Death of the Nile

Death of the Nile

Subject :Geography

Section: Places in news

Context: Mega dams have killed the river’s ability to flush carcinogens, slowly killing its delta

More on the News:

• Large-scale pollution from untreated agricultural drainage and wastewater is putting existential pressure on the delta system of the world’s longest river, according to a new study.
• Pollution, coastal erosion and seawater intrusion challenge the sustainability of the delta, on which the population of Egypt rely for food security, noted the document published in the journal Earth’s Future.
• In this study, the researchers evaluated the levels of heavy metal pollution along the two delta branches of the iconic river to identify their sources and explore the implications of damming on heavy metal concentration.
• They arrived at this conclusion after analysing eight heavy metals — lead, chromium, cadmium, copper, zinc, iron, manganese and nickel — present in samples of sediment collected from the bottom of two branches of the river’s delta.
• The high concentrations of cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, nickel and zinc are carcinogenic and can adversely affect plant and human health. They can drastically harm plant growth, causing necrosis and chlorosis in leaves and death of the plant as well.
• Mega-dams built upstream disrupt the river’s natural flow; sediments thus accumulated adversely affect its ability to flush contaminants out into the Mediterranean Sea, leaving toxins to build up in bottom sediment over time.
• Alarmingly, much of this contamination by heavy metals is irreversible. However, the study claimed that science-based conservation measures could alleviate environmental degradation and restore the Nile delta’s ecosystem to relatively healthy levels.

River Nile:

• The River Nile is one of the world’s longest rivers, flowing through 11 countries in Africa, including Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Uganda.
• The Nile River has two major tributaries: the White Nile, which originates in East Africa and flows through Sudan, and the Blue Nile, which begins in Ethiopia and joins the White Nile in Sudan before flowing into Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.
• The Nile is known for its annual flooding, which has been an important natural cycle for agricultural production in Egypt and other countries along the river for thousands of years. However, the construction of dams and other water infrastructure has disrupted this natural cycle in some areas.
• The ancient Egyptian civilization, which flourished along the Nile River, is one of the oldest and most significant in world history. The Nile provided water for irrigation, transportation, and other activities that supported the development of this civilization.
• The Nile Delta, where the river meets the Mediterranean Sea in northern Egypt, is one of the most fertile agricultural regions in the world. It is home to a variety of crops, including cotton, wheat, and citrus fruits.
• The Nile Basin is home to over 300 million people, many of whom depend on the river for their livelihoods.
• One of the most controversial dam projects on the Nile is the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which is being built by Ethiopia on the Blue Nile, a major tributary of the Nile. The GERD has been a source of tension between Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt, as downstream countries fear the dam will impact their water supply.