An Ethiopian Minister's Slip Revives an Egyptian Achievement Over 50 Years Old .. Here is Its Story

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In a strange and controversial post that he deleted immediately, Ethiopian Minister of Water and Energy, Habtamu Etefa, found himself in an embarrassing predicament after making a bizarre request to Egypt to explain why the "High Dam" was built without Ethiopia's approval.

Despite his quick deletion of the post, it turned into a story that brought attention back to an Egyptian achievement that is over 60 years old.

The official Egyptian responses did not give the post more weight than it deserved, considering it a proposal unworthy of a response. However, the useful irony shed light once again on the High Dam as the Egyptian icon that ended decades of flooding and turned every wasted drop into development and life.

The decision to officially build the High Dam was made in 1953, and the Egyptian leadership ordered the engineering designs to be prepared. The actual construction work began on January 9, 1960, and continued for a full decade until its completion in 1970.

According to the official data from the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, the High Dam has stood for more than six decades as a formidable and engineering fortress, with its reservoir capacity reaching about 169 billion cubic meters at a level of 183 meters.

This strategic stockpile is precisely distributed between 89.7 billion cubic meters to ensure water stability and annual flow for Egypt and Sudan, and 47.7 billion cubic meters for complete protection against devastating floods, in addition to the storage allocated for sediment retention.

The matter did not stop at the limits of protection and water storage to ensure flow throughout the year, but extended to represent a lifeline that re-engineered the agricultural and industrial geography of Egypt, through the reclamation of millions of acres, the transition to permanent irrigation, the generation of clean electricity, the doubling of fish wealth in Lake Nasser, and the revitalization of river navigation throughout the year.

For his part, Dr. Ahmed Fawzi Diab, Senior Project and Water Management Officer at the United Nations, stated in exclusive remarks to "Al Arabiya.net" and "Al Hadath.net" that what happened from the Ethiopian Minister of Water and Energy reflects a lack of awareness, explaining that the High Dam is a dam for water retention in the downstream country, and does not harm any person or any other country, nor does it detract from any rights, including the Ethiopian side.

He added that Egypt has retained the water that was wasted, in order to provide water for the agricultural area and generate electricity, confirming that Egypt has extensive and global expertise in providing water throughout the year without harming anyone.

Diab explained that the High Dam represents a model for benefiting from water that was previously wasted, by capturing it and using it to meet Egypt's water needs, in addition to using the water for electricity generation, emphasizing that the goal of the dam was to benefit from the water resource without harming any other party.

He pointed out that Egypt possesses significant global expertise in managing water resources and providing water throughout the year, which differs from the nature of the Ethiopian dam that was built to capture very large quantities of water, which has affected the downstream countries.

Diab confirmed that the Ethiopian side does not have the capacity to manage electricity generation from the dam or to manage the dam as a whole, nor does it have the sufficient skill in managing the water resource, explaining that water management is a fundamental aspect of dealing with any dam alongside the process of electricity generation.

He added that the difference between the two experiences is evident in the way water is managed, as Egypt used the High Dam to capture water that was being wasted and to provide it for agricultural land and electricity generation, while the capture of large quantities of water in the Ethiopian dam has impacted the downstream countries.

For his part, Dr. Abbas Sharaki, a professor of geology and water resources at Cairo University, told "Al-Arabiya.net" and "Al-Hadath.net" that the Ethiopian minister's statements are unrealistic and unscientific, explaining that Egypt is a downstream country and is located at the end of the river, and that when the water reaches Egypt, it flows into the sea.

He added that Egypt built the High Dam to retain the water that was reaching the sea, and to benefit from it through the High Dam, explaining that this water has become available for use instead of reaching the sea.

Sharaki confirmed that the High Dam does not harm any country at all, pointing out that its situation is different from the Renaissance Dam, which harms the downstream countries, and that any delay or impact related to the Renaissance Dam reflects on the downstream countries.

He clarified that the High Dam does not affect any country at all, considering that Egypt is a downstream country, and that the water that was reaching it was then heading to the sea, before Egypt retained it and benefited from it through the High Dam.