Download Nile River Basin By Duaij AlRukaibi

Nile River Basin
By Duaij AlRukaibi
Introduction
The Nile River Basin is a natural surface water system of strategic significant on the continent of
Africa and an unrivaled historic, social, energy and economic important to ten riparian countries
of Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania,
Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt. It is provide source of livelihood to over 300 million people for its
riparian nation. Nile is the longest river in the world that is located in the north-east of the
continent of Africa, and the track starts from the source at Lake Victoria “the third largest lake in
the world” - the central east of the continent - and then heading north to the mouth of the
Mediterranean, with a total length of 6695 km (4187 miles) and annual average flow 2622 m3s-1.
Nile Basin covers an area of 3 million km². Returns the name “Nile” to Greek term called
NEILOS.
Background
Nile river Basin covers roughly 10 % of the African continent or 2 % of the total earth land
surface. With all 10 countries that Nile River flows through them, Egypt and the Sudan are the
two major users of this river with small contributor to the runoff from Ethiopia. The three
tributaries, the Blue Nile, the While Nile, and The Atbara are the feeders for the main Nile River.
The White Nile flows from high in the mountain around Lake Victoria that shared by Uganda,
Tanzania and Kenya and the Rainfall from them flow into the lake. The Nile leaves Lake
Victoria and flows 3216 Km until reaches the capital of Sudan “Khartoum”. In the other hand,
the Blue Nile River represent 80% of the water feeding Main Nile river but the water reached in
the summer just after the monsoon rains on the plateau of Ethiopia while the rest of the year
nearly dry. It originates from the highlands of Ethiopia at Lake Tana and flows 1400 Km to
Khartoum, where the Blue Nile and White Nile join to form the Nile proper. River Atbara which
originates in Ethiopia north of Lake Tana, and is around 800 Km (500 mi) long joined them at
Atbara city to form the main Nile river that flows into Egypt‟s Lake Nasser, the second an
artificial lake in the world created by the construction of the Aswan High Dam. North of Cairo,
the Nile goes to split into two branches that feed the Mediterranean Sea: the Rosetta Branch
“west” and the Damietta “east”, forming between them the Nile Delta.
Hydrological features of Nile River Basin
The annual runoff of Nile River is comparably low regarding to the size of the basin “3 Million
Km2”. For example, Niger River has less than drainage area but its runoff much higher than Nile
River that just represents 35.9% from Niger River‟s runoff.
In the figure below that illustrated the elevation difference from Lake Victoria to Mediterranean
Sea. Nile Basin constitutes a unique diversified geographically, starting from the highlands in the
south and its decrease until the hike up to the spacious plains in the far north. Therefore, the Nile
River is the only river which flows from south to north and that according to earth‟s slope.
.
Source: http://www.mbarron.net/Nile
A natural flow in the Nile River is 2622 m3s-1 at northern Sudan Dongola (FAO 1997) but is
subject to significant spatial and temporal variation (FAO 1997). Nile river basin is divided to
four catchments and each catchment has outlet except blue and while Nile have the same outlet
but different flow (Table 2)
Catchments
Outlet
Flow (m3s-1)
Nile
Aswan
2666.79
Atbar
Atbara
351.97
Blue Nile
Khartoum
1531.58
White Nile
Khartoum
824.45
As statistics, spatial analysis or spatial statistics of water flow the main Nile which study entities
using their topological, geometric, or geographic properties. The total flow reaching the main
Nile “table 1” approximately 80 % stem from Ethiopian plateau and the rest from the equatorial
Lakes plateau (Lake Victoria, lake Kyogo, Lake Kwania, and Lake Albert). In the Sudd area in
southern Sudan half of water flow that outflow from Lake Albert (995.68 m3s-1) is evaporated.
The major on the Nile these Roseires Dam and Sennar Dan in Sudan, Aswan High Dam in
Egypt, and Owen Falls Dam in Uganda that help those riparian countries in different ways.
In other hand, temporal analysis of water flow that inflow to Lake Nasser illustrates a keen
seasonal pattern between July and November and stem from the Blue Nile and Atbara while low
flow between February and May. The peak for inflow to Lake Nasser in September with 8102
m3s-1
and
during
the
dry
season,
the
minimum
flows
close
to
579m3s-1.
Source: http://www.mbarron.net/Nile
Population Growth
Rising Water demands that is consequences from population growth in all riparian countries. In
table 4 shows the population for riparian countries and 75 % from the total population live within
the basin (CPNile 2006). There is a report for IPCC confirms for us that “by 2020, between the
range of 75 and 250 million people are projected to be exposed to an increase of water demand
due to climate change”.
In the figure below that illustrates the population density per unit area within Nile basin of
riparian countries (3112369 Km2). Overall, the value of population density increase in river
valley in Egypt and where the White Nile and Blue Nile join each other. Two other spots that
have intensity population, the Ethiopian‟s Highland and the city surround Lake Victoria in the
south of the basin.
Climate change impact:
Nile river basin is sensitive to climate change and there are various factors that show this area
expose for the change in the future. Along its 3000 Km through northern Sudan and southern
Egypt, the Nile loses a huge amount of water due to evaporation that makes the basin extremely
sensitive to temperature and precipitation changes. For the precipitation factor that different area
in the basin don‟t receive significant amount like central and northern parts of the basin. In
contrast, there are two main areas which supply almost 100 % of the water in the main Nile
flowing to Aswan High Dam: the Ethiopian Plateau and Equatorial Lake Plateau. In table 5
shows the average rainfall over Nile River Basin is 615 mm a-1. According to Global Average
coefficient of Runoff, the total runoff coefficient for the basin is quite low (0.045).
The annual runoff into Lake Nasser shows high change from 1871 until 1986 that is
demonstrated in the chart (m3a-1).
1.2E+11
1.02E+11
1E+11
88000000000
77000000000
8E+10
6E+10
4E+10
2E+10
0
avg. flow between 1871 and
avg. flow between 1899 and
avg. flow between 1972 and
1898
1971
1986
Name of the area
Average
(mm)
Ethiopian plateau
Equatorial
1400-1750
Lake
Plateau
1200-1400
(Lake Victoria, lake
Kyogo, Lake Kwania,
and Lake Albert)
From north of Egypt 0 -300 mm
to
the
Sudan
middle
of
annual
rainfall
Solution and conclusion
The impact of climate change on hydrology of the Nile river basin recorded for a certain time
(IPCC 2007) and measured using a macro scale hydrology model simulation Precipitation and
Temperature downscaled from runs of 11 General Circulation Models (GCMs) and two global
emissions scenarios. So, the precipitation is optimal to increas next decades over all basin
according to IPCC report. On the other hand, due to the increasing the temperature as a result
overall evaporation is likely to increase as well (IPCC 2001). There are various solutions that
help them to adaptive action to miligate climate change for example understand and address the
issues of climate change and educate the new generation how to figure it out, should develop the
capacity of soft tools like early warning systems for mitigation measures and applied training
project of the shared vision program with different research institution.
Refrences
Required reading:
Bayene, Lettenmaier and Kabat (2007) „Hydrologic Impacts of Climate Change on the Nile
River Basin: Implications of the 2007 IPCC Climate Scenarios‟.
Waako (2009) ‘Impact of climate change on the Nile river basin‘ Nile Basin Initiative (NBI).
Suggested reading
IPCC Technical paper VI „ Climate change and water‟.
Source: (IPCC 2007)