If 100% of water flows along a river’s length before a dam is built, and then a dam is built, once it fills, doesn’t the downstream section still get 100%?
In: Engineering
It takes a long time to fill a dam. During that time the amount allowed to flow through will be reduced.
In addition the owner has the ability to increase or decrease the flow (to a degree) from then on.
Interestingly the current conflict over the Ethiopian dam is primarily a concern to Egypt, a nation that already has multiple dams on the Nile. It could, potentially, make up for a reduced flow by releasing water from those dams, although that would reduce its own ability to generate power or control flow later on.
Its a very complex situation. Simpler problems have occurred in the American West, where water is a precious resource.
Lots of things happen when a country builds a dam. It can cause flooding which can affect the landscape/environment (what sort of plants are there, what sort of farming can be done, what sort of wildlife will remain… also it can cause plants and wildlife to migrate outward from their standard habitat).
A dam also reduces how much water actually flows down the river, or the rate at which that water flows down the river. This means that a country that builds a dam could be hording water at the expense of another country on that same river.
Water is one of the most precious resources on our planet, especially fresh water, and it causes conflict and political tension when one country decides it is going to undertake a massive project like this without including other possibly affected countries.
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