. | . |
More salt water in Egypt's Nile Delta putting millions at grave risk by Doug G. Ware Cairo (UPI) Mar 13, 2017 Increased human activity over the last few decades has slowly created a fresh water crisis that now looms for nearly 100 million people in Egypt, a scenario that scientists say could ultimately make the entire region uninhabitable by the end of this century. Most of Egypt's 90 million people live near the Lower Nile Valley and Delta because its nutrient-rich soil has for decades provided most of the country's limited agricultural means for food production and fresh water supply. However, the reliability of that soil to sustain life is fading, according to the results of a new, multi-year study. According to the research, the basin's fertile soils are becoming less capable of producing food and fresh water because of growing salinity in the delta plain, which lies only 1 meter above sea level. The northern third of the Nile Delta is lowering between 4mm and 8 mm every year while the sea level is rising annually at a rate of about 3 mm, researchers say. The end result of the opposing levels is the submerging of about 1 cm of delta terrain per year, the study said. At those rates, between 12 and 24 miles of presently dry delta surface will be under water by the year 2100. Scientists fear that growing salinity would ultimately render the delta's soil incapable of agricultural cultivation and effectively cut off the area's fresh water supply. "Egypt now releases less than 10 percent of its water supply, a mostly saline and highly polluted aqueous mix, to the sea, with little sediment available for coastal replenishment," researchers wrote. "Egypt, the tenth and last country below Nile headwaters, presently needs much more fresh water than can be provided by the Main Nile. Without it, the delta's coastal margin, for the most part depleted of its former sediment supply for replenishment, continues to erode locally and subside." The delta plain's dwindling agricultural potential, the research says, is rooted in various human activities over the last 200 years that have slowly grown the crisis by altering the River Nile's flow conditions. The construction of the Aswan High Dam during the 1960s and the Aswan Low Dam decades earlier are just two events identified by the study as having a tremendous impact on the soil evolution in the Nile Delta. The damming has altered the river's flow and natural distribution of nutrient-rich sediment, which is increasingly being trapped within the delta instead of continuing downstream where it could be used for agriculture. To make matters worse, researchers say, nearby Ethiopia is expected to complete its construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam this year -- another man-made obstacle that will impact Nile flow patterns. The dam is on the Blue Nile River, which is one of the two main tributaries that feed into the larger Nile in Egypt. It will take several years for the dam to fill the Millennium Reservoir, during which time the natural fresh water flows to Sudan and Egypt will be greatly reduced -- by as much as 25 percent -- creating grave conditions for the millions who rely on it to sustain life. "Further Nile fresh water decrease would be grave because, at best, the river barely supplies 97 percent of Egypt's water needs ... one of the world's lowest per capita water shares," the researchers wrote. "With a population expected to double in the next 50 years, Egypt is projected to reach a state of serious country-wide fresh water and energy shortage by 2025." Scientists said more dams planned in Ethiopia and Sudan would aggravate the situation. If fresh water supplies continue to fall, experts say regions in the Middle East and North Africa could become uninhabitable within a few decades. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that the region will see more than a 50 percent drop in accessible fresh water by 2050. "Competition between water-usage sectors will only intensify in the future between agriculture, energy, industrial production and household needs," UNFAO Director Jose Graziano da Silva said in Cairo last week.
Storrs CT (SPX) Mar 09, 2017 A University of Connecticut climate scientist confirms that more intense and more frequent severe rainstorms will likely continue as temperatures rise due to global warming, despite some observations that seem to suggest otherwise. In a research paper appearing this week in Nature Climate Change, UConn civil and environmental engineering professor Guiling Wang explains that data showing th ... read more Related Links Water News - Science, Technology and Politics
|
|
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us. |