The Blue Nile river flows near the site of the planned Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam near Assosa in the Benishangul-Gumuz region of Ethiopia, near Sudan, some 800 kilometers (500 miles) from the capital Addis Ababa in a picture dated 2013
Ethiopia's plans to build a $5 billion dam could cut off water supply to the 93 million population of Egypt amid fears the Nile River could run dry.
The only reason Egypt has even existed from ancient times until today is because of the Nile, which provides a thin, richly fertile stretch of green through the desert.
Now, for the first time, the country fears a potential threat to that lifeline, and it seems to have no idea what to do about it.
Ethiopia is finalising construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, its first major dam on the Blue Nile, which will eventually start filling the giant reservoir behind it to power the largest hydroelectric dam in Africa.
The exact details of how it will impact on Egypt downstream is unclear, but some experts analysing the statistics believe the country will lose more than half of its water supply.
Holiday makers enjoy Nile cruises during Sham el-Nessim, or 'smelling the breeze,' in Cairo, Egypt
The only reason Egypt has ever existed from ancient times until today is because of the Nile River, which provides a thin, fertile strip of green through the desert
Egypt fears that will cut into its water supply, destroying parts of its precious farmland and squeezing its population of 93 million people, who already face water shortages.
Dam construction on international rivers often causes disputes over the downstream impact.
But the Nile is different - few nations rely so completely on a single river as much as Egypt does.
The Nile provides over 90 percent of Egypt's water supply. Almost the entire population lives cramped in the sliver of the Nile Valley.
Around 60 percent of Egypt's Nile water originates in Ethiopia from the Blue Nile, one of two main tributaries.
Egypt hardly gets by with the water it does have.
It has one of the lowest per capita shares of water in the world, some 660 cubic meters a person.
The strain is worsened by inefficiency and waste and with the population expected to double in 50 years, shortages are predicted to become severe even sooner by 2025.
Egypt already receives the lion's share of Nile waters - more than 55 billion of the around 88 billion cubic meters of water that flow down the river each year.
It is promised that amount under agreements from 1929 and 1959 that other Nile nations say are unfair and ignore the needs of their own large populations.
Complicating the situation, no one has a clear idea what impact Ethiopia's dam will actually have.
A neighborhood in Cairo during a power short cut in Egypt surrounded by water that could be lost
A young boy irrigates rice seedlings before they are transferred to a bigger farm, in a village in the Nile Delta town of Behira, 300 kilometers (186 miles) north of Cairo
A pleasure boat carrying tourists and locals sails in the Nile River at sunset in Aswan, Egypt
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, center, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, left, and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, right, hold hands after signing an agreement on sharing water from the Nile River, in Khartoum, Sudan
In a 2015 Declaration of Principles agreement, Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan agreed to contract an independent study of the dam's impact and abide by it as they agree on a plan for filling the reservoir and operating the dam.
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