Hydrological Water Availability, Trends and Allocation in the Blue Nile Basin

Abstract

Within the Blue Nile River basin rainfall varies significantly with altitude and is considerably greater in the Ethiopian highlands than on the plains of Sudan. The river is the principal tributary of the main Nile River providing 62% of the flow reaching Aswan in Egypt. Flow and sediment variation are large, with unimodal peaks. Significant water development therefore requires considerable investment in water control and management to offset variability. This chapter provides an overview of the basin characteristics, hydrology and hydrological variability of the Blue Nile, as well as a brief evaluation of the current and future status of water resource development and implications for water availability.