Sedimentation Crisis of the Atbara Dam Complex

The Atbara River is one of the Nile River Tributaries. It originates from the Ethiopian Highlands and is the most northerly tributary of the Nile. The Atbara River has two branches: the Setit River (Tekeze River in Ethiopia) and the Upper Atbara River. The total catchment of the Atbara Dam Complex (ADC) is approximately 9700 km2. The Atbara River is a seasonal river with an average flow of 12.0 billion m³ (BCM). In 1964 Khashm Elgirba Dam (KED) was constructed downstream of the recent ADC, which has a storage capacity of 1.3 BCM. KED lost most of its storage capacity (65%) due to sedimentation. ADC consists of two connected dams (Burdana on the Setit River and Rumela on the Upper Atbara River, besides KED). The two reservoirs are linked by a channel flowing from Burdana to Rumela, forming a large reservoir with a storage capacity of 3.700 BCM (Burdana 2.52 BCM and Rumela 1.18 BCM). The Main objective of ADC is irrigation, drinking water supply and hydropower generation. In this paper, the sedimentation crisis that follows the first 5 years of ADC operation is examined and discussed. The impact of the sediment deposition in the ADC reservoir is evaluated, taking into consideration the Ethiopian Dam (T5) constructed upstream on the Tekeze River. Moreover, the sustainability of ADC to serve its purposes is discussed and reported. Based on 5 years of dam operation, the prediction of the future situation of ADC is brought forward with several recommendations. The behaviour of the ACD reservoir is carefully analysed and discussed, which leads to the fact that the future of the dam's sustainability is gloomy and requires more attention regarding its Operation Management.