Creating Flexibility in Freshwater Availability for the Eastern Nile Basin
Abstract: Water is
an important resource for socio-economic development in the Eastern Nile Basin. Current
water withdrawals are at the limits of available renewable water resources. Competing
demands on water use and allocation include population increase, climate change
uncertainty, and the socio-economic and political situation prevailing in the region.
Scrutiny of the water balance shows ... read morethis resource is not a binding constraint for
development and that perceived water problems are the result of naturally occurring
uneven distribution and inadequacies related to water resources mismanagement. This
research aims at finding paths to create flexibility in water availability for the
basin. Focus is set on agriculture, the largest land- and water-demanding sector.
Examining irrigation efficiency, agriculture practices, rainwater harvesting, and
cropping patterns several strategies are proposed and assessed. Results show there is
potential to increase the annual water availability up to 11 billion cubic meters, a
value representing 13% of the Nile Waters Agreement flow. The largest impact stems from
strategies that have little or nothing to do with infrastructure for or policy on water
resources, at least from a traditional standpoint. This work aims at shifting the
current conversation - in a region where riparian countries struggle to allocate water
framing it as a limited resource - to exploratory and collaborative efforts towards
sustainable solutions by reframing water as a flexible
Thesis (M.S.)--Tufts University, 2016.
Submitted to the Dept. of Civil Engineering.
Advisor: Shafiqul Islam.
Committee: Brian Roach, and Margaret Garcia.
Keywords: Water resources management, Civil engineering, and Agriculture.read less