The Egyptian government has intensified efforts to rationalize water amid a crisis looming in the horizon as the filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam approaches. With Sudan participating, the countries are holding marathon negotiations in order to agree on the rules of filling and operating the dam. Ethiopian Minister of Irrigation Seleshi Bekele said -prior to a meeting scheduled on Jan. 9-10 among Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt in Addis Ababa- that the first phase of filling will start in July 2020. Egypt fears the filling of the dam reservoir on the Blue Nile tributary will restrict already scarce supplies of water from the Nile, on which the country is almost entirely dependent. Ethiopia says the hydroelectric dam, which will be Africa’s largest, is crucial to its economic development. Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli and Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Abdel Aty discussed the ministry’s plans for rationalization of water consumption, modern irrigation systems, and rehabilitating canals. Madbouli ordered Abdel Aty to prepare a detailed study on the modern irrigation systems and canals lining. Madbouli revealed that the government works within the plan of action in 2020-2030 to rationalize water consumption by reducing cultivated areas of rice, providing the differences in production through higher-yielding species, rehabilitating the sub-canal network, and implementing a modern irrigation system on an area of 5m Feddan, in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture. Spokesman for the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources in Egypt Mohamed al-Sibai told Asharq Al-Awsat that no final agreement was reached during the last three meetings. The duration of filling is considered the main critical issue between Ethiopia and Egypt in which the latter demands taking into account the flood in the Blue Nile when determining the years of filling with allocating 40 billion cubic meters of water for it annually. Yet, Ethiopia rejects this proposal. In case this round of Addis Abab talks fails, Article 10 of the 2015 Declaration of Principles will be invoked.