Hidden global trade in water

water. The River Omo, site of the Gibe dam, flows south into Kenya and Lake Turkana. Some estimates suggest the country has the potential to generate 45,000 MW of hydroelectric power. While work continues on Gibe III, Ethiopia has already approved plans for several new schemes, including a giant 2,100 MW project on the Blue Nile and a number of other dams have already been built or are close to completion. The country has already started building transmission lines to Djibouti and Sudan and a supply agreement has been negotiated with Kenya. But the government's strategy faces a funding problem. Gibe III, costing more than $2 billion, needed external credit but the government went ahead and awarded the contract to Salini without tendering or carrying out an environmental impact study or consulting local communities. This goes against the policies of many external lenders and in 2008 an environmental study was finally carried out. The African Development Bank, which is considering a loan, is now carrying out its own review. Power: One of the many tributaries that feed Ethiopia's major river systems increasingly exploited for hydroelectric power. Although few people will actually be displaced by the dam and the huge reservoir it will create, up to 500,000 people living further downstream in the Omo valley could be adversely affected. And potential problems spread into Kenya, where Lake Turkana is fed by the River Omo. International Rivers say the dam will end the river's natural flood cycle which herders and farmers rely on in the arid land surrounding the lake. The lake itself is likely to see a fall in water level. But the government has dismissed environmental concerns and turned increasingly to China for help, as have so many other countries and projects in Africa. The Chinese-owned Sinohydro, which helped build the massive Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtse river at home in China, has agreed to build the 1,600 MW Gibe IV dam further down the Omo, with the Chinese government providing the finance. The potential for selling electricity is " tremendous " , says Muhammed. " We will eventually connect to Egypt and possibly on to Europe, " he says. While the problems of growing global demand for water are getting increasing attention, developed countries depend heavily on importing hidden 'virtual' water from places that regularly experience droughts and shortages, according to the UK's Royal Academy of Engineering. Although …