara to have their go at it again. Good luck, Ethiopia! Much love from America!
Dam itself does not consume or reduce any water. It is just a temporarily saving during the fill-up for better future, especially during drought. A big reservoir can also increase moisture in the area and should be good for everyone.
@@KiWeWi do they though? I'd imagine that evaporation is dependent upon the exposed surface area, which means that the deeper waters of a reservoir would have less evaporation of a river with an equal amount of water.
Africa is not done with mega-dams. In DR Congo there's a plan to build the Grand Inge Dam across the Congo River. If completed it could fulfill 40% of Central Africa's energy needs. A mega-dam to end all mega-dams.
Sudan needs to reconsider its position, electricity is extremely important for a country, Sudan has 53% access to electricity and Ethiopia has 45% access to electricity while Egypt has 99% access to electricity, clearly Sudan and Ethiopia can relate, without electricity how are businesses going to function? How are computers going to keep running? This is the modern world. Egypt has been interfering in Sudanese politics since 1956 till this day, the Islamic brotherhood originated in Egypt and spread to Libya and Sudan and nothing but chaos prevailed. Sudan is too stupid and idiot to make smart decisions, if water is the problem then make water deals with Lesotho as it would be cheaper compared to western countries, depending too much on the Nile for water is stupid, more plans need to be thought out just in case.
Surely the water cut off down stream to Sudan and Egypt is only for the duration of the dam reservoir build up. Then the same amount of water is released as enters the reservoir. Other wise, if less water was released than before the dam was constructed, it would flood the whole country or at least the region over time and find it's own way down stream? So what's the issue exactly?
Actually, it's entirely funded locally. At its inception, Ethiopia was looking for a loan to fund the project, yet Egypt, being a bad neighbor, used its diplomatic leverage to cock-block the early agreement in principle Ethiopia has with the IMF and World Bank. To their surprise, though, we crowdsourced the entire fund by sealing local bonds. I have a 10-dollar bond I am waiting to cash in my basement that I bought 10 years ago when I was a high school student.
Be aware..it all depends on the schedule of filling the new reservoir. If too much water will be hold back, that could lead to serious problems or even war.
Most of the water is being wasted anyway. Just as long as it keeps flowing to those countries it shouldn’t change anything. VietNam and China have a bad situation with a project like this though :/
How does a dam like this reduce the water flow through the lower areas after it has filled? I can understand the filling phase affecting the water flow, but after that is done, is the water evaporation from the pool or the absorption of water into adjacent terrain through a larger surface area the cause for the reduced throughput further down stream?
perhaps the rate of water through the dam (even at the highest/maximum allowed throughput) is still less than what would have naturally occurred - throughout the year
Kind of interesting how Egypt is all against it, but the next door neighbor Sudan could care less. I doubt the dam is going to change much down river. Egypt should have planned for this decades ago by building water treatment plants.
Aside from significant reduced volume the mega dam can cause reservoir-induced seismicity... this could affect both Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia themselves.....
Once the dam is filled then the water will surely flow onwards to join the white Nile as before. The problems only arise during the reservoir filling with the key parameter being the fraction of the average normal flow held back during this period.
Even after the dam filled. They gonna monitor the amount that flows to egypt whose water supply is 100% the Nile river. Guess what is that called under political agenda. An absolute control.
That is the concept. However, in times of drought like the Hoover Dam in the US instead of just letting the water flow out the nation that controls the dam controls the life blood of the nations down stream.
Ethiopia is refusing to reach and agreement to Egypt, and Sudan. Water usage is not inclusive to the source country it is an international law, Egypt will take action at the right time.
The Nile River originates from two large lakes: Lake Victoria, in Uganda, and Lake Tana, in Ethiopia. In Uganda, the Vitória feeds a large tributary, the White Nile. In Ethiopia, the Blue Nile (another affluent) is reinforced with the waters of the Tana. In addition, the Nile also has other important affluents such as the Arbara, Kagera, and Sudd rivers; in addition, lakes Albert and Victoria. There is no way this dam will negatively affect the Nile River, or reduce its waters.
And it's worth noting that both of those lakes have seen volumetric growth in water since 1991, nothing exponential, but at the same time their fish population has been dying out largely due to backwater pollution. If anything, it will only serve to swell the lake sources further and bottleneck some pollution.
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Can do a video on the Dangote Refinery in Nigeria? It is a big one.
No. Crappy ads in the middle of the video is a no-go.
This damn will destroy nature and kill humans in return
@@mcfishyfirst253 your comment seems fishy son of the fish
@Repent and believe in Jesus Christ I have to poop.
Now when someone asks me how big London is I can say it’s roughly the same size of the reservoir behind the grand Ethiopian renaissance dam, handy.
But how many football fields is that??
@@Blackhawk303 293,765 football fields
Ur a mad lad 🎩
@@Blackhawk303 I think the more appropriate American unit of measurement here is Olympic swimming pools
and neither this will be correct
As an African viewer, it's really cool to see you cover this. I was in Addis, the capital in 2021, spent a day exploring it on their new metro system and was blown away by the massive infrastructure developments in the city.
Thats awesome if things are quickly modernizing in africa
It was just by accident that Ethiopia lost its seat among the mighty nations of the world for a while but it will always come back to excellence for excellence is its true nature.
"As an African viewer" is ridiculous. Do you not know your country of origin?
@@kennetha6594African americans don't know which country they're from unless they do a DNA test.
@@wsx3676 yea, when they brought them over they didn’t want them to really know where they were from or history and that’s why African Americans can’t really trace roots to where their descendants came from in Africa. Got them over throw a King James Version of the Bible at them and forced them into slavery. Also the Bible was a good way to say when you get hit you turn the other cheek because god wouldn’t like if you didn’t. That’s how a slave by the name of Kunta Kinte lost his foot, he tried to keep the name of where he was from but the slave owner didn’t like that and told him his name was Toby. He insisted on Kunta Kinte as his name even after being almost whip to death and ultimately they cut his foot off. I can only imagine individuals getting caught speaking their native language African Americans surely do not speak any African languages today nor could show you how to cook an African Cuisine.
"So large it has its own classification." I can't be the only person who expected them to call it a "God-dam." It was a huge, approximately London-size letdown when they just called it a "mega-dam."
Should be called a dam-nation, as “what in damnation?”
@@doemacmonkey the Egyptians will call it that I bet
God-damn, Son - you cracked me up with that one!... Similar to the Titanic - to call it that is flying in the face of Pestilence, Poverty and Privation
GOD DAM IT - writing software to controlling the God-dam
might end up being called Armaged-dam!
This will be great for Fallout New Africa.
New Africa.... lol why New When its old ?
@@Rubberduck-zt8lm not a fallout player are ya?
@@Rubberduck-zt8lm there was a popular video game called 'fallout: New Vegas"
I hope this project goes well and all parties can come to agreement. It would be terrible to see such an impressively scaled infrastructure project lead to conflict.
well, lot of money can be earned here... so greed kicks in, fear kicks in, dominance kicks in.... 3...2...1... conflict....
Hello Fellow Devoner!
its real tricky because ofcourse you need to reduce the downstream flow to fill the dam and generate energy, the more you let through the longer it will take to fill and start making power, let too little through and youre causing droughts downstream
@@vincentgrinn2665 Indeed Vincent. Engineers, lawyers, and of course politicians. However, pending extreme weather conditions, this can be conducted without conflict.
that's what they said about the Death Star
So not the dam, but the reservoir is the “size of London”.
That's what I also thought about the clickbait title.
like isn´t this obvious? :)
Clickbaiting. A necessary evil on the path to internet success.
That's obvious how can a wall be bigger than London...even the three gorges wall is 2km long...common sense😂😂😂😂😂
In England we also call the lake behind the dam a dam or sometimes a reservoir
When you revisit this at it's completion, I'd wager It'll look more like a fortress, festooned with Surface to Air missile batteries and guard towers.
Jeez. Yeah I bet you are right.
This one is completed, started filling in 2020, made power in febuary 2022 for the first time.
🤣Area51 2.0
@@olgastepanov8479 Except it's not very funny. Afaik it is already equipped with air defense. Makes complete sense, too
@@slyknowledged yeah but they are filling it in phases. Adding height to the middle section, slowly filling the reservoir more and more. There are talks of buying Russian or Israelian anti air systems. The complete fill/heightening of the middle dam is expected to take 6/7 years still. And for now they expect the majority of the water to fill the lake instead of going downstream. So still not out of the woods for possible conflict...
The same happen to mekong river,got dry out in the dry season.massive china dam blocked 50% the water flow down
Who knows how many animals will die dehydrated probably millions
once its filled it has to let trough the same amount of water otherwise overflows, so where did the water go? its not the damn's fault
Would have been interesting to hear if there are any ecological consequences to such an enormous dam on one of the world's most important rivers.
The ecological effects of dams are local. With a giant river like the Nile the impact of the dam 100 miles downstream is minimal.
You bet there will be. B1M doesn't really care about actually delving into the consequences of the projects it covers.
Yes there will be. But in general the dam will create a natural habitat for animal, birds especially and.provide them year round food with fish and water. It is really a boon for the area.
@@kazedcat The Assuan dam decreased the flow of the Nile in such a way that allowed the lessepsian species coming from the Red sea to the Mediterranean to pass through the delta without big problems. Where before there was freshwater that acted as a barrier due to lesser salinity, now there is more saltwater. So, no, effects are not local, every human action, even the most silly and insignificant, has an impact on the environment.
@@padox95 Dams don't delete water. If they want to extract electricity from it they need to let the water flow down. No flow equals no electricity. What removes water are irrigations which redirect water in the river into farm fields. So no if the water flow is reduce the reason is irrigation not the dam.
As a half Egyptian half Ethiopian person the conflict is quite intense. Hope it can all be resolved in a peaceful manner.
Not sure what Ethiopia is like today, but I remember as a kid growing up in the 80's and 90's that we were taught it was one of the most impoverished 3rd world countries on the planet, and that it largely due to their government given their abundantly rich gold, oil, and gas reserves. We would take part in food drives and stuff at school. I pray that they can find a way to peacefully resolve this so that the dam can be built and the people can have a better standard of living.
@@ditherdather oil and gas reserves? you were taught lies
@@TheTororist new findings perhaps, but he couldn't have known as a kid.
@@TheTororistthere are already mass natural gas projects going but sadly sold to Chinese company and the deal is not clear to the public
Screw egypt😂😂
Quick correction on your map. The Blue Nile starts in Ethiopia and carries its waters into the Nile River proper at Khartoum by joining another tributary, the White Nile.
and a quick look on google maps will show that sudan has dams on the blue nile, the Roseries Dam and the Sennar Dam.
@@seanmurray7983 and Egypt has its own mega dam 😂
@@swoldetsadick Yeah but it's the last country that the nile flows through, so they are not affecting any other country
@@swoldetsadick Yeah, The Aswan Dam 😂
@@nicolasblume1046 How does building a dam affect any other down steam country if all the water going through the electric turbines ends up down stream? How?
Block one of the Niles, not both ! It's their part of the river and can do what they like with it. Egypt had no problems building the Aswan dam.
The aswan dam is in the end of the nile
As an Egyptian and seeing how badly we pollute and destroy the nile, only slightly conflicted
Thanks for your honesty. I do wonder how Egypt will address the water shortage while Ethiopia fills the reservoir... which I'm guessing could take a few years. It's seems a conflict is inevitable.
@@JackRainfield They have already done 4 Major Fills and its Done absolutely Zero to the Nile. Only 40% comes From Ethiopia, 60% comes from Sudan and Surrounding areas.
Egypt is a nasty place I agree.
still u will evaporate this dam with one missile when built... fuck Sudan, greets from europe
@@PhatRobsOilsvery false
Sounds like Egypt is in de-Nile😂
Thank you folks! I'm here all week.
Loved it!
From Nigeria's biggest oil refinery in all of Africa to Ethiopia's biggest dam in all of Africa...
Keep it up Africa.
Greetings from Nigeria to our Ethiopian brothers💚❤. Keep up the good work.
Lets continue to develop.
Praising refinery belonging to capitalist 😂
Praising refinery belonging to capitalist 😂
Actually Nigerian one is the biggest in the world if I'm not mistaken
@@soumi1984 Nope not even close, Indian oil refinery is the biggest in the world, as far as I know Nigerian one ranks at 7th or 8th.
Wow, it's amazing how African countries have the biggest things in Africa !
That's great wonderful success of our brotherly people of Ethiopia bravo Ethiopian brothers and sisters 👏🫡💯 love and support from democratic civilian republic of Somaliland ❤️💯
Next level
the nile war
loading....
You think this is real? Why don't you look at an IQ map of the world.
@@RottieM It shows your house as having the lowest IQ though.
@@RottieMwhy don’t you look at how silly of a measure IQ is…. bad crop seasons cause lower IQs 🤣
@@RottieM Is what real? The video? We all just watched it. The damn? We all just saw it, and can see plenty of evidence with a simple search. The tensions over the damn? It doesn't take a brilliant geopolitical mind to understand them at a basic level. I know you're spouting some conspiracy theory here, but you didn't articulate well enough for us to know what it is. 😂
@@RottieMowned
Why do people complicate things? The blue nile is in Ethiopia, it's literally flowing through their land, why won't they have the right to use it? Egypt has Aswan which is also pretty huge.
Except that egypt doesn't affect any fuckin country lol , the water goes to the miditreanian sea anyways lollll
is Aswan dam affecting Ethiopia?
Because rivers flow. If Ethiopia threatens Egypt's very existence by limiting the flow too much, Egypt will destroy the dam, and God knows what else.
@@jwm6314 the nile has 2 sources. Not one,
August 2022 Currently, the dam is said to be 83 percent completed. The project manager has announced that the dam will be completed in the next two and half years. So it is almost completed.
How many London size of land do you need? This is not Australia Northern Territory where it is literally an infinite flat land.
Its June 2023 so it most likely is at 90%+ now
29 August 2024 it is 98% completed and holds 62.5 cubic meter of water
Massive Tree planting needs to be undertaking in the Nile basin region to avert catastrophe should a drought hit.
Egypt must store and recycle water. Perhaps China could ease tension through trade.
@@hackman669 All Nile basin countries need to play their part in water consevation for a forward moving Africa.
@@mlafi7 Or fall trap to prophecy and start war over water and treasure in the region, I would rather see Egypt and all those river cities turn green and prosper.
How exactly is tree planting supposed to help that potential problem??? O.o
@@dynamicworlds1 trees play a big part in the water cycle,the more rain falls upstream the better for all more forest more rain simple solution
Why is Egypt complaining about Ethiopia’s dam? Egypt built the Aswan High Dam on the Nile and have been wasting 10-16 billion cubic meters of water through evaporation from its reservoir every year for over 50 years. The Egyptian reservoir has almost three times as much surface area as the Ethiopian reservoir and is located in a hotter climate. Ethiopia’s dam is much more efficient. If any dam should be destroyed, it should be the Egyptian dam, but a smarter person would just reduce the surface area of the lake by lowering its level.
are you stupid or don't you realize that egypt owns the rest of the nile from that point?
Once the reservoir is filled the flow will be as it is currently. It is a matter of filling it slowly enough as to have minimal impact downstream.
Having a reservoir is also a good back up in case of unusually dry seasons...
Going with less water for several years as it fills up is a pretty extreme problem for everyone downstream. And then there's also the problem of having a foreign nation control the taps, they can turn the river off on a whim.
That's not how damns work. Basically every major damning project has led to drought downstream. There's a reason why the fertile crescent isn't very fertile anymore and it's because Turkey and Syria damned the Tigris an Euphrates so much that Iraq has no water. The same thing happened downstream with China's major damning projects.
That's not how it works (2). A massive dam = a lot more surface area = a lot more evaporation. So there would be less water due to evaporation and Ethiopia would be able to get more out of the river too.
@RuhrRedArmy: are u sure evaporation is **significantly** greater?! More likely the dam might **encourage** the ethiopians to increase the use of the river water for irrigation/industrial/domestic usage.
In the same way, it is not the Hoover Dam that limits water to the mexicans downstream but the excessive use of water from the Colorado River for Las Vegas, California crops, etc
thank you. that is exactly what Egypt has been saying. Build the dam but fill it slowly so we dont get drought. Ethiopia got greedy though and wants to put political pressure on Egypt. The government is also under pressure from the people as it sold the dream that this is the solution to everything. They’re now at a position where they cant afford to stop/turn around and so the only option is forward but that either means the damn will get destroyed naturally or will lead to a war with Egypt and Egypt destroys the dam itself (more likely)
If Ethiopia manages the dam well, they could stabilize the water flow for the downstream countries, which is good for them. The energy could also be shared between the countries.
HAHAH YOU REPEAT THE WORDS LIKE A SHEEP SO FKN IGNORANT , SUDAN AND EGYPT ALREADY DON'T HAVE WATER TO DRINK OR PLANT
When I was at school, many years ago, we were taught that Egypt became a rich farmland BECAUSE of the annual flooding of the river Nile, which spread fertile sediment across all the fields. That will no longer happen. This project WILL seriously change things. Interestingly 95% of the Nile's water and sediment comes down the Blue Nile from Ethiopia in the flood season. Only 5% comes from almost steady flow of the White Nile. It is sad that the three countries can't co-operate, because it is far more sensible, in terms of evaporative losses, to store the water in Ethiopia than in the roasting Egyptian desert of Lake Nasser.
Yeah and ethiopia can also cut off the water supply to the downstream countries which is really bad for egypt.
Share??? Yeah, I feel this will never happen once this project wraps. This entire area is likely headed to some serious unrest, over this dam!!!
@@tima.478 Every social problem relies on there being plenty of people who believe there is a problem.
If this dam does what it COULD do for the people of Ethiopia, and thus that entire region of Africa, it WILL be a miracle. I hope they can figure out how to do this peacefully with Egypt.
follow the money
The pressure on the dam has nothing to do with the amount of water behind it. It has everything to do with how deep the water is at the dam. The reservoir could be only a few thousand cubic meters of water, but if it is the same depth at the dam, the pressure is the same. This blew my mind when i learned this in my engineering degree.
So if I have to calculate something to make a flood barrier, the factor I need is just the depth of the water ?
Amazing so a canal gate could literally hold back a river
Pressure is an interesting phenomenon in physics.
@MambonumberNeegar hahaha imagine digging a small trench up to the ocean, you could block 'the entire ocean' with a board
@@charlespartrick528 so a rectangular glass box filled with water. Would exert different pressure when standing tall or laying flat.
I love when you do vids on projects in Africa, there is so much happening there that world needs to see, keep up the good work 👏
Nooo nothin is happening here. Nothing to see here folks, Europeans please stay in Europe, Arabs stay in the middle east
I agree, only ever get 1 side of the story
Mostly being funded by Russia and China
Africans themselves have literally nothing to do with building it
@@IK_MK ???? do you think this is really deliberate? one cool feature in a country of deteriorating infrastructure isn't gonna change the world opinion. Go visit Africa and come and tell us which parts are truly sociable. They are capable of just living off the land and have never needed society/cities/advanced technology that the colonizers forced upon them.
The main point you forgot to include is where each country's claim to ownership stems from. For Egypt, it claims 55.5bcm (~66%) belongs to them and 18.5bcm (~22%) belongs to Sudan and the rest to evaporation according to the 1959 Nile agreement which Ethiopia did not sign. So Ethiopia is not under any agreement that limits the use of her actual 85% share to the main Nile river as a tributary.
It’s not like they refused to sign it. Ethiopia was never even asked to be a apart of that agreement. Compared to how Ethiopia was treated in the past I think they have been very decent in how they have been in there dealings with the countries (Egypt) that deemed them not worthy of being included in the past.
@@jonathankerr4859 yes unlike Egypt who were puppet of british Ethiopia was independent, and less not forget that Egypt tried to invade Ethiopia twice and were defeated in both of them. In short the two countries were not in the same level
@@amanuelshawel3667 amazes me how Egypt just seems to believe that they have the sole right to the entire Nile.
It’s a great example by Ethiopia, they have not been antagonistic or made threats in retaliation, being fair and understanding in response to unfair and threatening neighbours.
@@jonathankerr4859 most don't want that horn to be at peace, if those countries United they can chock the most important rout in the world, hence why Yemen is also a war zone.
@@jonathankerr4859 No one can own rivers, just because the rivers major tributary is from Ethiopia doesn't mean they own all of it. There's already an entire country of Egypt which is entirely dependent on Nile for water, I can understand why they are angry about it. Its not like they can look elsewhere for water, they need to negotiate and reach an agreement.
After a long tedious technical explanation about how dams are made where we learn very little we didn’t already know, there’s just one sentence at the end to cover the massive issue of the potential negative impact of this dam environmentally, politically and socio-economically for the whole of the NE Africa region downstream of the dam. That’s where the real story lies here.
What this video failed to mention, at least I didn't see it, is that Egypt already built a dam on the Nile (the High Dam), and flooded house and home upstream from it, so, they don't have much room to complain. And...Sudan has one too.
I live on the Mekong River in Thailand. It is a trickle of it's former glory 15 years ago. China has dammed it up within their borders. Nothing Thailand, Laos, Cambodia or Vietnam can do about it.
That damn dam is damned impressive!
I don't give a....phock
I would have said "That damned dam is damn impressive".
But hey ho, tomato tomatoe.
Yeah, but will they have any damn bait?
im the 100 th
Funded by China 🇨🇳
I think this video left out some context. Before Ethiopia starting working on this dam, Egypt had the largest dam on the nile (the Aswan Dam) whoch controlled the flow of the Nile. Now they are fearful that Ethiopia will do the same with it's dam. I hope that both sides will resolve the dispute peacefully and that both countries will benefit from this somehow.
Egypt is the last country on the Nile, No harm will ever come from saving the water from destroying our country or just being wasted in the mediterranean sea! On the other hand, Ethiopia building a dam that will be blocking the river flow and effecting the rest of the country's share of the water will never be resolved peacefully.
It's different.. Ethiopia never suffered from the ASWAN dam, which in fact increased water and kept levels more stable to the upstream countries. Building a dam near the head , however, means less water for everybody downstream.
The Nile River flows into Egypt and ends in Egypt where it meets the Mediterranean Sea. No other country will be impacted by Egypt's dam.
@@sgdeluxedoc well not exactly. It is true that Egypt is at the end of the Nile. However, that does not mean the Aswan dam cannot have an effect on the flow of the Nile. It has and it has impacted Ethiopian agriculture. However, I am unsure if GERD is the best solution. It has increased tensions and will likely reduce water supply to Egypt. It's complicated to say the least.
Well Ethiopian people used to be the butt of jokes because the famine , now they want to keep all the water.they had big swollen belly when starving imagine them with food and water 😂😂😂😂😂
There are already several dams along the Nile the rate of fill is the primary contention of those downstream. Egypt has threatened to “remove” the obstacle to river flow if their water supply is disrupted……
Gonna break out the Lancasters and Drum bombs. It would not be difficult to take out a Dam anymore. You just changed the permanence of these dams, it may take 30 years to build but can be destroyed in one night. They are not a threat to the people down stream for more than a few days.
@@streamofconsciousness5826 Then there shouldn't be a need to go to war.
@@marcspence1905
Water wars are already a thing mate and have been for past 10 years, and they will only be more common in the future, Ethiopia has been on a massive military build up since they started constructing this dam, its not without reasons.
This seems criminal
@@marcspence1905😂😂😂😂
It seems that he did not want to touch the point of the implication of the United Kingdom in the problem. When the United Kingdom made the agreements that everything belonged to Sudan and Egypt, it did not consider Ethiopia, which has led Egypt to think that it has a right to that water, despite the fact that a large percentage is generated in Ethiopia and the Blue Nile .
Then what do you think about millions of people in Egypt should do?, if they can't get water they would most probably flock to Ethiopia as economic refugees and devastate the economy.
How much the Blue Nile contribute to? Legit question. A river is made by its tributaries, and I have no idea how big a impact on the "Egypt Nile" something on the Blue Nile would have.
Are we talking 10%? 30%? 70%? How much would it impact?
@@sysbofh About 80% of the flow of the Nile. That's why I think it's wrong that Egypt believes itself to be the owner of the Nile and does not take Ethiopia into account.
@@retired-s5h Egypt should take water-saving measures to reach a middle ground with Ethiopia on the dam. Egypt's position seems too extreme to me, more so when it is not Ethiopia's fault that Egypt did not control the growth of its population or the use of resources even knowing how dependent they were on them.
@@retired-s5hit won't blocked completely! The water will flow as usual! Use your mined mr. guy!
I think the big issue here is how much water is going to be let through while it is filling, because once it's full the same flow rate will happen downstream as a dam doesn't slow or prevent water from going anywhere. Now if they completely block off the river and the Nile goes dry for 3 years then yeah that is a huge issue and if I was Egypt that uses 85% of that fresh water I'd be quite pissed too.
That’s no one’s business except the owners of the Nile, we the Ethiopians
The bigger issue is that any time there is a drought, Ethiopia will control the tap. They can hoard water behind the dam for themselves and not release to down river countries. During a drought, that water will be very valuable, life and death.
@@ኢትዮጵያሀገሬ-አ8ሐ death of millions in egypt is okay with you?
That thing is going to get blown up.
Yup you can hear that Arab arrogance of selling water that's not there's... Egypt is the last of there concerns.
This dam controversy reminds me of something three thousand years ago in one of the participants. A scribe was buried with instructions for the afterlife, instructions that included asserting “I did not stop the flow of water.” So water access was an issue back then also.
actually the issue back then was not limited water, it was, and remains in a lot of places; annual flooding. The Aswan Dams were developed primarily to control flooding, as was the Three Gorges
The reason to mix batch the concrete is also to help with consistency of quality as well as efficient delivery as you say . I worked in road bridge construction and found out how important consistent mixture is as not to have a collapsible situation at some life of the dam.
Well China is helping with the construction so yeah... I don't see this ending well for them at all.
@@jcolvard We'll see it end though.
It's actually insane to let any Chinese company assist with this, all the roads they've built in Africa fall apart right after they're finished, you'd think they'd learn?
@Ratking_Actual China just wants empty gestures to win hearts and minds of a desperate people. While the Chinese funded Junta overthrow the governments perceived as community support.
100% a bot comment.
It's pretty dam big
mega dam big
Lol
4:39 - If 85% of your water - or anything else - comes from a single source, you need to develop backups regardless of anything else. Desalination is a viable alternative throughout the middle east and it would behoove Egypt to take advantage of its massive coastline to look into that.
Desalination is not a viable alternative. Rivers are a natural water source which allow for farms to operate with a plentiful and immediate access to water that does not have to be pumped or transported long distances. The land around rivers are often very fertile for farming as well. 11% of Egypt's GDP comes from agriculture which relies on the Nile River.
This dam would damage the Egyptian economy and food shortages would be very likely. And with the history of this region, this often leads significant social conflict, war, and then finally a migrant/refugee crisis.
I'm sure Israel would gladly share desalination technology with their Egyptian friends
I think Egypt has aquifers, pretty sure those are more viable than desalination
As Ethiopian it feels incredibly proud of what we are doing to overcome our poverty....we are building this dam despite of our poverty by the unity of the people
How are all these infrastructure projects financed?
@@arnonym1525 lots of loans, the Chinese, Ethiopian citizens, Ethiopian government, etc.
@@KingK2205 there is no any damn loan on this project, research first. Any country refused to finance it not to ruin their diplomatic relation with Egypt. Ethiopians finance it wholly!
@@arnonym1525 with loyalty to the nation and the hope of a more prosperous future? Money isn't everything, the truth is the only thing that is truly valuable is humans themselves and everything else is just to motivate them into doing things.
@@viralposts986 except the 1 billion usd the exim bank of china gave it...
One concern with new hydro systems is changes in rainfall as climate patterns shift. We're already seeing reduced generation from many huge hydro projects (eg, Hoover Dam, Glen Canyon Dam) because there is no longer enough rainfall in an average year, and those changes are likely to get more significant over the 100+ year lifespan of a new project. Of course some parts of the world will see more rainfall, not less
Ya we seeing increased rainfall and the fillings of the dame are just taking from days to weeks only
Looks like sahel is going to be more humid with climate change
The reduction in generation from the Hoover dam is more the result in an overdrawing from lake mead being piped to California. The lake was meant to supply the greater Las Vegas area with fresh water, not an entire state!
Overall rainfall is increasing. Rain is caused by the sun heating bodies of water and evaporating humidity. This humidity then cools and falls. In the winter that water mixes with atmospheric dust and becomes a light fluffy droplet instead if hard ice balls.
What are you saying?? More rain, dam helps, less rain, dam helps. A dam makes the output of the river stable.
I think it's important to talk about where the funding comes from for these projects and possibly what kind of compromises have to be made in order to get that funding.
Next lvl thinking my man…
China
no its not. the government 100% @@JIMIIXTLAN
Haters had Already tried that. Ethiopian people every citizen
Government and private sector employees pay some part of thier monthly income . Business man pay annualy along tax. Each transaction in Ethiopia 🇪🇹 pays fraction of its amount to GERD.
PROUD , HONORED , FREE CITIZEN OF ETHIOPIA
are building their Dam with money, sweat and blood.
@JIMIIXTLAN Correct! China is throwing money in a lot of developing countries. They invested lots and lots of money in the country of Panama to build the new locks.
Fun fact, the Nile is the “longest river” but it is not navigable for huge parts of it. The Mississippi is by far the longest and largest navigable river in the world. Which lends to the US being capital rich as we completely own this easy transport.
Americans create stupid criteria just so they're on top 😂😂.
Navigable, non navigate 😂😅😢😢
This answered all my dam questions, and many more that I didnt even know to ask. There's a lot of dam information here, and it's clear that somebody did their dam homework. I look forward to more of these dam videos, thank you.
That was a dam good reply.
Somebody’s watched National lampoons vacation
listen to others too. not just one person. every opinion is biased but if you llisten to all sides then u can digest and reach your own conclusions
Interesting to see what our neighbour, Ethiopia is doing. Watching from Kenya
Thank you for the support, our only peaceful neighbor.
Our good neighbour
@mt5661 i am ethiopian, we are happy that millions of egyptians will die of starvation due to our dam.
@@realpolitics527 you called me an “internet troll” in another comment… 😂 Your comments here oppose others you’ve made.
I think it's also very important to consider the political and military advantages that this dam allows. In most of the developed world, namely in Asia, Europe, and America, there is a fairly ample supply of water. It certainly gives great advantages if you are able to control water sources, but these countries have ways around it. In North Africa, this is not the case remotely. Water is a major source of conflict in the area, and while in some cases these limitations in water availability can aid in peacebuilding, such as in Israel and Jordan, where the need for equitable management of the Jordan River has encouraged cooperation to manage the resource, it can also lead to wars. In the case of Ethiopia, the Nile is an important resource for both Egypt and Sudan. Of course, there are other tributaries besides the Blue Nile, namely the White Nile, but it still allows them to cut off of chunk of the river's supply, and can very easily be used as a powerful bargaining chip
It’s beyond bargaining chip, to some towns which rely on agriculture it’s basically an act of war.
The only rivers that matter are Ethiopian rivers, which contribute 90% of the stream flow of the Nile. The White Nile is really insignificant.
The US, in particular, does not have an ample supply of water. The aquifers underlying almost all of the midwest have been overdrawn for decades and will be depleted within a few decades. The Colorado River, infamously, has so overburdened for irrigation that it no longer reaches the sea.
Good points, look at what has been occuring with the dams in turkey regarding the Euphrates river!
Thought the Great Lakes were the largest fresh water supply in the world!@@marksanders768
So much hope for the Ethiopian people, may they prevail.. Thanks for yet another informative and educational video. B1M never disappoints!.
Finally featured on B1M. Ethiopia hagere lezelalem tinur! 🇪🇹💪🏾
Amen 🙏🏽 brother 👑
Yes
Egypt too busy building a massive gated community for its elites instead of productive infrastructure. You go, Ethiopia!
That's what most governments do. Tax is theft after all.
Thank you for clearly stating and putting on the screen how much energy the project is going to produce!
They absolutely didn’t state how much energy the project is going to produce.
What they did do was showing numbers of installed power, first 5000MW and then 5700MW(2000+3700).
I would not say that they are clear on the subject.
@@eHolmbergh GW!
Thousand MW is dumb.
I'm calling it now Egypt is going to control it, out of the three countries mentioned it's the most powerful.
As far as I know it, Egypt and Sudan made a deal and split all the water rights between themselves, without even considering Ethiopia and their needs. They are getting what they deserved.
Doesnt Ethiopia have access to the river before it gets to Egypt?
@@zacharykurtz2149
Yes so this makes no sense LOL, the Nile originates from Ethiopia from myriad of smaller rivers that converge into a much larger one, in essence, Ethiopia can literally shut off the Nile if they so wished.
It doesn’t matter what they vote the Nile flows from Ethiopia . They can literally stop all water from flowing north 😂😂😂.
@@SMGJohn Nope. Nile originates in Uganda. Lmao its common knowledge.
@@am9826 The white nile originates from Lake Victoria and runs through Uganda. Ethiopia is damming the Blue Nile, which originates from a lake in Ethiopia. Its confusing to just refer to it all as 'The Nile' when its really many separate rivers that eventually converge in Sudan into the greater Nile that runs through Egypt. I am not at all an expert but the water that Ethiopia is controlling originates completely from within their own borders.
Now this truly deserves to be called damn! 😂
A few physical corrections: Pressure does not push, pressure prevails (It is not a directed force). Only the height of the water column matters, not the amount of water in the reservoir.
if a crack forms then it's going to matter more than you think!
Literally every part of that "correction" is wrong
The height of the water column is directly proportional to the amount of water in the reservoir; ergo, you are wrong.
I hope you are not designing this dam 😅
Africa, Egypt, Nile, dam = Trainwreck
Ethiopia has every right to build their dam. Just like Egypt built theirs.
However that has no impact on any other nation, this dam will cause issues for multiple countries their water sources and the things living in it. There will be conflict
@@lukeneill1568Egyptian dam displaced Nubians
title: This Mega-Dam is the Size of London
0:08 - The reservoir behind it will be roughly the size of London
0:17 - while the dam itself will be twice as tall as the Golden Gate Bridge.
so 2 Londons???
the Golden Gate Bridge is as tall as half a London???
hmm
🤔
I want to know how many times the Colosseum could be filled with its water. That's the only hyperbolic measurement I use.
room temp iq
Seeing small breakthroughs of sustainability in Africa is quite beautiful. Of course dams are very risky works in terms of their economical and environmental impact. I hope this project works out well.
i AM GUESSING IT WOULD HAVE COST A LOT LESS TO RUN SEVERAL PIPELINES TO WERE WATER WAS NEEDED , TO HELP PEOPLE AND BUILD A SOMEWHAT SMALLER DAM TO SUPPLY POWER TO WEE IT WAS NEEDED .
@@brianingram74Cost less and generated less.
Look at China.
All it would take is one dam big enough upriver , and the domino effect could happen , taking all dams in the path out .@@dunexapa1016
Yes I am sure the people that dams effect hope it works to , but is upsetting peoples lives worth it , making them relocate taking their homes and giving them next to nothing in return ,and if and when the dam fails , are the lives lost also worth it .I know oh it is all for the greater good .For who though .
Ha ha! I lost it when that guy said "mega what?"
Ive been hanging out for a B1M video on this, although upset it wasnt longer. Fingers crossed you'll be able to make a longer one coinciding with a site visit in the future though 🙏
I am Ethiopian yes i feel proud whenever thinking about this mega project
Me too brother 👑
Me 3 beya
Well, let's see. They want to fill 74,000,000,000 m³ in three years. If we divide that by 3, then by 365, then by 24, then by 3600, it comes down to taking 782 m³/s from the Blue Nile's total discharge. According to Wikipedia, the Blue Nile's discharge is 1542 m³/s.
This means that Ethiopia is planning to roughly halve the amount of water flowing into Sudan and Egypt (both of which also get water from the White Nile) for a period of three years. There's probably going to be constant evaporation from the massive lake as well.
Now I haven't done any research, but I can imagine that both Sudan and Egypt get a bit worried about this.
Blue Nile's discharge 1542 m3/s is to the delta (flowing into sea). At Aswan (up stream Egypt) is about 2633m3/s. That means Egypt only use about 1100m^2/s.
Since Egypt is throwing away 1542m3/s to the sea, Ethiopia taking 782m3/s should not be a problem as long as they took during high discharge season.
I think Egypt is mostly political problem. They are just hedging someone to blame if their people having any problem.
Thank you for doing the calculations for us. I think that any country downstream of such a dam would be right to voice serious concern.
If memory serves, Ethiopia has offered to sweeten the temporary drop in river volume by supplying electricity at preferential rates.
@@Danji_Coppersmoke There is Soudan between Egypt and Ethiopia..
@@DiabloDiam77 sudan should thank ethiopia, the border with sudan is less than 40 km from the reservoir's floodgates, which means that all the water released by the hydroelectric plant will be used by sudan, now if sudan uses all this water for irrigation then that is problem between sudan and egypt.
So far they've been taking opportunities to fill it whenever there's excess flow, so its less bad than this. But yeah ideally they'd strike a deal and fill the dam more slowly to avoid causing devastation upstream.
Odd how the project is presented as controversial given its long list of positive attributes: green source of energy and water security that will lift millions of people out of poverty, reduce drought and flooding disasters, serve as a source of jobs, recreation and generate no pollution - wins all around - the world needs more dams like this
So happy for Ethiopia. Well done..
If they can pull this off without destroying the flow downriver it will be an amazingly enriching addition to a country that desperately needs it. If the flow gets disrupted and Egypt is affected that dam is as good as gone though.
It will absolutely affect flow, and it will affect the ecosystem. All dams do, large or small.
Temporarily, until the reservoir fills up, and then you can control the annual flooding for agricultural purposes.
@@gabrielclark1425 And what happens when water isn't available to an entire country, even temporarily? We're always 3 missed meals away from chaos, and water is even more needed by people.
@@gabrielclark1425 what about all the sediment being blocked by the dam which would be otherwise used for agricultural purposes?
if the dam is gone then so is egypt. africa wont stand by and watch it get destroyed.
Egypt 🇪🇬 is our brothers as iam Somalia but this point i give full support our neighbor Ethiopia 🇪🇹 .
Strong play by Ethiopia. US should get involved so we can control Egypt and Sudan in the future.
Its time Ethiopia enjoyed its resources no matter the opposition
No matter the impact to other countries you think? Very selfish.
@@dna9838 and what of the selfish interest of Egypt and others that would prevent Ethopians from coming out of poverty if the dam isn't constructed? I don't see them offering an alternative of equal measure. Ultimately its a difficult question but typically ones duty and dedication to the domestic population comes first.
@@robosoldier11 wonder what the Ethiopian population will think when some sort of war starts with Egypt and Sudan. Will it have been worth it to act antisocially with the neighbours over a shared resource crucial for all Nile countries
Build the Dam FK the haters. There are ways to get water & resources for the other countries (Egypt). Ethiopia isn't breaking any laws as they're acting inside of their territory. Once it's built Other governments can trade or pay money for commodities & resources like the rest of the world
@@dna9838 The British colonial government is the one that made the mistake. Egypt has monopoly over the Water so even Kenya doesn't have much rights to rivers draining
to Lake Victoria. Egypt would have thought it out first instead of being selfish
Hey B1M, I live in British Columbia where they are building a Dam in the north of the province that is piggy backing off of another Dams reservoir which is the size of this Dam's reservoir to generate electricity with a smaller impact on the environment - Site C Dam and W.A.C. Bennett Dam
They're damming the white nile regardless.
And you've been asked incredibly politely by Canada NOT to do that, but as usual you know best how to keep us all safe.
I think anything done to the Nile needs to be decided on by every country along the Nile.
The pyramids and nile was filthy when I visited Egypt. They don’t seem to care about any of that. They can’t complain about the water upstream.
@@MoreThanRuan Seems like everyone that visits Egypt complains about the same thing. They really get this under control.
@@GotJay713yes it’s disgusting sadly.
so, you deny the right for 100+ million people to live because you assume the water is filthy!
This is like saying to someone the restaurants here are bad and also your kitchens, don't ever talk about your right to getting food! @@MoreThanRuan
Disgusting mentalities.
@@zgoodt bad analogy. once authorities have seen the kitchen is too dirty for operation, theyll close the whole restaurant.
"Frankly my dear, I don't give a mega-dam" (sorry I couldn't resist that)!
There will ALWAYS be pros AND cons to EVERY project, every idea, every personal view, every law, every decision you EVER make. Just so, there's also ALWAYS a solution. Some simple, some not so much.
There's never pros on building dams on large rivers. Every time leads to major ecological disasters, animal and plant habitat loss and at the end people end up in even more poverty than before. That's why so many countries are starting slowly to destroy dams because they are realizing that there's more harm than benefit. If those countries instead focusing on delivering clean drinking water and sustainable farming practices and education for their people instead of building dams most African countries problems would be solved.
This is all about money and political interest and whoever views it otherwise is an absolute fool.
Ethiopia has the right to do whatever the hell it wants to do. I'm so sick of western media framing shyt as though their perspective is always the "right" one. Egypt has thrived for thousands of years and is shyt right now, no fault of Ethiopia. It's time for African countries south of the Sahara to have their go at it again. Good luck, Ethiopia! Much love from America!
I'm coming to America
Your are rational God bless!!
Actually blocking an international river is an international crime
Dam itself does not consume or reduce any water. It is just a temporarily saving during the fill-up for better future, especially during drought. A big reservoir can also increase moisture in the area and should be good for everyone.
concise description of the essence of GERD dam!!!
That's what will affect the Egypt downstream. They will run out of water and people will die at the causes of Ethiopian's greed
@@zulhilmi5787 And totally different from Egypt wanting to maintain it's own supremacy over Ethiopia? Get fucked.
Reservoirs increase evaporation somewhat
@@KiWeWi do they though? I'd imagine that evaporation is dependent upon the exposed surface area, which means that the deeper waters of a reservoir would have less evaporation of a river with an equal amount of water.
And if it bursts the whole country will be saying DAM 😢😢😢
Africa is not done with mega-dams. In DR Congo there's a plan to build the Grand Inge Dam across the Congo River. If completed it could fulfill 40% of Central Africa's energy needs. A mega-dam to end all mega-dams.
Wow, cool project. I had not heard about that.
Its time for Africa ❤Ethiopia 🇪🇹 the land of origin ❤ Hope this will bring strong economic growth to the region ❤
Excellent presentation as always, Fred!
Thank you so much, I am supported by an incredible team!
They are going to block one of THE most important rivers in human history??? I don't see this ending well...
Would have liked a bit more information regarding the impact of the dam, considering how important the Nile is for Sudan/Egypt...
ua-cam.com/video/5-O8Da5oowo/v-deo.html
Real Life Lore
Sudan needs to reconsider its position, electricity is extremely important for a country, Sudan has 53% access to electricity and Ethiopia has 45% access to electricity while Egypt has 99% access to electricity, clearly Sudan and Ethiopia can relate, without electricity how are businesses going to function? How are computers going to keep running? This is the modern world. Egypt has been interfering in Sudanese politics since 1956 till this day, the Islamic brotherhood originated in Egypt and spread to Libya and Sudan and nothing but chaos prevailed. Sudan is too stupid and idiot to make smart decisions, if water is the problem then make water deals with Lesotho as it would be cheaper compared to western countries, depending too much on the Nile for water is stupid, more plans need to be thought out just in case.
glad to see you cover megaprojects in Africa
So how does a country that's been begging for food handouts for DECADES come up with $5 billion for a dam?
Do your research.
The irony
CHY-NA
@@thez3226
👍
@@thez3226No China. By its people
Surely the water cut off down stream to Sudan and Egypt is only for the duration of the dam reservoir build up. Then the same amount of water is released as enters the reservoir. Other wise, if less water was released than before the dam was constructed, it would flood the whole country or at least the region over time and find it's own way down stream?
So what's the issue exactly?
Issue called “control”. Dictatorships usually don’t like to share their control over anything.
Curious, if anybody has the answer. Which foreign countries have funded this dam?
Actually, it's entirely funded locally. At its inception, Ethiopia was looking for a loan to fund the project, yet Egypt, being a bad neighbor, used its diplomatic leverage to cock-block the early agreement in principle Ethiopia has with the IMF and World Bank. To their surprise, though, we crowdsourced the entire fund by sealing local bonds. I have a 10-dollar bond I am waiting to cash in my basement that I bought 10 years ago when I was a high school student.
Be aware..it all depends on the schedule of filling the new reservoir. If too much water will be hold back, that could lead to serious problems or even war.
Most of the water is being wasted anyway. Just as long as it keeps flowing to those countries it shouldn’t change anything. VietNam and China have a bad situation with a project like this though :/
How does a dam like this reduce the water flow through the lower areas after it has filled? I can understand the filling phase affecting the water flow, but after that is done, is the water evaporation from the pool or the absorption of water into adjacent terrain through a larger surface area the cause for the reduced throughput further down stream?
perhaps the rate of water through the dam (even at the highest/maximum allowed throughput) is still less than what would have naturally occurred - throughout the year
Flow rates,
It's like a running trap
I think ur answering urself. The reservoir itself causes way higher levels of evaporation and absorbs way more water than a stream would
Kind of interesting how Egypt is all against it, but the next door neighbor Sudan could care less. I doubt the dam is going to change much down river. Egypt should have planned for this decades ago by building water treatment plants.
I like this video 👍 but I was expecting it to be a bit longer 😕
Proud to be ethiopian
This guy sounds like an AI of Simon Whistler.
Aside from significant reduced volume the mega dam can cause reservoir-induced seismicity... this could affect both Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia themselves.....
lol
I think it will be great for all of Africa.
If it is filled slowly it will work.
Power to Ethiopia 👊
Not just Ethiopia...all of east Africa my friend ...we support its construction ...Africa has to move forward by any and all means
@@tamaduni absolutely brother.
@@tamaduni any means? Death of millions in egypt is also a means?
remarkable structure. Best of luck to them.
Thank you B1M ❤ we love you from 🇪🇹
Yes brother 👑
Can't feed their own people but can do this? Makes perfect sense....
Once the dam is filled then the water will surely flow onwards to join the white Nile as before. The problems only arise during the reservoir filling with the key parameter being the fraction of the average normal flow held back during this period.
Even after the dam filled. They gonna monitor the amount that flows to egypt whose water supply is 100% the Nile river. Guess what is that called under political agenda. An absolute control.
That is the concept. However, in times of drought like the Hoover Dam in the US instead of just letting the water flow out the nation that controls the dam controls the life blood of the nations down stream.
@@mellis966 Almonds and alfalfa
@@aolvaar8792 LOL ... Foreign Direct Investment Capital.
Well done Ethiopia. Trust Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan will work it out
Ethiopia is refusing to reach and agreement to Egypt, and Sudan. Water usage is not inclusive to the source country it is an international law, Egypt will take action at the right time.
No IT is big problem...
@@samehmikhail5039 ki...ki....😂😂
Good for Ethiopia. Don’t bend to Egypt and Sudan. Their people are not your problem.
I'm sorry, I missed the part about who exactly funded the building of this dam. That certainly is part of the story, a political story.
Agreed ! I want to know who is benefitting $ -wise and can I put money in their stock !!!
Ethiopians through bond sell
100 %በራሳችን ሀብት ብቻ የተገነባ ነዉ
The Nile River originates from two large lakes: Lake Victoria, in Uganda, and Lake Tana, in Ethiopia. In Uganda, the Vitória feeds a large tributary, the White Nile. In Ethiopia, the Blue Nile (another affluent) is reinforced with the waters of the Tana. In addition, the Nile also has other important affluents such as the Arbara, Kagera, and Sudd rivers; in addition, lakes Albert and Victoria. There is no way this dam will negatively affect the Nile River, or reduce its waters.
Blue nile is one of the two major tributaries of the Nile and supplies about 85.6% of the water to the Nile during the rainy season.
And it's worth noting that both of those lakes have seen volumetric growth in water since 1991, nothing exponential, but at the same time their fish population has been dying out largely due to backwater pollution. If anything, it will only serve to swell the lake sources further and bottleneck some pollution.
So Egypt is considering military action over a non existent problem hey? Interesting take on it......