Abundant rainfall during Ethiopia’s rainy season July through September 2020 filled the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) allowing sufficient release to placate downstream neighbors, but future peace depends on more than short-lived water surpluses.
Africa: Water deficits to persist in S. Africa & Lesotho
Through January 2020 deficits will shrink and downgrade considerably, though intense deficits are expected in coastal Mauritania, eastern South Africa, and Lesotho. Surpluses will increase in East Africa and in nations along the northern shore of the Gulf of Guinea, with exceptional anomalies in central Nigeria and extreme and widespread surpluses in Tanzania.
Africa: Exceptional water deficits forecast for the Ethiopian Highlands
The forecast through May indicates that water deficits will downgrade, with moderate anomalies throughout most of the continent, some pockets of greater intensity, and surpluses in Tanzania. Exceptional deficits are forecast in the Ethiopian Highlands. Other areas of significant deficit include Equatorial Guinea, Lesotho, Guinea-Bissau, central Republic of the Congo, eastern Angola, western Zambia and central Zambia and along the Zambezi River, and northern Zimbabwe.
Africa: Extreme water deficits to persist in W Ethiopia
The forecast through February indicates that water deficits will downgrade considerably. However, areas with notably intense conditions include western Ethiopia; pockets of northern Somalia, Nigeria, and southwestern Cameroon; southwestern Angola into Namibia; and, Lesotho and the Orange River region of Northern Cape, South Africa. Surpluses are forecast for Tanzania, southern Congo into western DRC and northern Angola, and south-central Chad.
ISciences Worldwide Water Watch List November 2018
Regions forecast to have significant water deficits for the 12-month period from August 2018 through July 2019 include: Quebec (Canada), Amazonas (Brazil), Chile, Germany, Finland, Latvia, Egypt, western Cambodia, and southeastern Australia. Areas with a forecast of significant water surplus include: Texas (US), Liberia, Paraguay, Myanmar, and Heilongjiang (China). This Watch List is based on ISciences Water Security Indicator Model (WSIM) run on 12 November 2018.