Great Man Made River used to refill lake chad

I have the feeling there would be more than a few unpleasant environmental side effects,
just like the Aswan Dam has had in Egypt.
This being so, relations between the various
countries here would worsen instead of im-
proving.
 
If Gaddafi was successful in merging with chad , could the great man made river be used to refill Lake Chad

How would this effect the lake and surrounding populations and economies

Would this improve relations with the neighboring countries

No, as UCB79 said. All the water going to Lake Chad would be water not going down the Ubangi and Congo, so the CAR and the two Congos would hate it. Given that a lot of the work would have to be done in the CAR, I think this is pretty unlikely to ever take place, but if it did, it would be a major source of controversies, if not of conflicts.
 
No, as UCB79 said. All the water going to Lake Chad would be water not going down the Ubangi and Congo, so the CAR and the two Congos would hate it. Given that a lot of the work would have to be done in the CAR, I think this is pretty unlikely to ever take place, but if it did, it would be a major source of controversies, if not of conflicts.
Why would water from the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System affect the Ubangi and the Congo ?
 

kernals12

Banned
No, as UCB79 said. All the water going to Lake Chad would be water not going down the Ubangi and Congo, so the CAR and the two Congos would hate it. Given that a lot of the work would have to be done in the CAR, I think this is pretty unlikely to ever take place, but if it did, it would be a major source of controversies, if not of conflicts.
I'm not an environmental expert, so I can't see the problems that would be caused by this. My casual observation says that the Congo has so much water that sending a small amount of it to Lake Chad wouldn't be a big deal. I would like to know what would go wrong because I genuinely don't know.
 
Why would water from the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System affect the Ubangi and the Congo ?

In fact, it wouldn't. The water for the Transaqua project, for replenishing Lake Chad, however, would come from the Ubangi.

And while we're at it, the Nubian Aquifer is fossil water. It's there but it does not get any replenishment, either. Once it's exploited, it's gone for ever.

As to the diversion of water from the Ubangi, I don't know that it would be a small amount; and officials of the CAR, already a few years ago, voiced concern not so much about the Congo but about the Ubangi. The Transaqua project would reduce the energy potential of dams in the CAR, might make navigation more difficult, and would, most importantly, reduce the fish catch. A reduction of available food in Africa is no small concern.
 

BlondieBC

Banned
If Gaddafi was successful in merging with chad , could the great man made river be used to refill Lake Chad

How would this effect the lake and surrounding populations and economies

Would this improve relations with the neighboring countries


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Man-Made_River

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Chad_replenishment_project

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Chad#Threats_and_preservation

I think it cold happen. Gaddafi would need also to avoid bombing Pan Am and a few other things. If he then would be the main financial backer of the Lake Chad program, then it could be completed. It is roughly the same size as the Colorado to central valley of California project. The Chad project requires 3 dams. One at where some flow of the Congo is divert to the Ubangi. You then build a diversion canal down hill to the Ubangi. You need a dam at the Ubangi. You then need a second dam right below this diversion. You then build the channels to lake Chad. The final dam is the Exit to Lake Chad. You need to get full map of Lake Chad to understand. There are two basin of Lake Chad. The one that has the lake is the smaller basin at a higher elevation. You need the third dam to control the level of Lake Chad.
 

BlondieBC

Banned
I have the feeling there would be more than a few unpleasant environmental side effects,
just like the Aswan Dam has had in Egypt.
This being so, relations between the various
countries here would worsen instead of im-
proving.

Environmental impacts.

Increase rainfall in western Sahara.
Refilling Lake Chad.
Large Salt basin created in Northern Chad.
 

BlondieBC

Banned
Why would water from the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System affect the Ubangi and the Congo ?

You have it backwards. You use use the Congo/Ubangi river to refill Lake Chad which will recharge the aquifers. You could just divert the Ubangi, but then there is not enough water for Ubangi river traffic. So you have to divert water from the Congo to the Ubangi.
 
To clarify in op I was talking about using Great man-made river using water from Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System to refill lake chad not water from the Congo/Ubangi
 
Wouldn't it take longer then most people to care about to empty

It depends for what it's used. If it's used for intensive agricultural irrigation by all the countries involved, then it won't disappear in a year, but in a lifetime - maybe.
 
I think it cold happen. Gaddafi would need also to avoid bombing Pan Am and a few other things. If he then would be the main financial backer of the Lake Chad program, then it could be completed. It is roughly the same size as the Colorado to central valley of California project. The Chad project requires 3 dams. One at where some flow of the Congo is divert to the Ubangi. You then build a diversion canal down hill to the Ubangi. You need a dam at the Ubangi. You then need a second dam right below this diversion. You then build the channels to lake Chad. The final dam is the Exit to Lake Chad. You need to get full map of Lake Chad to understand. There are two basin of Lake Chad. The one that has the lake is the smaller basin at a higher elevation. You need the third dam to control the level of Lake Chad.

Huge problem is cutting across national borders like that. Gaddafi would need to sell himself as the ultimate pan-Africanist (which later on, he kinda did), plus have friendly pan-Africanists ruling in the relevent countries.

Environmental impacts.

Increase rainfall in western Sahara.
Refilling Lake Chad.
Large Salt basin created in Northern Chad.

What do you mean salt basin in Northern Chad? Lake Chad is freshwater.

As to the diversion of water from the Ubangi, I don't know that it would be a small amount; and officials of the CAR, already a few years ago, voiced concern not so much about the Congo but about the Ubangi. The Transaqua project would reduce the energy potential of dams in the CAR, might make navigation more difficult, and would, most importantly, reduce the fish catch. A reduction of available food in Africa is no small concern.

I don't buy that explanation. It would reduce the energy potential of the dams on the Congo, but not by a large margin (and energy isn't too much of a concern in Africa at the moment), and navigation, well, you still can't go further than the port of Bangui from the Congo, and the Congo is such a big river that I can't imagine taking some water from it would impede navigation on the Congo itself. Fishing, why would it significantly reduce the fish catch? In any case, it might spur more migration to cities in the Congo/CAR as a result of less fish catch.

Now wouldn't the majority of the rainfall end up in Sudan and the Horn of Africa? I suppose that would be good, since it would increase the amount of rain going to the Nile. Or otherwise you could easily present it as doing so, and hope to get the Egyptians, Sudanese, and Ethiopians on your side to help finance the project.

That makes no economic sense, and it may well be physically impossible.

Yeah, it would just vanish in the Sahara. A better solution is to flood the Sabkhat Ghuzayyil plus the smaller chott between it and the port of Brega, connecting them to each other and to the sea with a canal. This would make two decent sized lakes which are freshwater lakes and thus can be used to irrigate the desert, stock fish in, and possibly for navigation almost 100 kilometers inland.
 
I don't buy that explanation.

Well, as I said, it's not mine. I haven't researched this seriously; I'm only presenting what seemed to be the prevalent opinion in the CAR a few years ago. And since the CAR would definitely have to approve and cooperate...
Note BTW that the very fact that Libya has annexed Chad, as per the OP, might alone be enough reason not to help such an expanding neighbor.
 
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