Prof D Chandrasekharam

Nile is an amazing river supporting 10 countries before joining the Mediterranean Sea. But maximum water is being utilized by Egypt and Sudan. Till now no country raised any objection to it until recently Ethiopia proposed to construct Ethiopian Grand Renaissance Dam over the Blue Nile. So far Egypt is enjoying 58 billion cubic meters of water from the Aswan Dam. Once the Ethiopian Dam construction completes over the Blue Nile , Egypt will have tremendous pressure for water and food. What it needs by 2025 is about 106 billion cubic meters of freshwater to satisfy its 109 million population. Even to main the current per capita water requirement of 630 cubic meters per year Egypt needs about 1200 desalination plants. The Oceans are the future. “Water Water Everywhere but not a drop to drink” saying is the past…now it is “water water everywhere and plenty to drink”. This comes with a heavy price tag and climate change. Currently oil and gas are being used by desalination plants. For example Sydney processing 25000 cubic meters /d of sea water emits 954 tons of CO2/day. Even RO technology emits 7 kg of CO2 / cubic meter of freshwater generated. The future focus for controlling CO2 emissions is not thermal power plants but desalination units. With declining water resources, increasing demand for food and water the next CoP have to focus on this important issue. Heat mining is the only answer to this issue. Countries with hydrothermal and EGS sources should now focus on developing them to support desalination plants. Estimates show that the geothermal energy in Egypt has the capacity to generate about 60000 billion cubic meters of fresh water in an year. Even 10% of it will make a great difference to Egypt that is increasing food imports due to foreseen issues with Nile!!