Assessing the Potential Impacts of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on Water Resources and Soil Salinity in the Nile Delta, Egypt

Sherien Abdel Aziz, Martina Zeleňáková, Peter Mésároš, Pavol Purcz and Hany Abd-Elhamid
Additional contact information
Sherien Abdel Aziz: Higher Institute of Engineering & Technology, Zagazig, Ministry of Higher Education, Zagazig 44519, Egypt
Martina Zeleňáková: Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Technical University of Kosice, Kosice 04200, Slovakia
Peter Mésároš: Department of Construction Technology and Management, Faculty of Engineering, Technical University of Kosice, Kosice 04200, Slovakia
Pavol Purcz: Department of Construction Technology and Management, Faculty of Engineering, Technical University of Kosice, Kosice 04200, Slovakia
Hany Abd-Elhamid: Department of Water & Water Structures Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Zagazig University, Zagazig 44519, Egypt

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 24, 1-14

Abstract: Several studies have reported that the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) could have severe effects on the water resources in downstream countries, especially Egypt. These effects include changes in surface water level, groundwater levels in shallow and deep aquifers, saltwater intrusion, and increases in soil salinity, which could affect crop yields. This paper assesses the potential impacts of the GERD on the Nile Delta, Egypt. It includes the effects of reducing surface water levels (SWL) and changing the crop patterns at the groundwater levels (GWL), in addition to the effect of cultivating crops that consume less water on soil salinity. A pilot area is selected in the east of the Nile Delta for the assessment. The results of the study revealed that GWL is directly proportional to SWL. Comparing the case study of 2012, when SWL was reduced by 50%, the GWL decreased from 5.0 m to 2.0 m. After adjustment, the crop patterns from rice to other crops decreased the GWL to 1.30 m. Additionally, the results showed that there is a significant relationship between soil salinity and crop patterns. Soil salinity increased during the cultivation of the Delta with non-rice crops, such as grapes. Salinity increased from 0.45 S/m after 10 years of simulation to 0.48 S/m. This estimation highlights the undesirable effects of the GERD on Egypt’s water resources, soil salinity, crop yields, and national income.

Keywords: GERD; surface water levels; groundwater levels; crop pattern; soil salinity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/24/7050/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/24/7050/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:24:p:7050-:d:296045

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().