AMHY FRIEND
Chapter 6 Nile basin
6.1 Introduction
FRIEND/Nile Basin was initiated in March 1996, when UNESCO extended an invitation to the National Committees of the International Hydrological Programme (IHP) and the representatives of TECCONILE of the Nile Basin countries to meet at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Since then the project has expanded to include ten countries: Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda (Figure 6.1).
Figure 6.1 Geographical extent of FRIEND/Nile Basin
From 1996 to 1999, the project was coordinated by the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
In 1999 at the third Steering Committee meeting in Khartoum, Sudan, it was decided that the Water Resources Research Institute (WRRI) in Egypt would take over the coordination role.
Current research components and implementing institutions are therefore as follows:
l Rainfall Runoff Modelling: University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania;
l Sediment Transport and Watershed Management: UNESCO Chair and UNITWIN on Water Resources, Sudan;
FRIEND 2002
l Flood Frequency Analysis: Water Resources Research Institute, Egypt;
l Drought and Low Flow Analysis: University of Nairobi, Kenya;
l Training and Capacity Building: Hydraulic Research Institute, Egypt.
The 1999 Steering Committee agreed to postpone a regional database component until data sharing difficulties can be resolved and added a new component for training and capacity building. Recently, the project has received new impetus with the success of UNESCO in securing major funding for the project from the Belgian Government of Flanders.
The overall objective of FRIEND/Nile Basin is “to improve international river basin management of the Nile through improving cooperation amongst the Nile countries in the fields of water resources management and regional-scale analysis of hydrological regimes”.
The immediate objectives of the project are:
l To improve understanding of hydrological variability and similarity across time and space, in order to develop hydrological science and practical design methods;
l To enhance research cooperation amongst Nile Basin countries, through hydrological research projects on selected topics, conducted by researchers from all participating countries;
l To increase the number of trained personnel in the region, with a view to improving the sustainability of the present initiative and, in the longer term, to reduce
dependency on external support agencies.
The main hydrological issues in the region are:
l To maximise the benefits from the Nile Basin and minimise losses;
l To facilitate the preparation of harvesting projects at any feasible location for the benefit of Nile Basin countries;
l To address the lack of experience in Nile Basin hydrology and create a new generation of experienced technical staff.
The project is structured and organised by the general coordinator. Each research component also has a coordinator, who is assisted by a focal person from each of the countries of the Nile Basin. It is planned that a project manager will assist in the overall administration of the project. Annex 3 provides contact details of the coordinators and focal persons for each research component.
6.2 Data
The data required by the different research components include rainfall, river flow and levels and sediment concentrations. Maps of geological and topographic features and atlases of Nile countries also contribute to the project. It is particularly important that a regional database should be developed as the basis for developing mathematical models of rainfall-runoff relationships, droughts and regional frequency analysis. However, there are significant problems in the Nile region over the sharing of data, which continue to delay the development of a common regional database. The FRIEND/Nile Basin steering committee meets annually: five annual meetings have been held since 1997 (see Annex 4), plus a meeting organised by WRRI in April 2000 for the research coordinators to discuss detailed work plans and to activate mutual cooperation. These meetings have all been documented (FRIEND/Nile Basin 1997;
1998; 1999; 2000a; 2000b; 2001d).
6.3 Research
Research activity is focused on four main research components: the progress of each varies according to the availability of data and the extent of possible assistance from national resources.
6.3.1 Rainfall-runoff modelling
The objective is to develop suitable rainfall-runoff models for gauged catchments in the Nile Basin that can then be applied to ungauged catchments in the region. Potential applications include flood forecasting, water resource design, estimation of missing data, extension of short historical records and investigation of the impacts of land-use change or climate change on the river flow. Different rainfall-runoff models have been applied to ten catchments feeding Lake Victoria, based on catchment boundaries delineated from a digital elevation model at a 1 km grid resolution and five years of historic rainfall, river flow and evaporation records. The models can be applied after calibration and validity analysis.
6.3.2 Sediment transport and watershed management
This component aims to estimate and predict sediment load from selected catchments in the region and to design an appropriate methodology of sediment control for watershed manage-ment and sedimanage-ment deposition. The methodology used will depend to a large extent on the availability of data, and it is not expected that sufficient data will be available in the region to support a comprehensive sediment modelling study. System models, such as sediment unit hydrographs and sediment rating curves, will be used to estimate the sediment load. Several existing sediment monitoring stations have been defined and the available data have been analysed, validated and classified in order to establish a database. The next step will be to model sediment transport.
6.3.3 Flood frequency analysis
The objective of this component is to develop regional design procedures for estimating flood magnitude for a given probability of exceedence at gauged and ungauged sites in the region.
This research should lead to improvements in the design of culverts and bridges for road and rail communication, hydraulic structures for irrigation and reservoir spillways. The anticipated range of application is for a return period between 2 and 200 years. The methodology is based on establishing statistically homogenous regions within the Nile Basin area and developing flood frequency curves for each region, which can then be applied to ungauged catchments.
As shown in Figure 6.2, a regional flood frequency curve has been constructed for all available
Figure 6.2 Regional flood frequency curves for East Lake Victoria
FRIEND 2002
gauged rivers feeding Lake Victoria on its eastern side. The next step will be to apply these curves to ungauged catchments in the region.
6.3.4 Drought and low flow analysis
The objective of this research component is to analyse daily river flow data for estimation of low flow magnitude – duration – frequency relationships. Standard statistical techniques of low flow analysis and software available in universities and research institutions will be applied to daily flow data. It is intended to develop new techniques of analysis and new software during the course of the project. The key stations required for this research have been identified and available data on rainfall and flow discharge has been collected. The next step will be application of suitable models.
6.4 Training and capacity building
This component of FRIEND/Nile Basin was initiated in 1999 with the following objectives:
l To provide on-job training courses tailored to different disciplines within the research components;
l To define the possible use of ongoing training courses in the same fields as the research components;
l To initiate workshops.
Training and capacity building have been given a high priority in the action plan of the FRIEND/Nile Basin project. A proposal has also been submitted to the Arab Bank for Economic Development of Africa to support training courses in hydrology for the Nile Basin countries.
6.5 Conclusions
Despite data sharing problems considerable progress has been made by the FRIEND/Nile Basin project. A work plan with well-defined objectives, methodologies, research needs, expected results and relevant budget requirements has been prepared. Criteria have also been adopted to assess the objectives, feasibility and applicability of each research theme and a focal person from each country has been nominated for each research component.
Future plans for FRIEND/Nile Basin will focus on providing each research team with the necessary software and research facilities and also relevant technical support through training courses and consultation. The Steering Committee of FRIEND/Nile Basin has invited interested researchers from any Nile Basin country to participate in the different research components of the project. Using the funds available from the Belgian Government of Flanders, project coordinators are formulating comprehensive research teams from the different Nile Basin countries.
Recent Flemish funding has given considerable impetus to the project, with five meetings, including technical workshops, held in 2001 (Annex 4), all of which have been documented (FRIEND/Nile Basin, 2001a; 2001b; 2001c; 2001d; 2001e).
Since its initiation, the FRIEND/Nile Basin project has developed links with other international organisations, which have contributed their technical experience to the discussions and deliberations of the different FRIEND/Nile Basin Steering Committees. Further links between FRIEND/Nile Basin, the Global Water Partnership (GWP), the HELP initiative and other Regional FRIEND groups will be established. Furthermore, research teams will be strengthened by establishing links with researchers and scientists from the north. Links between Nile Basin
universities and Flemish universities will be highly encouraged, especially for research areas relevant to FRIEND/Nile Basin. The agency responsible for implementation of each research component will also enhance its cooperation with other local research organisations and universities.
References
Reports of meetings and workshops:
FRIEND/Nile Basin. 1997. Report of 1st Steering Committee meeting, Cairo, 1997
FRIEND/Nile Basin. 1998. Report of 2nd Steering Committee meeting, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
FRIEND/Nile Basin. 1999. Report of 3rd Third Steering Committee meeting, El Khartoum, Sudan.
FRIEND/Nile Basin. 2000a. Report of Meeting for Coordinators of the project, Cairo, 2000 FRIEND/Nile Basin. 2000b. Report of 4th Steering Committee meeting, Cairo, 2000
FRIEND/Nile Basin. 2001a. Rainfall/Runoff Modelling Component workshop, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, November 2001
FRIEND/Nile Basin. 2001b. Flood/Drought Components workshop, Cairo, November 2001
FRIEND/Nile Basin. 2001c. Sediment Transport & Watershed Management workshop, El Khartoum, Sudan, November 2001.
FRIEND/Nile Basin. 2001d. 1st Project Management Meeting, Cairo, December 2001.
FRIEND/Nile Basin. 2000e. Report of 5th Steering Committee Meeting, Cairo, December 2001.