CEE PhD candidate Hisham Eldardirty will be lecturing about reservoir operations in the transboundary Nile River Basin for this week’s Water Seminar. The lecture will take place on Oct 15th, 3:30-4:50 pm.

Join the zoom meeting here.

Continue reading to read the lecture abstract.

Title: Adaptive Reservoir Operation in the Transboundary Nile River Basin: Towards Win-Win Solutions

The Nile River Basin (NRB) is home to more than 200 million people sharing the water resources for agriculture, industry, municipal uses, in-stream navigation, and hydropower generation. A central and existential water management issue for the region is maintaining a sustainable supply of water against increasing population, recurring drought, and climate change. Nowhere is this issue of national survival more critical than for Egypt, a populous country of about 98 million that is singularly dependent on a single river. Recent published datasets on future dams reveal an increasingly impounded NRB for hydropower development by upstream and transboundary nations, notably Ethiopia. The most downstream country, Egypt, therefore needs to adapt the operation of High Aswan Dam (HAD), which is key to the country’s water security, to planned transboundary dams, such as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). My talk will present a satellite-based blueprint for adapting HAD operation under the impacts of filling/operation of the GERD. This blueprint provides a tangible way forward for existing dams to adapt their operation to a real-world transboundary challenges while inspiring a win-win deal and considering the equitable rights of development in the Nile countries.

Check out the Water Seminar Fall lecture schedule here to see future lectures.