Eastern Nile Planning Model
Client: The World Bank
Location: Eastern Nile River Basin (Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt)
Period: 2005 – 2006
Project Summary
Riverside staff conducting a workshop.
The Eastern Nile region required a mutually acceptable water resources planning tool, allowing regional officials the ability to cooperate and coordinate needed water resources investments along the Eastern Nile. Working with World Bank and Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office officials, Riverside Technology, inc. designed a mutually acceptable water resources planning model project, incorporating the needs and concerns of all three riparian countries.
Project Details
All three countries in the Eastern Nile (EN) region (Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt) recognized that to properly plan future water resources projects and investments, a water resources planning model was needed. Unfortunately, different and sometimes contradictory planning methods and models were being used by riparian states in the region, detracting from the critical tasks of properly planning needed water resources projects that are technically sound, economically feasible, socially acceptable, and environmentally sensitive. A mutually acceptable water resources planning model would facilitate informed project decision-making and accurately predict the consequences of potential water resources projects.
The World Bank and the Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office (ENTRO) asked Riverside Technology, inc. (Riverside) to prepare and design the Eastern Nile Planning Model (ENPM) Project. After extensive consultations with donors and all three riparian states, Riverside designed a three-year, $6.0 million project that included detailed plans for a fully functional river basin modeling system.
Riverside staff first helped develop and implement an international water resources planning model workshop in Ethiopia, after which Riverside staff held a series of Ministerial-level seminars and workshops in each of the three EN countries, identifying needs and seeking ideas about the structure, functional requirements, and processes required for the ENPM. Riverside prepared and designed the ENPM Project utilizing three major components:
- A Modeling System (composed of a Basin Simulation and Optimization System)
- An Information Management System
- Institutional and Human Capacity Strengthening
The ENPM System was designed to be a suite of hydrologic and evaluative models and analytical tools, combined with information management capacities and strengthened regional and national modeling institutions.