IDAM Project - OSU research on China dam building gets some press!

Source: http://damsandalternatives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/small-dams-on-chinese-river-harm.html

And NSF release: http://nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=128073&org=NSF

Nice coverage of OSU led research on dams in China - iDam project. Link to the page that describes the project is here. Always wonder why this doesn't get more coverage. The idea was to consider the socio-economic, geopolitical, and biophysical aspects of dams - both large scale and small scale dams. The result is a tool that policy makers can use to determine whether or not a small or large dam is the best choice for a given location - you can use toggles to weight the 7 parameters inside of each of the 3 categories. 

Presented in DC more than a year ago, Kelly Kibler and Eric Foster-Moore found in their respective dissertation/thesis that a series of small dams were more harmful to the environment than was previously assumed. 

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Small Dams on Chinese River Harm Environment More Than Expected

Small Dams on Chinese River Harm Environment More Than Expected
National Science Foundation Press Release
May 28, 2013

http://nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=128073&org=NSF

A fresh look at the environmental impacts of dams on an ecologically
diverse and partially protected river in China found that small dams can
pose a greater threat to ecosystems and natural landscapes than large dams.

Large dams have been considered more harmful than their smaller
counterparts.

But researchers' surveys of habitat loss and damage at several dam sites
on the Nu River and its tributaries in Yunnan Province revealed that the
environmental effects of small dams are often greater--sometimes by
several orders of magnitude--than of large dams.

"Small dams have hidden detrimental effects, particularly when effects
accumulate" through multiple dam sites, said Kelly Kibler, a water
resources engineer who led the study while at Oregon State University.

"That's one of the main outcomes, to demonstrate that the perceived
absence of negative effects from small hydropower is not always correct."

She and Desiree Tullos, also a water resources engineer at Oregon State,
report their findings in a paper accepted for publication in Water
Resources Research, a journal of the American Geophysical Union (AGU).

"These researchers have taken advantage of what is essentially a natural
experiment that allowed them to compare the effects of hydroelectric
dams of different sizes," said Tom Baerwald of the National Science
Foundation's (NSF) Directorate for Social, Behavioral & Economic
Sciences, which co-funded the research with other NSF directorates. "The
results are applicable beyond this region."

To compare the effects of small and large dams, Kibler investigated 31
small dams built on tributaries to China's Nu River and four large dams
proposed for the main stem of the Nu River.

She assessed the environmental effects of these dams in 14
categories--including the area and quality of habitat lost, the length
of river channel affected, the amount of conservation land affected, and
the landslide risk.

Because information regarding large dams is restricted under the Chinese
State Secrets Act, Kibler modeled the potential effects of the four
large dams using publicly-available information from hydropower
companies, development agencies, and academic literature.

After evaluating data from the field, hydrologic models, and
Environmental Impact Assessment reports on the small dams, Kibler and
Tullos concluded that effects of the small dams exceeded those of large
dams on nine out of the 14 characteristics they studied.

One particularly detrimental effect of the small dams is that they often
divert the flow of the river to hydropower stations, leaving several
kilometers of river bed dewatered, Kibler said.

From its headwaters in the Tibetan Plateau, the Nu River flows through
China, Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand.

"While the number of small hydropower dams in operation or planned for
tributaries to the Nu River is unreported," the authors state in their
paper, "our field surveys indicate that nearly one hundred small dams
currently exist within Nujiang Prefecture alone."

Thirteen large hydropower dams are proposed for the mainstem of the Nu
River in Tibet and Yunnan Province in China.

Environmental, social, and economic factors make the Nu River basin
extremely sensitive to hydropower installations.

In addition to supporting several protected species, the region is home
to a large proportion of ethnic minorities and valuable natural
resources, the authors report.

While large hydropower projects are managed by the central government,
and both large and small hydropower projects undergo environmental
impact assessments, decisions about small hydropower projects are made
at a provincial or other regional level and often receive less
oversight, Kibler and Tullos state.

The lack of regulation paired with a dearth of communication between
small dam projects in China allows for the effects to multiply and
accumulate through several dam sites, the authors write.

To mitigate the detrimental effects of small dams, there's a need for
comprehensive planning for low-impact energy development, said Kibler
and Tullos.

"The lack of analyses of the cumulative effects of small hydropower,"
Kibler said, "is a significant research gap with important policy
implications." 

Ethiopia to divert Nile waters - Al Jazeera covers Grand Renaissance Dam

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is not a diversion dam, but to fill the dam, water will be held back in stages over time. Not sure what information the journalists are trying to instigate - a story is my guess. But check out Lama from Egypt! Way to go lady Lama!!!!

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestory/2013/05/201353081623734349.html

Quote from Lama:

"There is going to be positive and negative impacts .... With this infrastructure project and in order for us [Egyptians] to move forward, we need to focus on the win-win opportunities and solutions that can come about from this dam and how Egypt can begin to cooperate with Ethiopians ... in order to find that common ground where they can both begin to actually approach this dam together."

Lama el-Hatow, co-founder of water institute of the Nile and specialist in water governance and climate change. 

Are Egypt's culture, historic rights, and international treaty grounds for continuation of status-quo in the Nile Basin?

Below is an article from the As-Safir Newspaper that inspires thought. It is a well-researched and presented set of information, but there are major flaws in the argument and some wild speculation. I think we keep forgetting, when engaged in this global discourse, that what we are talking about in the end is poverty and people - humanity deserves dignity, in how it is discussed and how it is treated. The reduction we tend to do of quoting numbers and statistics to describe problems takes away the human face, but that is the very thing the international community says it is concerned with. This is what this author has done by focusing on political and economic realities of the Nile Basin, rather than on the human and environmental realities. 

The author is making a case that if Egypt does not tackle the Grand Renaissance Dam head-on, as well as the appeal of upstream countries to change the current treaty stipulations, war is inevitable. War with Egypt. Okay, interesting idea, not original, but obviously bias and defended, in a way, in this article. I would suggest though, that the author is coming from a place of emotion and one dimensional consideration of reality - history and politics dominating rationale.

The author states that there is a shift in the balance of power, that Ethiopia is now being backed by the US and there is $4 billion USD given annually to development, military, etc. I am sure that this figure is inflated. I am also sure that Egypt is still the darling of the US in all matters political, even if the ongoing revolution makes things uncertain. Ethiopia has a long way to go in global political position - this is not an insult to Ethiopia, but rather a reality of the popularity club that dominates international affairs. 

For years, Egypt has been the 2nd biggest recipient of US foreign aid, only topped by Israel - this has maybe changed due to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Maybe Egypt moved to the 4th position. I do not believe that even if there has been a new focus on Ethiopia, since it is so new, compared with years of capital gains in Egypt, we can see this as some sort of threat. This is not means for considering the insane idea of war between Egypt and Ethiopia. The casualties would be enormous. If you get on the ground and look at the infrastructure in Egypt and the infrastructure in Ethiopia you can understand what I mean. Do not be fooled. 

Never mind American politics: there are key players in Washington DC who are much more focused on keeping a foothold in the Arab world than backing a very poor, but developing, Christian nation of Ethiopia. Ethiopia does pretty well on its own right. And the authors list of 6 possible advantages to Ethiopia can equally be viewed as disadvantage. I could take these one by one here, but I am more interested in the issue of framing water than framing politics.

Proposed ideas from the article about water: 

1) Conflict over water is the default rather than cooperation and collaboration. This is not universally true. In fact, my professor Aaron Wolf's work Basins at Risk challenged this very idea more than 10 years ago - he found in his scientific analysis of global basins that on an international level, cooperation rules the day. There has been one international conflict directly about water in recorded history and it was 4000 years ago. Indirectly is another story. On top of all the other things that Egypt and Ethiopia have to contend with: food security, malnutrition, corruption, revolt, ethnic clashes, poverty, devolving neighbor states, energy shortages, environmental pollution, access to education - I think war is low on the list of desired activities. 

2) Historic use and way of doing things is how things should be in the future. This argument reminds me working in a bureaucracy that is dysfunctional, but employees are more concerned with procedure than with correcting the issue. Yes, I understand that Egypt has had a long history connected to the Nile, but this does not preclude the other riparian countries from using the water of the Nile (as people living there also have probably historically used the water too - maybe not to the national economic extent of Egypt). Furthermore, why does the upstream use somehow threaten Egypt's use of the water? Water uses are not mutually exclusive - you can coordinate uses so that there are "win-win" scenarios in potentially conflicting sectors. Sticking to a this is the way it has always been argument does not allow the possibility for considering an inclusive integrated water management plan. I'd love to head a team of experts to untangle such a puzzle!

3) The changes of Ethiopian water use are due to ambition. This is absurd. The author does acknowledge the increasing demand of population growth. What the author does not mention is that almost 50% of all fresh water in Ethiopia is found in the Blue Nile basin. That there is a huge potential for hydropower generation in the Blue Nile and currently, Ethiopia only has about 42-48% energy coverage in the country and less than 3,000 MW online. In order to develop, and to encourage foreign investment in industry, etc, a place needs to have a reliable energy source. Ethiopia has a keen interest to develop - not because they are ambitious, but because the poverty there breeds this necessity. Many many people do not have access to clean drinking water, do not have a basic level of nutrition throughout the year. Many people do not have permanent or safe dwellings. When I was there in the fall of 2012 there were almost 4 million people on the brink of starvation. And that is a number that represents individual people who are being collectively called the ambition of Ethiopia. I obviously resent this belittling comment.

4) To use the church to gain entree into Ethiopian society is an idea I have heard from other development workers. But in the case of water, I think it more appropriate to use the technical channels of water professionals. Both countries have Ministries of Water filled with engineers and hydrologists who already understand what issues they are contending with regarding the Nile River. A management plan is a great place to discuss how to share the water appropriately, not according to a treaty, but according to what common people need to survive.

Let's work to put a face back on the people in question - the article starts with an image of women from the White Nile, not the part of the Nile in question mind you, but at least this first idea - this image - is considering that in the end, this is people we are concerned with, that the governments of Egypt and Ethiopia are concerned with. That calls for interstate cooperation, not interstate conflict.

Egypt, Ethiopia Headed For War Over Water

Girls draw water from a well in El-Halaba, on the rural desert outskirts of the White Nile, March 20, 2013. (photo by REUTERS/ Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah)

Print

By: Mustafa al-Labbad Translated from As-Safir (Lebanon).

اقرا المقال الأصلي باللغة العربية

In the coming years, Egypt and Ethiopia may be forced to fight a “water war” because Ethiopia’s ambitions contradict Egypt’s historical and legal rights in the Nile waters. Ethiopia can only be deterred by the regional and international balance of powers, which in recent years has favored Ethiopia.

About This Article

Summary : In the coming years, the biggest threat for Egypt is a lack of water, and Ethiopia's increasing extraction of water from the Nile may signal a possible "water war," writes Mustafa al-Labbad. Publisher: As-Safir (Lebanon) Original Title: Egypt Is Battling Ethiopia over the Nile Water Author: Mustafa al-Labbad First Published: March 18, 2013 Posted on: March 24 2013 Translated by: Rani Geha Categories :  Egypt

For any Egyptian government, Egypt’s water share and securing the Nile’s headwaters are the top national security priorities, irrespective of the Egyptian government’s ideology or domestic policies. This fact is dictated by geography. For thousands of years, Egyptian rulers have been aware how important water is for Egypt. Water is the lifeline of Egypt (97.5% of Egypt is barren desert). Egyptian rulers have always used any means to defend their country’s historic rights to the Nile waters. As Greek historian Herodotus said, "Egypt is the gift of the Nile.” Egyptian civilization, which is one of history’s greatest civilizations, depends on the Nile. To illustrate the Nile’s importance, we should remember that Egypt is the largest desert oasis in the world. Life in Egypt is concentrated on the river banks where 90 million people live. In short, any Egyptian government should have one eye on the Horn of Africa — on Ethiopia, where the source of the Nile lies — and another eye on the Sinai Peninsula and the Levant, and the balance of power there. History has shown that most of Egypt’s invaders entered through that door.

Egypt’s sentries against the country’s internal and external foes have been sleeping on the job. Their first eye failed to notice the developments at the Blue Nile’s source in Ethiopia (the Blue Nile constitutes 86% and the White Nile 14% of the Nile water volume. The two tributaries meet in Sudan before flowing to Egypt). Their second eye had lost the ability to distinguish friend from foe. Now, with the worsening economic crisis and the political deterioration between the ruling Muslim Brotherhood and the opposition, the balance of power is more and more tilting toward Ethiopia, which may unilaterally increase its water usage. That will affect Egypt’s historic rights of the Nile water and cause a serious threat.

In the report below, we will try to shed light on the Nile conflict and on why Ethiopia’s negotiating position toward Egypt has improved. We will end with a recommendation.

The conflict over the Nile waters

The two groups fighting over the right waters are as follows: the first group are the downstream countries, it includes Egypt and Sudan. The other group are the upstream countries which includes Ethiopia, Eritrea, Uganda, Congo, Burundi, Tanzania, Southern Sudan, Rwanda and Kenya.

Egypt depends on the Nile River for 95% of its water needs for drinking, agriculture and electricity generation. The growing Egyptian population is increasingly dependent on Nile water. Egypt has historical rights to these waters under the Nile Water Agreement signed with Britain in 1929. It gave Egypt the right to veto any project in upstream countries affecting Egypt’s share of water flowing to it. It is worth mentioning that the 1929 agreement is binding for the three upstream countries — Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda — on the grounds that Britain, which colonized these countries, was their legal representative and could sign binding international agreements on their behalf.

Egypt codified its legal status in an agreement with Sudan in 1959. The agreement gave Cairo 55.5 billion cubic meters of water (or 66% of the total water flow), which would go to the Aswan Dam, and Sudan received 18.5 billion cubic meters (22%). The remainder, 12%, is lost to evaporation.

The downstream countries argue that they were not a party to those agreements at the time, and therefore do not recognize their legitimacy. The upstream countries want to modify the water-sharing agreement and keep more of the water by building dams, which will directly affect the water share of the downstream states, Egypt and Sudan.

The problem is compounded by the projected large population increase in the Nile basin. The UN projects that the population in the 11 basin states will reach 860 million people by 2050. This is pressuring both sides to try to improve their positions in the conflict over the Nile waters.

In May 2010, Ethiopia drafted the Entebbe Agreement to modify the historical and legal basis for the sharing of water. Most upstream countries supported the agreement but Egypt and Sudan refused it. It is true that the Entebbe Agreement is not legally binding for Egypt and Sudan, but it does show that Ethiopia is aware of the balance of power and its ambition to impose facts on the ground regarding the construction of dams, which will necessarily affect Egypt’s share in the Nile waters and thus represent an existential threat to Egypt. It is true that Ethiopia cannot force Cairo to sign, but the Entebbe Agreement shows that a major crisis between Cairo and Addis Ababa is on the way. What follows is an explanation of the Ethiopian diplomatic attack on Egypt and Sudan.

The geopolitical framework strengthens Ethiopia’s position

In recent years, the geopolitical framework has clearly shifted in Ethiopia’s favor, and it shifted the balance of power between Ethiopia and Egypt. The geopolitical changes that favor Ethiopia can be seen in six key indicators:

First, the disintegration of Somalia, Ethiopia’s traditional rival with which it fought a tough war over the Ogaden region, removed the geopolitical balance facing Ethiopia’s political ambitions in the region. Ethiopia exploited Somalia’s disintegration to strengthen its regional presence in the Horn of Africa. For years, Ethiopia has been “fighting terrorism” emerging from Somalia. Ethiopia has been doing that under an American umbrella from 2006 to 2009 and then again since 2011 until now.

The second indicator is represented by the partition of Sudan into two states: Sudan and South Sudan. That development has weakened Sudan (and thus Egypt) in the Horn of Africa and allowed Ethiopia to participate, since 2012, in the UN peacekeeping forces in the Abyei region, which is disputed between Sudan and South Sudan.

The third indicator is the following: the weakening of Sudan has shifted the balance of power in Ethiopia’s favor. The crisis in Darfur and the international isolation of the Sudanese president (an international arrest warrant was issued against him by the International Court of Justice in The Hague in 2009) has significantly limited Khartoum’s ability to maneuver in the Nile conflict.

The fourth indicator is the improved relationship between Ethiopia and the West in general, and between Ethiopia and the US in particular, after Addis Ababa emerged as a reliable partner in the Horn of Africa. Every year, Ethiopia gets $4 billion in military, development and food assistance. But the matter is not limited to direct aid. The West has started looking at Ethiopia differently in regard to development projects, such as the construction of dams in Ethiopia. The West had opposed such projects for decades because they were considered a threat to regional security.

The fifth indicator is about China. China is Ethiopia’s primary trade partner and Beijing has expressed willingness to finance a dam construction in Ethiopia and offered Chinese expertise in building large dams. China wishes to have a foothold in the region. There is oil in South Sudan and the Congo has mineral resources.

The sixth indicator is the weakening of Egypt’s political weight in the Horn of Africa. Egypt has no role in Somalia and was not even a key party in the negotiations between Sudan and South Sudan. Egypt’s preoccupation with internal matters is weakening its ability to confront regional and international players, such as China. Even though Egypt is the biggest market for Chinese goods among the 11 basin countries, China has favored other considerations over Egyptian priorities and Egypt’s rights in the Nile waters. So much so that China has offered its technological expertise in constructing dams, which is a complete disregard to Egyptian rights. What will Egypt do about all that? Only God knows.

A recommendation

In the coming years, Egypt and Ethiopia may be forced to fight a “water war” because Ethiopia’s ambitions contradict Egypt’s historical and legal rights in river waters. Ethiopia can only be deterred by the regional and international balance of powers, which in recent years has favored Ethiopia.

The government of Hisham Qandil (an irrigation expert, not a diplomat, legal expert or strategist) seems unable to manage such a complex issue with legal, political, economic, military and international aspects. His government is unable to solve everyday problems that are less complex, such as security, traffic, and fuel and food supplies. This portends dire consequences for Egypt.

What is needed is a way to manage the crisis and use Egyptian soft power toward Ethiopia, especially the Coptic Orthodox Church, which is the Ethiopian Church’s mother church. It is necessary to form a fixed Egyptian team to manage this highly sensitive issue. The team should go beyond party affiliation and include leading Egyptian Nile specialists. Ideological or religious affiliation should not be a factor in choosing that Egyptian crisis team. What is important should be the capabilities and competencies of the team members, who will come from the “clay” of the country, not from a particular group, party or political current. Clay, to those who don’t know, is what Egyptians call their country’s soil, which is a fertile soil resulting from the mixing with the Nile water.

Will Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi realize the seriousness of the situation and deal with that issue as a major national matter and quickly implement the required policies and procedures, or will he hesitate, as usual, and go down in history as someone who squandered the historic rights of Egypt and its future generations?

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2013/03/egypt-ethiopia-water-war.html#ixzz2UNjlKCuh

The report on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will be released this month

I am not sure what this author is offering in way of information about the Grand Renaissance Dam project. It seems he is criticizing the Egyptian government for dragging its feet and not cooperating better with Nile riparian countries. There is a research report due to be released this month about the dam.

An Egyptian engineer who worked with a team to consider theoretical impacts of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam told me that the dam is technically a good thing for the Nile as a human-beneficial system. This mega-project can regulate  water in a hot arid part of the world can maximize water in the dry season and minimize flooding in the wet season. There is also the issue of sediment flow. A reduction downstream can benefit dams in Sudan and Egypt by lengthening the life-time of the dams and reduce the frequency of dredging. Dredging is necessary not only behind the dams, but in the irrigation canals.

But aside from these things that are loudly considered in the media, are there other impacts (good and bad) from this dam that are not being discussed in the current discourse? I hope once the report is released more salient discussions will commence - not potential earthquakes or water war talk - but serious discussion about the intricacies of development.


http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2013/05/06/Egypt-drowns-in-the-Nile-water-war-.html

Egypt drowns in the Nile ‘water war’

Monday, 6 May 2013

Abdel Latif el-Menawy

Three years ago I warned of the water crisis and the Renaissance Dam via a series of articles. I traveled to Ethiopia and Eretria and met with late Ethiopian premier Meles Zenawi and Eritrean president Isaias Afewerki in an attempt to communicate and provide the public with the opportunity to know what's going on. I have also done so out of my belief that journalism always has a role that when played properly and within the boundaries of national goals especially on foreign fronts, it can be a factor that helps achieving solutions. Back then, my concern was the crisis threatening Egypt; a war over the Nile’s water.

So I went to Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan and South Sudan in an attempt to get a clearer picture and understand. Our problem is that we always have a prejudgment on people and certain issues, and such an attitude sometimes leads us to the wrong conclusions. My aim was to understand what is currently going on regarding the Nile water war, to understand the reason for the Ethiopian stance and to understand where we currently stand regarding this matter.

Back then, the suggested solution was that Egypt will not allow building any dams that affect its share of water. The international law actually stands on Egypt's side regarding this point. At the same time, however, as studies were conducted to establish dams on the Nile from upstream countries, Egypt showed its willingness to contribute and cooperate in establishing them as long as no harm is done to Egyptian national security interests. I believe this is right path towards resolving this crisis: cooperating, studying and negotiating at the same time.

The nine countries that share the Nile with Egypt are considered unstable countries which are incapable of launching giant projects on the river or incapable of agricultural land reclamation. These countries also suffer from local crises. Some of them suffer from civil wars, tribal struggles and economic problems.

Huge projects also require international funding which cannot be provided without feasible studies approved by all countries that benefit from the river. Egypt's entrance to deal with this crisis comes here. This point as well brings up the probability that there is no imminent danger that threatens the Nile's flow to Egypt in the foreseeable future.

Political moves

During that phase, Egypt made several political moves. The most important of them was Egypt's concern over its strong ties with the Nile countries particularly Ethiopia which is connected through the river to Egypt and Sudan. Another move was Egypt's concern that developing the resources of the water cannot be carried out without the effective participation of all three countries since most of the Nile Basin countries enjoy more than one source of water. Egypt's share of rainfall however does not exceed 20 millimeters whilst in some of the Nile Basin countries, it can reach 20,000 millimeters. This means that Egypt suffers from a water deficit that reached more than 30%. It overcomes this deficit through recycling water. On this basis, we must know that any expense, burden or effort carried out in the area of the Nile Basin countries is not a waste of resources but a form of direct colonization in the future. And therefore, cooperating and strengthening ties with these countries is an important fateful issue.

We must understand that any expense, burden or effort carried out in the area of the Nile Basin countries is not a waste of resources but a form of direct colonization in the future.

Abdel Latif el-Menawy

This is why the presidential initiative back then to establish a commission for the Nile Basin countries was important regardless of signing the Nile Basin Initiative now among the Nile Basin countries. Another important move was the concern not to escalate the rhetoric when addressing this issue yet emphasize that Egypt's historical rights of the Nile water are nonnegotiable.

But at the same time, some of us must not be carried away with enthusiasm or with the desire to achieve fake heroic acts and end up escalating the rhetoric to reach the extent of making threats and sounding the drums of a war when there are no drums! The issue must be resolved through maintaining patience, resuming negotiations and emphasizing that the concept of cooperation is the basis to compensate what was lost and the basis to maintain our rights that will not be harmed.

Although it has been three years since all of this, the group ruling Egypt drowned in its failure, greed and fake renaissance and drowned us with it.

According to media reports, the Brotherhood has not yet awaken from its slumber and is still studying the experts' commission's final report on the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. The report will be submitted before the end of May in order to be put before the presidents of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia. The report indicates that Ethiopian studies on the dam "are incomplete." This is the same conclusion drawn by the experts' commission's last progress report. A practical study has also confirmed that the expected results from establishing the dam will be "disastrous" and will lead to displacing millions of Egyptian families.

Amidst all this, what is really strange and what really raises a lot of questions is that the prime minister who is supposed to be aware of the repercussions of the upcoming water crisis since he served as chief of two ministers' offices for five years and then later served minister of irrigation has in fact added salt to the wound and further drowned us in the Nile crisis.

Ethiopia's Renaissance Dam Transmission Network $1 Billion Loan with China

Article regarding the latest transmission loan deal with the Chinese for the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project. The article announces the deal with China, which is for $1 billion USD for building the transmission network - the vague statement that 85% of the cost for the project will be covered by the loan is referring not to the dam project, but to the transmission project. For some reason I thought that this deal had already gone through...The transmission network is an important piece of the dam project. When I was in Ethiopia, I witnessed Chinese workers building the big transmission towers throughout the Great Rift Valley. I hope that the equipment is of good quality as much of Chinese electric gear does not have the best reputation...

The Ethiopians aren't kidding around. This thing is not only going forward, this thing is going to be big.

Ethiopia: Renaissance Dam Power Transmission Project Gets U.S. $1 Billion Loan

29 APRIL 2013

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Mihret Debebe, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo), and China Electric Power Equipment and Technology Co, Ltd (CET) of SGCC, signed a $1 billion loan agreement for the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam power transmission line project.

The project which will cost an estimated $1.2 billion has a total length 700 Kilometers. Upon completion, the GERD-Dedessa-Holeta power transmission project will have two 500kv double circuit transmission lines to the new Dedessa, then Holeta substations following which it will join the national grid via the 400kv line from Holeta to Sebeta II, Holeta to Sululta II, and Holeta to Akaki II substations.

Signing the agreement, Mihret Debebe, CEO of EEPCo, noted that the project is one of the biggest extra high voltaic transmission lines, in Africa. The CEO also highlighted that the project will have significant role in linking the region through power transmission as it will not only supply power to the Ethiopian national grid but also to the two corridors that connect South Sudan and Sudan.

He further stated that the GERD is a milestone project aimed at making Ethiopia the green energy hub in the region as well as on the continent. On the occasion he noted that 85% of the project's cost, the equivalent of $1 billion will be covered by the loan from the government of China while the remainder will be financed through the coffers of the Ethiopian government.

Speaking on behalf of the SGCC, Du Zhigang, Deputy President of SGCC, stated that his company understood the importance attached to the project and would strive to carry out the project as per the time frame set for the completion of the project by the Government of Ethiopia.

Friend's Community Impacted by Flooding in Uganda. Please read and help if you can.

A CALL FOR HELP
Supplies of any kind, ranging from clothes, beddings, cooking utensils, foodstuffs etc. and financial (monetary) support are highly needed! We can route any financial support through Ray of Hope Africa (RAHA) www.rayofhope-africa.org Bank account (details attached) and material support through RAHA P.O Box number 30721, Kampala – Uganda.
Seven people have so far been confirmed dead. Several people are still trapped in the middle of the floods as all routes and bridges have all been swept away and still flooded. The process of rescuing people is quite slow considering the magnitude of the population to be rescued and finding temporary places of relocating them.
Well, the Kilembe is home to a defunct copper mining industry on the foothills of Mount Rwenzori (Mountains of the moon), a snow capped mountain that gives birth to rivers that my community depend on for survival. Until Wednesday this week, my community witnessed a rainstorm like any other but this time the river banks were busted by the storm, destroying roads, bridges and homesteads. The fact that people are living in the valley, chances of people’s houses surviving the storm where reduced to zero. That is why all people in the valley side have been left homeless. To worsen the situation, the torrid rains came back today, sweeping all the little that survived between Wednesday and Thursday.
See links for details about the calamity;
http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/642349-i-saw-my-brother-being-swept-away-by-kasese-floods.html; http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/642347-kasese-floods-displace-7-000.html;http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/642349-i-saw-my-brother-being-swept-away-by-kasese-floods.html;http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Floods--Kilembe-Mines-Hospital-closes/-/688334/1799498/-/89f50b/-/index.html;http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Four-dead-as-flooding-hits-Kasese-town/-/688334/1766862/-/gc8w5wz/-/index.html.
Best of Regards.
Moses Kyamakya
mkyamakya@rayofhope-africa.org
Mob: +256782014160

LIDAR Technology is groovy

A friend recently sent me this image that uses LIDAR to model the hydrological history of a river. LIDAR is an aerial derived sensor that collects information (like a photo, but more complicated, if you want to know about the technology, see what NOAA has to say here).
This particular image is of a piece of the Willamette River in Oregon. Besides being absolutely beautiful, this image is really useful for better understanding of many of the world's rivers. We could to better understand the physical dynamic that rivers have as an overall hydro system. This is good for land-use decisions and zoning plans. Technology like this can better inform researchers and policy makers about the dynamic realities of rivers systems so they can make better choices about water resources management.

Glowing landscape shows river history

May 3, 2013 to Data Art by Nathan Yau

The poster by Daniel E. Coe shows the life-like historical flows of the Willamette River in Oregon.

This lidar-derived digital elevation model of the Willamette River displays a 50-foot elevation range, from low elevations (displayed in white) fading to higher elevations (displayed in dark blue). This visually replaces the relatively flat landscape of the valley floor with vivid historical channels, showing the dynamic movements the river has made in recent millennia. This segment of the Willamette River flows past Albany near the bottom of the image northward to the communities of Monmouth and Independence at the top. Near the center, the Luckiamute River flows into the Willamette from the left, and the Santiam River flows in from the right.

Women and hydropower - should there be gender specific consideration in water resources development?

I have a colleague who is working to put together a workshop to discuss women's role in hydropower. This idea is related to gender dynamics in development projects. I started scratching my head: have I seen anything this year, in my research, that speaks to gender differences either alleviated or exacerbated by hydropower development?

First of all, there are not many women involved in these projects at the national level. Whether this is just a factor of how many women studied engineering in the countries I have worked in or the role of women, in general, in society is unknown. I was told in Ethiopia that women now outnumber men in the engineering schools. So, perhaps in the future this will change. There are not many women present at the dam sites with jobs directly related to construction or design, though I did meet a handful of women hired from abroad and from Ethiopia working at Gibe III. One Ethiopian woman I spoke with who has an official role at Gibe III is a powerhouse and has been a pioneer in her work of surveying and dam development.

Plenty of women were present at the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in roles related to cooking and cleaning. I think I was told that there were about 500 women employed on site in these roles out of the 8000 employees. And there were the wives of the internationals. I didn't actually spend too  much time at the Xayaburi camp to know if this is the same there. I met one Lao woman working in the PR arm of Xayaburi. I did meet quite a few women merchants in both dam sites selling goods to the project people, whether in their own shops, or on a one-to-one basis - food mostly. Any dam site, historic or present day, has its share of prostitutes. For women, as well as for men, this activity could present a real problem in the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

What is the dam relevance to women on the ground, in the local communities? This may be a more interesting question. We can estimate that women and men get similar benefits from development projects going into their otherwise remote communities. Access to markets, health care facilities, schools for their kids, water supply, electricity. Women, in general one may argue, need a doctor more often then men. Why? Birthing. This is one thing. Women are typically more engaged in markets than men - buying and selling seems to be more predominantly occupied by women - just empirical observation. Women, I am told, handle the compensation money more responsibly. When men receive these big chunks of compensation they may not necessarily spend it to better their existing families. In one dam in Ethiopia, men used the money to acquire a new wife. I have heard people say also that men tend to drink the money. More successful compensation packages, I am told, are when the money is given gradually and to the woman of the household so it is spent on education, clothing, food. I have no evidence for this. This is based on hearsay.

But consider what a woman in a remote undeveloped village does with her day. She hauls water. This a woman may do up to 3 times in one day, dependent on the size of her family. She deals with the family garden/farm - harvesting or planting or weeding, depending on the season. She makes the food. She minds the children. She pans for gold. She chops wood. She washes clothes. She cleans. She harvests material to make things. She then makes handicrafts, like baskets for hauling.

How could this change with the advent of development in her village? Perhaps her time spent hauling water is now reduced because there is a community tap - or even a tap in the house. Maybe she can buy a washing machine. She can sell her excess food in the market and buy useful things, like a basket. The things she can buy may be of better quality. Perhaps she can buy salt as to make meat and fish last longer, spending less time preparing the food in the long run. She now has access to a doctor in the case that she wants to give birth in a hospital instead of the house or the bush. If something goes wrong during the birthing process, she can more readily get to a health facility. Maybe she even has access to family planning information and/or birth control. Can you imagine giving birth to 12 or so kids? It does things to your body, for sure. Maybe her children gaining an education will enable them to take better financial care of her when she is old. I think it is true in every culture that women outlast men by years in old age. But maybe also she loses her income source from gold panning. Perhaps she has to spend more time on farming because she can no longer do this in the riverbed, now she needs irrigation and fertilizers. Maybe she has more hours working in general because her children now attend school. There are some drawbacks.

What I think about woman and hydropower is that there could be benefits to their lives through access to useful things to make their lives easier, longer and better quality of life through access to healthcare, and more time for themselves to do other things. This development can also expose women to new opportunities - and an increase of lifestyle and livelihood choice. Does this make sense?

These ideas are not complete. But I wonder if anyone is working on this question of gender and hydroprojects?