The Nile Basin The river Nile is the longest river in the world shared by 10 countries in the Nile Basin: Burundi, Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. The basin represents one of the most complex and sensitive hydrological systems in the world including parts and entireties of ten countries with different culture, language religion and historical background. The Nile River, with an estimated length of over 6800 km, is the longest river flowing from south to north over 35 degrees of latitude. It is fed by two main river systems: the White Nile, with its sources on the Equatorial Lake Plateau (Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Zaire and Uganda), and the Blue Nile, with its sources in the Ethiopian highlands. The sources are located in humid regions, with an average rainfall of over 1000 mm per year. The arid region starts in Sudan, the largest country of Africa, which can be divided into three rainfall zones: the extreme south of the country where rainfall ranges from 1200 to 1500 mm per year; the fertile clay-plains where 400 to 800 mm of rain falls annually; and the desert northern third of the country where rainfall averages only 20 mm per year. Further north, in Egypt, precipitation falls to less than 20 mm per year. The total area of the Nile basin represents 10.3% of the area of the continent and spreads over ten countries. For some countries, like Zaire, the Nile basin forms only a very small part of their territory. Other countries, like Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Sudan and Egypt, are almost completely integrated into the Nile basin. However, all the waters in Burundi and Rwanda and more than half the waters in Uganda are produced internally, while most of the water resources of Sudan and Egypt originate outside their borders: 77% of Sudans and more than 97% of Egypts water resources.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Nov 2013 12:45:03 +0000
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