The Professor of Geology and Water Resources at Cairo University, Abbas Sharaki, warned that the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is still storing large quantities of water, and Ethiopia will be forced to release some of it with the onset of the rainy season.
During a Wednesday phone interview with Ahmed Moussa’s TV show “Ala Massoulity” (On My Responsibility) Sharaki added that in this case the resulting water will pose a real threat to Sudan and could cause another flood similar to what occurred last year.
He continued, “We warned of the same scenario last year, and Ethiopia must open only one gate of the dam to prevent a repeat of the flooding that occurred in Sudan.”
Sharaki clarified that no water is currently flowing from GERD, adding, “the rainy season begins tomorrow and will be much more intense in June.”
He explained that GERD has not yet been utilized for either drinking water or electricity generation, adding, “The turbines of the Ethiopian dam are not operational.”
Sharaki continued, “The volume of water in the reservoir behind the Ethiopian dam is still very large, containing 47 billion cubic meters. If the turbines were running, the volume of water in the reservoir should be 20 billion cubic meters.”
