The proposed drought mitigation, Mechanism of International agreement, United Nations Convention or Whatsoever better for human species: must possibly know what is going on in our planet. Mike Pampeo declared war on Earth doesn’t mean the world is for those individuals and the CIA abbreviation in North america. Human existence must have clear policy on earth beyond the joke after Hydroxy chlloroquine. Plus it should be advisable to teach the foreign policy makers to study foreign history.

After some progress in the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) negotiations since the US. treasury and World Bank got involved on November, the process foundered on drought mitigation demands that ETHIOPIA categorically rejected.

This relate both to the filling stage of the Dam, which Ethiopia says will take to five to seven years, and the long term operation phase. Ethiopians say the negotiation for long term operation became about water sharing, which should not have been part of the agenda. Rather they wanted discussions only on the reservoir operation that is restricted to the Dam’s inflows and outflows. But the last round of talks in had run their course. the Ethiopian view was that Egypt and The U.s proposed an un-amendable plan for permanent operation, which amounted to a water allocation arrangement that effectively protects Egypt’s claimed 55.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) annual shre of Nile waters.

Aspects of the proposed agreement identify releases from the GERD without considering the inflow. Whatever the amount of water flowing in, Ethiopia is exposed to release some amount under the pretext of drought mitigation. This has clear similarities with a water sharing agreement that doesn’t alter along with the rain fall that fluctuates from year to year. Ethiopia wants the amount released to be based on inflow into the reservior minus evaporation and local use, without specifying figures in advance.

According to experts from Addis Ababa , the way the issue has been dealt with does not amount to drought mitigation; rather, it is mitigation of water shortage in Egypt and Sudan. Egypt prefers to call it drought for two reasons, they say; Firs, it’s to use this to accuse Ethiopia of causing artificial drought in Egypt. Second,it transfers the responsibility for mitigation to Ethiopia. Otherwise, how can drought happen in the middle of the desert, the experts ask. If it was called water shortage instead, responsibility for mitigation would lie in all the three countries, with Egypt talking its fair share of responsibility.

The starting promise for the approach, negotiators from Addis claim, Ethiopia is obliged to mitigate downstream shortages, with no corresponding obligation on those countries to assist by and applying water saving technology, planning less water consuming crops, shifting thier economies from Agriculture to the industrial service sectors. In addition, the agreement obliges Ethiopia to release the so ca called ‘natural flow’; thus ignoring Ethiopia’s future upstream water uses for water supply, filling hydropower dams, or irrigation.

GRAND ETHIOPIAN RENAISSANCE DAM

GERD’s reserviour capacity is 74 bcm with Water level at 640 meters above sea level (masl). Average flow of Blue Nile at its entry to GERD is assumed to be 49 bcm a year. Of the 74 bcm, around 15 bcm, which is at height of slightly less than 595 masl, is ‘dead storage’, meaning that it will stay in the reservoir as it represents the dam’s minimum operating level for the 13 turbines. This will be impounded over the first two years, with an added 3.4 bcm to act as a buffer, according to the Ethiopian Plan.

The 25 bcm of storage above 625 masl is for annual releases to generate electricity, while the 25 bcm between the minimum operating level and 625 masl is an emergency drought reserve. each year during operation in around September, after filling during the rainy season, the upper 25 bcm will be used to generate power, as will any inflow in excess of 25 bcm.

The initial Ethiopian plan, however, is to impound 4.9 bcm in the first year of filling to test the first two turbines. In the Second year, another 13.5 bcm is needed to test the remaining turbines. Therefore the volume stored after two years, is 18.4 bcm . After the first two years of filling, Ethiopia plan is to release a minimum of 31 bcm per year. This is the average annual flow of the blue Nile between 1979 and 1987, which were prolonged drought years during which the High Aswan Dam did not reach shutdown level, and Egypt was not significantly affected by water shortages.

According to the Ethiopian Negotiators, Eguypt accepts that Ethiopia will impound from between 5 to 12 bcm in both the first two years. Assuming an Average flow of the blue Nile, this means releasing between 37 to 44 bcm downstream each year. However, from the third year, the US- drafted agreement, which Egypt signed, proposes that drought mitigation mechanism for the long term operation.

DROUGHT MITIGATION

There are three drought mitigation schemes proposed in the agreement for long term operation.

Mitigation-1 : Annual Drought