THE

RIVER
NILE
and its conflicts

Alex Marinkovich-Josey of the Greenhouse Corp.

9/12/15

Contents:
1. Introduction
2. Overview of the Nile Basin
a. Ancient Egypt
b. Modern Egypt
3. The conflict over the Nile
a. The Renaissance Dam
4. What are its affects?
5. What has been done to solve it?
6. What can be done to solve it?
7. Conclusion
8. Appendix 1: Action Plan
9. Appendix 2: Capture Sheet.

Figures:
Figure 1: Map of the Nile that displays the location of the GERD project.
Figure 2: Map of the dam itself.
Figure 3: Plants in the desert.

Introduction
The river Nile, along with rivers such as the Mississippi and Amazon, is one of the most famous rivers
in the world. The river is taught about in schools, whether it be in History or Geography. The Nile
River provided the Ancient Egyptians with the means to survive in the hostile desert Egypt is located
in. It is taught in geography due to the sheer size of the river among other factors. In the modern
era, the Nile has similar uses to the people of Egypt.
It is said that the citizens in Egypt would be forced to leave the country if the River Nile stopped
flowing. The desert is an unforgiving environment, and it is the Nile that keeps Egypt running. It is
due to that reason that the Nile is so important to Egypt, and that there are so many conflicts
surrounding the Nile. Egypts protective nature, which is justified, causes other countries to have
trouble when attempting to make alterations to or work on the Nile. If anything were to go wrong,
Egypt would have a major problem on its hands.
In order to prevent such a disaster, it is important to understand these conflicts and how they affect
people and the environment. It is also important that a solution can be found, as knowing is half the
battle. The number of conflict surrounding the Nile must also be known, to determine how severe
the issue is. If a conflict has been going on for a long time, it is important that it is determine why
they continue.
These conflicts can prove very dangerous, and would not only affect Egypt and countries that lay
near the Nile but on an international front. The 82.06 million people in Egypt would have to leave,
and countries are already dealing with Refugee crises at the moment. If they can be solved as quickly
as possible, it would benefit the world on a whole.

Overview of the Nile river basin

The river has been used for many things, and has
been used since the times of ancient Egypt. The
Nile River is believed to be the longest river in the
world, being 6650 km in length. The Nile River flows
through 11 countries: The Democratic Republic of
Conga, South Sudan, Sudan, Kenya, Burundi,
Ethiopia, Eritrea, Egypt, Tanzania, Rwanda, and
Uganda. The Nile has an average discharge of 2
8390 m3 of water a second.
There are two main tributaries that merge in Sudan
to become the Nile that flows through Egypt: the
Blue Nile and the White Nile.
The Blue Nile gets its name from the flooding.
When the Nile overflows the river often turns a
black colour, and the word for black and blue are
the same in Sudanese. The Blue Nile runs for 1 450
Figure
kilometers. 800 of those are in Ethiopia, the
country that is planning to build a dam on the Nile.
This dam is marked on the map above and is the main focus of this report. The source of the Nile is
said to be at Gish Abbia, even though there are many streams that flow into the lake where

the river begins. This spring has an altitude of approximately 2,744 meters. The Blue Nile
has 11 tributaries.
The White Nile gets its name from light-grey clay sentiment that lays in the water, giving the
river its name and colour. The White Nile runs for 3 700 kilometers, and it runs through the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda.
The White Nile has countless tributaries. The source of the White Nile is said to be Lake No in
South Sudan. This lake is the meeting point of the Bahr al Jabal River and the White Nile.
The Nile River has had many uses over the centuries for the Egyptians.

Ancient Egypt
In ancient Egypt the Nile was used for a range of things, with the main focus being
agriculture. In the beginning of their culture the floods of the Nile would destroy crops,
houses and even take lives. The Egyptians began to realize that the river flooded at the
same time every year in June, so they made sure nothing important was on the river bank.
The river would flood the crop area, and the Egyptians would wait. When the water level fell
again, the Egyptians immediately planted their crops. They would do this because the floods
carried fresh fertile soil in the form of sediment. This soil provided better crop growth for the
people of Egypt.
The river also provided other sources of food for the Egyptians, namely fish. The river had
many species of fish in it, all for the Egyptians to eat. They would build small fishing boats
out of wood and papyrus. They would sail down the river, using spears and nets to catch fish
for consumption. Another way they would get food would be by catching birds that flew to the
river to catch fish for themselves.
The river provided defense against invaders, as in some places the river is quite wide and
difficult to cross, especially without bridges. Any attackers would be tired from crossing the
river, while the Egyptians would use ranged attacks to thin the attacking forces.
The Nile also provided transportation for the people. As stated above, the Egyptians made
ships and boats that were used to travel up and down stream. These would be for fishing,
general transport or trade. The ships would travel to the mouth of the river in the
Mediterranean Sea. They would trade with countries along the way and in the
Mediterranean. The ships would also be used for military transport. The army would go on
raids or invade other countries, expanding the Egyptian empire.

Modern Egypt
In modern Egypt, the main purpose of the Nile River is keeping Egypt alive. Around 95% of
the residents of Egypt live of the banks of or nearby the river. Even though the area around
the river that people live in makes up 5% of Egypt, it is no surprise that everyone lives there
as Egypts environment is that of a hostile desert. Despite the hostile environment, Egypt is
the second most populated country in Africa.
Some of the Niles uses have stayed the same. The Nile is still used to grow crops in modern
Egypt. The flooding of the Nile is still key to the agricultural produce from Egypt. Some of the
main crops are wheat, citrus fruits and cotton for the cotton industry. Similar to crops, the
Nile is still used for transport today. Many people can go on boat trips down the Nile,
whether it be for tourism or general transport.

The main newest use of the Nile is Hydroelectricity. The surrounding countries take
advantage of the Niles water sources and use it to power themselves. Several Dams have
been made on the Nile, and the main one is planned in Ethiopia.

The Conflict over the Nile

In 1929, Britain wrote an agreement that provided Egypt with veto power over all projects
on the Nile. This meant that if Egypt felt that a project was too harmful to Egypt, they had the
power to cancel the project. This agreement also promised that Egypt was entitled to 48
billion cubic meters of water a year. In 1959 this increased to 55 billion cubic meters. This
also gave Sudan access to 10 billion cubic meters a year. These agreements didnt account
for the other countries that are in the Nile basin area.
Ethiopia has wanted to build a dam since around the 90s. Egypt has been upset about this,
as a Dam of the proposed size may harm the amount of water Egypt is guaranteed per year.
This political exchange has been going on since them, with threats of military action being
thrown in the air.

The Renaissance dam

The Dam is predicted to produce
around 6000 megawatts of power.
The project costs around 4.7 Billion
dollars US. The dam itself is 170
meters tall and 1 800 meters in
length. It has 6 sector gates, which
are the spillways, and one reservoir
called the Millennium Reservoir. The
dam is a gravity dam, and is said to
be completed and set into active use
in 2017.

In 2013, Egypt was surprised to find

that Ethiopia had diverted the Blue
Nile to make the construction of the
dam smoother. This worried Egypt as
they feared the diversion would affect
the amount of water they got that
year.
Egypt doesnt believe that the dam is
up to environmental standards, and
they use that to pressure the
government in Ethiopia. They believe
that the impact is far greater than
Ethiopia predicts, and this could be
dangerous to both Egypt and Sudan,
where the Blue Nile and while Nile
converge. The water flow change may

Figure

also impact the Aswan High dam, located further down the Blue Nile in Sudan.

What are its affects?

The obvious affect is the people of Egypt. As stated above, the people of Egypt would have
to leave if there was a severe incident concerning the water of the Nile. The crops would
have no water, and the people wouldnt have a sufficient water supply for themselves.
Moreover, transportation on the river would be halted. The hydroelectric dams would also be
affected, with less water flowing through the turbines. This would result in electricity
problems around the country.
As the catchment area of the Nile is primarily a
desert, there are not many plants. The plants
that are there do not require a steady supply of
water, as they have adapted to the desert over
time. Even so, the Nile losing water would
result in plants gaining even less water, and
eventually dying. This also includes the crops
planted along the Nile, which would die out
sooner that the native plants. These native
plants also provide a home and food source to
many animals native to the Sahara Desert.
Figure

The animals, unlike their plant counter parts,

require water. Many of these animals use
plants, such as various cacti, as a source of water and food. Unfortunate, as the plants lose
water and die out when the Nile River loses water, the animals would lose water too. Similar
to the people of Egypt the animals would have to migrate out of Egypt to find a source of
food and water.

What has been done?

In March of 2015, Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia signed an agreement to end the debate over
the Niles future. Ten members of governments sat down in Cairo, Egypt to discuss the
terms of this agreement. This agreement is 48 pages long, and states that Egypt and Sudan
would get a share of the energy from the renaissance dam. Even though this agreement was
signed, Egypt is still unhappy about the dam project. The Renaissance dam itself is currently
on hold due to these political issues.

What else can be done?

This issue, while it does affect the environment, is a political issue. This issue cant be
solved with science or a massive clean-up the river campaign. This issue needs to be
worked out by the governments of the countries involved, namely Egypt, Sudan and
Ethiopia. While the extra energy has been promised, the effect on the Nile could be drastic,
especially if an accident occurs.
An optimal solution would to have teams from each of the countries, and a separate country,
put together a team to carry out an environmental impact assessment of the dam. This way,
each country could asses the dam for themselves, and predict the impacts on the Nile and
the surrounding environment the dam will have upon completion. When the assessment is
done they would present their ideas to one another. The reason to get a separate, not
involved, neutral country to carry an environmental impact assessment is simple. If Egypt,

Sudan and Ethiopia still cant agree on a way to modify the dam for everyone to be happy,
have the other country put their input in and solve it. This way the dam is altered in a way
that everyone is happy. The only danger of this solution is that the separate country gets
dragged into a conflict it has no business being in. A way to solve this would be to have the
entire UN carry out an environmental impact assessment.

Conclusion
The conflict over the Nile is one that needs to be solved fast. It is important because Egypt is
the second most populated country in the continent of Africa, and all those people would be
displaced. The world is already dealing with a refugee crisis, and to add on to that would be
an international disaster. The Nile is also one of the most interesting Rivers on the planet,
and it would be a tragedy if anything were to happen to it. This is why the conflict over the
Nile needs to be solved quickly, and without any bloodshed. If the affected countries could
forget about their greed and realize what their fighting is causing they would stop.

Appendix 1: Action Plan.
MYP Assessment Criteria B: INVESTIGATION

Limited attempt to / partially / satisfactorily / effectively follows an action plan to

investigate a research question
Uses methods to collect and record limited / some / appropriate / appropriate & varied
information in line with the research question
Limited attempt to / partially / satisfactorily / effectively addresses the research question
Limited / reflection / detailed evaluation of the research process and results.

To help you successfully implement a research action plan you need to follow the steps below:


The main
research
question

How does conflict over the Nile affect people or other factors and
how can it be solved?

Sub questions
By answering
these subquestions, you will
enable yourselves
to answer the
main research
question.
Check your task
sheet and
brainstorm
additional

How long have the conflicts been going?

Who is involved in the conflicts?
How do the conflicts affect the river?
What caused the conflicts?
Who is affected by the conflicts?
Why is this conflict important
How can it be solved?
What is affected by the conflicts?
Is it too late?

questions with
your group.
Include them all
here.
Methods to be
used in the
investigation

e.g. describe the

capture sheet.
How will it be laid
out? Will you
include your subquestions? How
many websites will
you access per
sub-question?
Why?

Where will you gather the information? (e.g. library)

I will gather the information from the internet and the textbook. On
the internet I will watch documentaries or videos relevant to the Nile
river and conflicts. I will also read articles on the internet, such as
news about current events to do with the Nile. In my textbook I will
use previous research and terminology to further understand the
conflicts and areas of contest in the river systems.
How/where are you going to record any relevant information?
My research will be recorded in a capture sheet. The capture sheet
will be headed by the main research question. The page with be
divided into the subquestions I set above. Underneith each
subquestion I will copy in and relevant research and the source of
the information. I will use more than one source to cross check the
information with other sources.

Identify the
relevant
sources/evidence
that you will use

Na. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-32016763 23 March

2015. Web. 25 Nov 2015.

Record the
works cited.

ethiopia-water-minister-drought-renaissance-dam.html# Nd. 2 Dec

Na. http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/11/egypt2015.
Julius Machado. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sundaytimes/Whats-the-Blue-Nile-and-the-WhiteNile/articleshow/4027990.cms Jan 25 2009.eb. 25 Nov 2015
Na.
http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/worldhistory/introancient
egypt1.htm Nd. Web. 25 Nov 2015
Alia Hoyt. The Nile Today. http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/nileriver4.htm Nd. Web. 2 Dec 2015
Charles Gorden Smith. Nile
River.http://global.britannica.com/place/Nile-River 15 May 2015.
Web. 8 Dec 2015
Na. The Blue Nile
Falls.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSIlQCxTfBw Jan 22 2011.
Web. 25 Nov 2015.

Na. Life in Ancient Egypt. http://www.englishonline.at/history/ancient-egypt/life-in-ancient-egypt.htm Nd. Web. 25

Nov 2015
Na. Nile River facts for Kids.
http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/earth/nileriver.html Nd.
Web. 2 Dec 2015.
Na. The conflict between Egypt and Ethiopia over the Nile river.
https://iakal.wordpress.com/2015/08/09/the-conflict-between-egyptand-ethiopia-over-the-nile/ 9 Aug 2015. Web. 25 Nov 2015.
Mwangi Kimenyi. The Limits of the New Nile
Agreement.http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/africa-infocus/posts/2015/04/28-new-nile-agreement-kimenyi 28 April 2015.
Web. 2 Dec 2015.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Ethiopian_Renaissance_Dam
nd. Web. 9 Dec 2015
What steps will
you follow to
address/ answer
the research
question?
Develop an action
plan for the main
stages of the
investigation. The
action plan should
be framed by the
sub-questions but
should be treated
like a check list of
things- to-do.
Include what
needs to be done
and when you aim
to have it
completed by

Date

Task

24/11/15

Create Capture
sheet. Add all the sub
questions to the
sheet. Begin
research on the first
few questions.

25/11/15

Continue Research of
questions. Move on
to later questions.

26/11/15

Research more. Start

converting the
sources into MLA
format.

27/11/15

Continue and finish

research on the Nile
and conflicts.

29/11/15

Begin writing the

report. Focus on the
structure of the
report. Write the
introduction of the
report and explain
the Nile river system.

Check list

Write about the

conflicts in the river.
Conclude essay and
suggest solutions.

Evaluation

What Questions?

Questions to
follow

Appendix 2: Capture Sheet

How long have the conflicts been going?
These disagreements over the use of the Nile are not recent and, in fact, have a long
history because of these countries high dependence on the waters of the Nile. In 1929,
an agreement was concluded between Egypt and Great Britain regarding the
utilization of the waters of the Nile RiverBritain was supposedly representing its
colonies in the Nile River Basin. [1] The Anglo-Egyptian Treaty covered many issues
related to the Nile River and its tributaries. Of particular relevance to the present
discussion is that it granted Egypt an annual water allocation of 48 billion cubic meters
and Sudan 4 billion cubic meters out of an estimated average annual yield of 84 billion
cubic meters. In addition, the 1929 agreement granted Egypt veto power over
construction projects on the Nile River or any of its tributaries in an effort to minimize
any interference with the flow of water into the Nile.

In 1959, Egypt and an independent Sudan signed a bilateral agreement, which

effectively reinforced the provisions of the 1929 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty. The 1959
agreement increased water allocations to both Egypt and SudanEgypts water
allocation was raised from 48 billion cubic meters to 55.5 billion cubic meters and

Sudans from 4 billion cubic meters to 18.5 billion cubic meters, leaving 10 billion cubic
meters to account for seepage and evaporation. Finally, the agreement stipulated that in
the case of an increase in average water yield, the increased yield should be shared
equally between the two downstream riparian states (i.e., Egypt and Sudan). The 1959
agreement, like the 1929 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty, did not make any allowance for the
water needs of the other riparian states, including even Ethiopia, whose highlands
supply more than 80 percent of the water that flows into the Nile River.
Over the years, especially as the populations of the other countries of the Nile River
Basin have increased, and these countries have developed the capacity to more
effectively harvest the waters of the Nile River for national development, disagreements
have arisen over the fact that Egypt has insisted that the water rights it acquired through
the 1929 and 1959 agreements (collectively referred to as the Nile Waters Agreements)
be honored and that no construction project be undertaken on the Nile River or any of its
tributaries without prior approval from Cairo. In fact, various Egyptian leaders
have threatened to go to war to protect these so-called acquired rights. Upstream
riparian states such as Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Ethiopia, have argued that they
are not bound by these agreements because they were never parties to them. In fact,
shortly after independence from Great Britain in 1961, Tanganyikas (now Tanzania,
after union with Zanzibar in 1964) new leader, Julius Nyerere, argued that the Nile
Waters Agreements placed his country and other upstream riparian states at Egypts
mercy, forced them to subject their national development plans to the scrutiny and
supervision of Cairo, and that such an approach to public policy would not be compatible
with the countrys status as a sovereign independent state. All the upstream riparian
states have since argued in favor of a new, more inclusive legal framework for governing
the Nile River Basin.
http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/africa-in-focus/posts/2015/04/28-new-nile-agreementkimenyi
"The Renaissance Dam project represents a source of development for the millions of
Ethiopia's citizens through producing green and sustainable energy, but for their brothers
living on the banks of that very Nile in Egypt, and who approximately equal them in numbers,
it represents a source of concern and worry," he said.
Ethiopia wants to replace a 1929 treaty written by Britain that awarded Egypt veto power
over any project involving the Nile by upstream countries.
Ethiopia says the $4.7bn (3.1bn) dam will eventually provide 6,000 megawatts of power.

Egypt was apparently caught by surprise when Ethiopia started diverting the Blue Nile - a
tributary of the Nile - in 2013.
Ethiopia says the river will be slightly diverted but will then be able to follow its natural
course.
Egyptian politicians were inadvertently heard on live TV in 2013, proposing military action
over the dam.
Ethiopia has received strong backing from five other Nile-basin countries - Rwanda,
Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and Burundi.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-32016763

Who is involved in the conflicts?

All countrys affected by the nile, Egypt specificly.

How do the conflicts affect the river?

Cairo A month after being appointed Ethiopian's minister of water, irrigation and energy on
Oct. 6, Motuma Mekasa paid a visit to Cairo for talks with his Egyptian and Sudanese
counterparts. The talks aimed at how to proceed with conducting studies to assess concerns
about the repercussions of building the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile,
including the dams effect on water flow into the Aswan High Dam and environmental
impacts.
Ethiopia has provided all the political commitments needed to quickly conduct and abide by
the results of studies concerning the impact of the dam without any delay, Mekasa said in an
interview with Al-Monitor on Nov. 10 in the Egyptian capital. We shall not cease or deviate
from the dam construction schedule.

An Egyptian diplomatic source who is familiar with the Nile water file told Al-Monitor, The
Egyptian government has rejected publicizing the report because they were planning to use it as
a pressure card in the negotiations with Addis Ababa, to reduce and modify the specifications of
the dams construction and to reduce the expected negative impacts on Egypt. The report serves
the Egyptian position even though the negotiations are stalled.
The negotiations, which began between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia in three rounds in the
Sudanese capital, Khartoum, in November-December 2013 and January 2014, might be unable
to reach an agreement on how to implement the recommendations contained in the IPE report.
The technical negotiations were deadlocked, and Egypt has started taking legal and international
escalatory steps against Ethiopia.

According to the report whose 48 pages are each signed by all 10 experts on the panel the
panel noted a number of general concerns about their assessment of the studies submitted by
Ethiopia. Most of those studies were completed after the project started. Moreover,
environmental and social studies have not been able to demonstrate the dams impact on the
downstream countries, Egypt and Sudan.
The report also highlighted that the engineering and safety studies have not reached the
technical level to start the project, and Ethiopia did not provide feasibility and cost studies to the
IPE.

What caused the conflicts?

Due to Egypts dependence on the Nile, the British had asked all the countries crossed by this
river to sign an agreement, which gave Egypt the right to veto the construction of any
projects over the Nile i.e. dams etc. The agreement also allocated Egypt 48 of the 84 billion
cubic meters of Niles waters each year. See the article of the center left American think tank,
Brookings Institute, titled The limits of the new Nile Agreement, April 2015.
As expected, the other countries crossed by the Nile are not very happy and they question
Egypts privileges over the Nile. In recent years there was a high possibility of a military
conflict between Egypt and Ethiopia, because Ethiopia and China want to construct a huge
dam in the Nile, in order to produce huge amounts of hydroelectric power. Ethiopia would
use this energy for herself, but also export it to her neighbors. As you can read at the
following BBC article, titled Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan sign deal to end Nile dispute,
March 2015, Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia signed an agreement about the construction of the
dam. I do not know details about the agreement, but I guess Ethiopia agreed to provide
Egypt and Sudan with some of the electricity that will be produced by the Blue Nile.
https://iakal.wordpress.com/2015/08/09/the-conflict-between-egypt-and-ethiopia-over-the-nile/


Who is affected by the conflicts?

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-32016763

Why is this conflict important?

How can it be solved?

What is affected by the conflicts?

Is it too late?

What are some facts about the River?

The length of the Nile River is approximately 6650 kilometres (4132 miles). It is believed to be the
longest river in the world.

Located in Africa, the Nile River lies in the following countries: Kenya, Eritrea, Congo, Burundi,
Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.
The Nile River has huge significance in regards to Ancient Egypt. Most of Ancient Egypts historical
sites are located along the banks of the Nile River including cities such as Luxor and Cairo.
In 2004, the White Nile Expedition became the first to navigate the entire length of the Nile River. The
expedition began in Uganda and finished in Rosetta, taking four months and two weeks to complete.
The Nile Delta in Northern Egypt is where the Nile River drains in to the Mediterranean Sea. It is
around 160 kilometres (100 miles) in length and spreads out over 240 kilometres (149 miles) of
coastline. It is rich in agriculture and has been farmed for thousands of years.
Around 40 million people (half of Egypts population) live in the Nile Delta region.
In 1787, the famous Rosetta stone was found in the Nile Delta in the city of Rosetta. This Ancient
Egyptian artifact played a key role in modern understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphics.
The Aswan High Dam was built in 1970 to help regulate flooding of the Nile River. Before the Aswan
Dam was built, years that featured high levels of water could wipe out crops while years of low level
water could produce famines and drought. The dam helps control these water levels.

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/earth/nileriver.html

Egyptian farmers depended on the Nile River. They built canals to bring water from the Nile
River as far into their land as possible. They also prayed that the yearly floods would make
their land fertile. The main crops were wheat and barley; some farmers
produced dates, grapes and other fruits and vegetables.
Travelling by boat on the Nile River was the main form of getting around. Early boats were made
out of papyrus and moved by stickingpoles into the water. Later on the Egyptians built sailing
boats. On land people travelled with donkeys that could also carry food and other things.
Traders sailed to other neighbouring countries to get goods that they could not obtain in Egypt.
They brought gold, ivory, skins, cattleand spices from Nubia, silver and wood from Syria and
other areas of south-western Asia.

http://www.english-online.at/history/ancient-egypt/life-in-ancient-egypt.htm
The Nile remains the lifeblood of the countries through which it courses. Farmers produce a wide
variety of crops, including citrus fruits, cotton, wheat, sugarcane, legumes and sorghum. Despite a
relatively successful agriculture program, the countries through which the Nile flows remain poor and
have ever-increasing populations. The Nile Basin Initiative was started in 1999 to help each of these
countries utilize the Nile and its benefits.
The Nile is also being used to further hydroelectric power capabilities. Although plans are still underway to continue developing electricity production in the area, several dams have already been built to
control flooding and generate hydroelectric power.

http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/nile-river4.htm
http://global.britannica.com/place/Nile-River

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSIlQCxTfBw

he White Nile is called so because of the light-coloured clay sediment in the water giving
the river a light grey colour. The Blue Nile flows for about 1,400 km to Khartoum from
Lake Tana which is 1,800 metres above sea level in the Ethiopian mountains. The White
Nile and Blue Nile merge near Khartoum, becoming Nile proper.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/Whats-the-Blue-Nile-and-the-WhiteNile/articleshow/4027990.cms
http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/worldhistory/introancientegypt1.htm