http://e360.yale.edu/features/vanishing-nile-a-great-river-faces-a-multitude-of-threats-egypt-dam

This article from Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies discusses a new proposed dam in Ethiopia, along the border between Sudan and Ethiopia.  It would be placed along the Blue Nile River, having significant effects on the region.  Not only will the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam cut off one of the Nile River’s main sources of water, it will also decrease the influx of sediment to the Nile River Delta, already struggling because of the Aswan Dam on the border between Egypt and Sudan.  Concerns have risen from the rising tensions between the three countries, with hopes that the U.S. and China could be arbiters in negotiations about the dam’s development.  The author also notes that the company developing the dam performed the initial feasibility results, leading to clear conflicts of interest by placing an excessive rating on the dam.  This will only fuel the demand by Ethiopia to complete this dam, further increasing tensions within the region.  This is a situation to monitor closely as the placement of the dam could both help provide electricity to the citizens of Ethiopia yet significantly reduce agricultural yields in Egypt.

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