� Caroline Penn/Panos Pictures.

Fishing the Nile, a traditional use of the river

Sharing Water Resources
The international nature of the drainage basin means that use of water in one part of the basin may affect use in another part. Today, Egypt and Sudan account for 90% of the water drawn from the river. For other Nile countries, problems of poverty and overseas debt have made it difficult to manage and use the water successfully in the past. However, as more countries in the drainage basin need to use more water in developing industrial and food production, there is growing competition for use of the Nile. For example, Ethiopia's plan to build the Tana dam near the source of the Blue Nile could divert 39% of the river's water. Already, Egypt has threatened to attack Ethiopia because it claims that Ethiopia is taking too much water from the Nile. In 1959, Egypt and Sudan signed a treaty on using the Nile but in light of the rising tensions, a new international agreement was needed to satisfy the interests of all ten countries. In February 1999 with the 'Nile Basin Initiative', all countries agreed to co-operate so that the use of water is fairer in the future.

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