The NSAS currently is not the main source of water for Egypt and Sudan, who rely heavily on the Nile River. In keeping with the government’s current water supply policy, Egyptians have been busy focusing on large scale hydro-engineering along the Nile, especially dam building. However, such policy may change in the future and their attention will likely turn to the NSAS which lies below the ground. Egypt, as the most powerful out of the Nubian states, could increase pressure on relations in an already tense situation over water in the North of Africa.
The volatile political nature of the Nubian states has been commented on in many research papers and has been a source of concern as, ‘few other TBA’s underlie such a politically volatile landscape.’ After the forced removal of Mubarak and the consequential fall of Qaddafi, the states were in a state of widespread turmoil. Political insecurity has also increased the instability of water supplies. For example, on 3 September 2013, the water supply to Libya’s capital, Tripoli, was stopped when the Magraha tribe overtook a pumping station. Those living in the city relied on bottled water for over a week. This situation illustrates just how insecure water supply can be in these countries. In times of political unsteadiness, there is a greater need for an agreement between the states as they each become ‘eager to lay claim to this resource.’
Furthermore, the current conflict in Darfur, Sudan, can be largely attributed to a lack of accessible water. The problem is that Sudan does have water, a lot of it in fact, however, the complete lack of funds and no government water plan has put water out of reach as an economically viable option. Hypothesis that the Egyptian extraction rate will begin to cause the Sudanese water table to lower could mean further water security problems for Sudan. Sudan's section of the NSAS is already the smallest of the Nubian states and the outlook could mean much of their water will be inaccessible within the next 100 years if current pumping rates continue. Chad and Sudan are in a very different economic situation to Egypt and Libya. For example, Chad’s GDP is only 13% of the GDP of Libya. Such a large disparity in their relative economic strengths leave the countries in unequal positions of power when it comes to negotiations. A weaker negotiating position could leave Chad and Sudan open to feeling the negative impacts of intensive extraction in Egypt and Libya.
The volatile political nature of the Nubian states has been commented on in many research papers and has been a source of concern as, ‘few other TBA’s underlie such a politically volatile landscape.’ After the forced removal of Mubarak and the consequential fall of Qaddafi, the states were in a state of widespread turmoil. Political insecurity has also increased the instability of water supplies. For example, on 3 September 2013, the water supply to Libya’s capital, Tripoli, was stopped when the Magraha tribe overtook a pumping station. Those living in the city relied on bottled water for over a week. This situation illustrates just how insecure water supply can be in these countries. In times of political unsteadiness, there is a greater need for an agreement between the states as they each become ‘eager to lay claim to this resource.’
Furthermore, the current conflict in Darfur, Sudan, can be largely attributed to a lack of accessible water. The problem is that Sudan does have water, a lot of it in fact, however, the complete lack of funds and no government water plan has put water out of reach as an economically viable option. Hypothesis that the Egyptian extraction rate will begin to cause the Sudanese water table to lower could mean further water security problems for Sudan. Sudan's section of the NSAS is already the smallest of the Nubian states and the outlook could mean much of their water will be inaccessible within the next 100 years if current pumping rates continue. Chad and Sudan are in a very different economic situation to Egypt and Libya. For example, Chad’s GDP is only 13% of the GDP of Libya. Such a large disparity in their relative economic strengths leave the countries in unequal positions of power when it comes to negotiations. A weaker negotiating position could leave Chad and Sudan open to feeling the negative impacts of intensive extraction in Egypt and Libya.
References
Alker, M. (2007) The Nubian Sandstone Aquifer - A case study for the research project of transboundary groundwater management in Africa. Halle: The german development institute.
Schlein, L (2011) ‘Water scarcity root of Darfur conflict’ (WWW) (http://www.voanews.com/ content/water-scarcity-root-of-darfur-conflict-123688459/158292.html; 24 December 2015).
Voss, C.I. and Soliman, S.M. (2013) The transboundary, non-renewable Nubian Aquifer System of Chad, Egypt, Libya and Sudan. Hydrogeology Journal Vol. 22, 441-468.
Podrasky, J (2013) ‘The politics of water in Libya and Egypt’ (WWW) (http://muftah.org/the- politics-of-water-in-libya-and-egypt; 24 December 2015).
Maxwell, N (2011) The Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System: Thoughts on a Multilateral Treaty in Light of the 2008 UN Resolution on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers.
Sass, E (2011) What lies beneath libyas Great man made river - [http://mentalfloss.com/article/27260/what-lies-beneath-libyas-great-manmade-river]
Do you think that the fact that Libya is using just as much water as Egypt, but with a much smaller population to sustain, may cause conflict in the future around the issue of equitable use of resources?
ReplyDeleteHi lulu, thats a really interesting question thankyou! You are right the Populations are vastly different with Egypt having a population of 82 million while Libya has a population of only 6 million. Libya relies heavily on the NSAS for its water supply, as it is its only large source of water. Egypt on the other hand has the Nile river. As the Nile and the NSAS are both transboundary water sources there are many countries impacting upon the future sharing of the resources. If Egypt became unable to use the Nile due to downstream riparian states using more, then the NSAS would be an obvious alternative, to cater for drinking water for its large population. In future agreements, this needs to be taken account of as a possibility and look at whether the water should be assigned on a per capita basis.
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