One of the biggest conflicts in the Middle East and Eastern Africa is brewing over natural resources. In this case—the water from the Nile River and how upstream damming affects the countries Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt, and their share of water and hydropower.
A new journal article in Communications Earth & Environment provides a scientific framework for operating the Nile’s “mega” dams during prolonged droughts to balance generating sustainable hydropower while minimizing the water deficit for people living downstream.
The research, co-authored by Essam Heggy, Essam Heggy, who is a research scientist in the Microwave Systems, Sensors, and Imaging Lab (MiXIL) within the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and co-principal investigator at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering Center for Arid and Water Research Exploration (AWARE), evaluates the efficiency of multiple drought-mitigation policies related to the operations of the Nile’s mega-dams.