By Beth D. MSc AEES (Advanced Enviornmental & Energy Studies)
Coffee, animal production, cotton, cut flowers, etc are water thirsty crops. A 1 kilo jar of coffee uses 20,000 ltrs or 20 tonnes of water to produce it. Coffee is a major Ethiopian export, yet Ethiopia cannot access water from the Blue Nile for irrigation as Egypt has agreements put in place during the British involvement in that area allowing it use of all of the Blue Nile extractions.
When we eat Jaffa oranges from Israel, we are taking water out of an extremely water stressed region and most likely out of the river Jordan. The country Jordan cannot access this water anymore due to Israel’s use of the entire river flow.
Some countries have to import food as their water sources are insufficient to grow food for their populations. However, many other countries do not need to import, yet they still rely on poorer water-stressed regions to provide food for them.
America exports a great deal of water in the form of grain and beef. It is thought that enough water to float a battleship is needed to grow a 1000 lb steer. It takes 1000 tons of water to produce 1 ton of wheat. The water-stressed states should be looking further than domestic and industrial use if real progress is to be made on water conservation.
Flood irrigation needs to be stopped and trickle-drip or spot irrigation procedures need to be adopted. Furthermore, the idea of “making the desert bloom” by installing dams and irrigation channels needs to be put on the shelf. When we divert water away from its natural routes, we deprive one healthy eco-system in order to create two stressed eco-systems. Neither one has adequate supplies to sustain a bio-diverse enviornment.
And then there is rainwater harvesting, stopping deforestation, wetland conservancy… all these things create healthier rivers, groundwater systems and feed into lakes.
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FORUM | 8 Comments
Thank you –
For understanding the continuous cycle of misery Ethiopians are facing. More than these natural and man-made disasters Ethiopia’s worst enemy is the brutal Ethno-centric dictatorship in power. This gangster group is purposely starving the people who rejected him and uses the starving people as a tool to beg for donation. The next major enemy for the Ethiopian people is the U.S. foreign policy supporting this dictator in the name of anti-terrorism.
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May 22nd, 2008 at 2:11 AM
It is obvious that you cant stop only natural disasters in the country that creates human disaster such as killing, abusing, harrasing and stealing. The main man made disaster that is a cause of many probelems that we have now and will have in the future is the so called illigitimate govt weyane that is created by a banch of gangesters. As long as weyane is in power our man made disasters keep increasing in the whole country. simple example look at our country 17 years ago with a diffrent dictator ship and look at now. What did we progress in? ofcourse unemplyement, HIV/AIDS, killing innocents, malnutrition, poverty and others have been significantly increased along with the non stop increasing of cost of life everyday. So the main worest disaster and enemy of the ethiopian people is weyane.
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May 22nd, 2008 at 8:09 AM
There are about 10 countries who have access to the Nile. However, this great river was gifted to Egypt alone by the old colonizing power, Great Britain. Amazingly the treaty, which doesn’t include these countries is still in force and the countries are bowing to it. It was Kenya, who dared to challenge this treaty but I don’t know how far it reached.
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May 22nd, 2008 at 11:39 AM
There are about 9 countries who have access to the Nile. However, this great river was gifted to Egypt alone by the old colonizing power, Great Britain. Amazingly the treaty, which doesn’t include these countries is still in force and the countries are bowing to it. It was Kenya, who dared to challenge this treaty but I don’t know how far it reached.
melese is afraid of usa.He can,t do nothing about it.
the thing is it is not also easy to divert the nile in ewthiopia and use it for irrigation as the topography is so difficult.
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May 22nd, 2008 at 11:59 AM
Ethiopia has plenty of water resources in many of its regions, but it needs water-resource experts to put some of these natural resources into practical uses. So far, the Ethiopian people have been widely using water mainly for drinking, washing, swimming, and fishing. In some areas of the country water has been used for irrigation, transportation, hydroelectricity, and for industries in a limited way.
For example, the water from the River Nile could have been used widely for irrigation and hydroelectricity that benefit the entire region if not the whole country. Unfortunately, the River Nile erodes the soils of our land and caries them to Egypt every year, and the Egyptians have been the beneficiaries of this great river for centuries.
There may be some practical ways for Ethiopia to prevent the flow of the River Nile from transporting our soils to a foreign country by diverting the Nile River into hydroelectricity and into irrigation. If Ethiopia does this, the Egyptians may wage war with Ethiopia, or Ethiopia must urge the Egyptians to pay a huge amount of money for using our water and our soil every year as some people in America say: “There is no free lunch.”
We should not forget what the Egyptians have been doing to our monasteries in Jerusalem, so why should we allow them to use our water and soil freely. Thy must pay us a large sum of money retroactive 3,000 years. All these process can be done peacefully if Ethiopians have had a thoughtful leader, able to allocate all Ethiopian natural resources properly in the way that benefits all Ethiopians.
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May 22nd, 2008 at 4:14 PM
Let us use our water .If Egyptians afford it ,let them start a war .The international treaty only sides with Egypt.
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May 22nd, 2008 at 9:16 PM
Gelgel beles(tanna beles)irrigation project around pawe phased out because of egyptian influence on woyannae. Had the project been completed,it was gonna change peoples life…big time,all the construction machineries were taken by woyannae to mekelle,sallinni const.ltd is still asking woyannae about those machineries…guys you know the response…its sad to see a very important project abandonned easily…for its not in tigray region,but it could feed hungry tigreanns wherever it is!.
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May 23rd, 2008 at 3:04 PM
Like tplfwoyanae are blood thristy robbers, red rosses are water thristy.
Water is important for Ethiopians. forget about red red flowers suck a lot of water just like the robbers are sucking the blood of Ethiopians.
Clearly, Egypt is the most benifited from the water that sources from sacred land of Ethiopia. Egypt and the invading woyanaetplf forces are the twin enemies of Ethiopia and Ethiopians because they are depleting and leaving millions of Ethiopians in abjuct poeverty and miserable life. Defeating the invading force of the tplfwoyanae looters is essential for securing a meanfingful life for millions of Ethiopians.
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May 23rd, 2008 at 3:59 PM