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Let's say Ethopia goes through with this. Would it be cheaper to start a war against them or spend money on tech to reduce dependence on the Nile? I imagine th

Let's say Ethopia goes through with this. Would it be cheaper to start a war against them or spend money on tech to reduce dependence on the Nile? I imagine that a campaign to improve education in Egypt and train the populace for jobs to reduce Nile dependence would be a major boost to the Egyptian economy. It might drive the country to innovate and fuel a boom in their tech and engineering sector. Are there any feasible projects to that end?

csomar 5y ago
You probably can't do it fast enough. Also without water, you'll likely have more serious problems than educating the population or creating high-tech stuff.
DocTomoe 5y ago
This is a very Silicon Valley approach to a problem. How do you expect to solve a water crisis with tech and engineering, within months, not decades? There's only so much desalination plants you can build and operate... Given that this can easily be understood as an existential threat to Egypt, war seems likely.
- Popegaf 5y ago
  Why is thinking of ways to solve a problem without war a "Silicon Valley approach"? I think you need to assess the situation and calculate the costs and benefits of every approach. - How many people will die due to war and how many will die due to the dam? - How long will it take for a war to yield results? - Are there other possible solutions that will yield results more quickly? - What will be the effects of the different approaches? I haven't searched for a list, but Israel desalinates >500M m³ of seawater per year https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_supply_and_sanitation_in_Israel#Seawater_desalination https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_supply_and_sanitation_in... Saudi Arabia is going to start building solar domes for the line city Neom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvN1oV3AJ90 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvN1oV3AJ90 Cario, Egypt has ~3.4k hours of sun per year https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-hours-Sunshine,Cairo,Egypt https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-hours-Sunshi... They need about 80B m³ per year (mostly due to agriculture) of which 55.5B m³ come from the Nile. - https://www.worldometers.info/water/egypt-water/#water-use https://www.worldometers.info/water/egypt-water/#water-use - https://water.fanack.com/egypt/water-use/ https://water.fanack.com/egypt/water-use/ Those 55.5B m³ won't just disappear like that. Again, how much would it cost to scale desalination up, reduce agricultural water and land use, and how long would it take to do it? How much would it cost to wage a war and when would it be over? Years? Decades? Would it be easier to find out who's been contracted to build the damn and find a way to get them not to do it? --------- It's easy to be the "it won't work" person and to reach for the bluntest tool in the metaphorical shed without putting in a modicum of effort to explore another avenue.

csomar 5y ago

You probably can't do it fast enough. Also without water, you'll likely have more serious problems than educating the population or creating high-tech stuff.

DocTomoe 5y ago

This is a very Silicon Valley approach to a problem. How do you expect to solve a water crisis with tech and engineering, within months, not decades? There's only so much desalination plants you can build and operate... Given that this can easily be understood as an existential threat to Egypt, war seems likely.

Popegaf 5y ago
Why is thinking of ways to solve a problem without war a "Silicon Valley approach"? I think you need to assess the situation and calculate the costs and benefits of every approach. - How many people will die due to war and how many will die due to the dam? - How long will it take for a war to yield results? - Are there other possible solutions that will yield results more quickly? - What will be the effects of the different approaches? I haven't searched for a list, but Israel desalinates >500M m³ of seawater per year https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_supply_and_sanitation_in_Israel#Seawater_desalination https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_supply_and_sanitation_in... Saudi Arabia is going to start building solar domes for the line city Neom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvN1oV3AJ90 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvN1oV3AJ90 Cario, Egypt has ~3.4k hours of sun per year https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-hours-Sunshine,Cairo,Egypt https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-hours-Sunshi... They need about 80B m³ per year (mostly due to agriculture) of which 55.5B m³ come from the Nile. - https://www.worldometers.info/water/egypt-water/#water-use https://www.worldometers.info/water/egypt-water/#water-use - https://water.fanack.com/egypt/water-use/ https://water.fanack.com/egypt/water-use/ Those 55.5B m³ won't just disappear like that. Again, how much would it cost to scale desalination up, reduce agricultural water and land use, and how long would it take to do it? How much would it cost to wage a war and when would it be over? Years? Decades? Would it be easier to find out who's been contracted to build the damn and find a way to get them not to do it? --------- It's easy to be the "it won't work" person and to reach for the bluntest tool in the metaphorical shed without putting in a modicum of effort to explore another avenue.