CAIRO — Egypt’s former Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Abdel Aty said during an Aug. 7 meeting of the Permanent Committee for Regulating the Nile Revenue affiliated with the Ministry of Water Resources that high rates of rainfall were monitored on the Atbarah River and Blue Nile basins, which he considered a promising start for the current flood season.

According to a ministry press release published after the meeting, the Nile Revenue Committee is currently monitoring the rates of rainfall in the sources of the Nile, since Egypt’s water needs are increasing during the summer agricultural season.

The statement continued that the Ministry of Water Resources has raised the state of alert to deal with the river’s revenue, follow up on the water situation and cover the water needs of the various sectors.

The committee’s meeting coincided with a ceremony Aug. 11 held to celebrate the operation of the second turbine of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). During the event, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced that the dam’s third filling has been completed, storing approximately 4.9 billion cubic meters of water with the beginning of the rainy season in July, bringing the total water retained in the dam’s lake to 22 billion cubic meters of water.