The construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) heralds significant environmental shifts on the Nile River. Scholars, scientists, and journalists alike have indicated the potentially disastrous drought conditions that Sudan and Egypt may face as this hydropower dam fills with water, reducing the overall water supply upon which these countries rely so heavily for irrigation, domestic use, and other applications. This coverage meshes with an ongoing discourse on water scarcity and drought in the Middle East & North Africa region – and, indeed, a concern over anthropogenic climate change around the world. Unfortunately, coverage of the GERD rarely discusses concomitant ecological threats caused by the dam, including sedimentation loss, water salinization, reduced biodiversity, and human displacement. In this study, I argue that drought is an insufficient encapsulation of the GERD’s effect on downstream Nile communities - and that a holistic assessment of ecological consequences wrought by the dam is crucial to mitigating its potentially dire agricultural and economic effects on Sudan and Egypt. Drawing on scientific literature, particularly studies by hydrologists, engineers, ecologists, and chemists, this paper offers a holistic assessment of the environmental consequences facing Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan in the wake of the construction of the GERD and offers comparisons to case studies of similar dams in Turkey, India, and China. This paper also supplements the scientific perspective by including the relevant political forces at work that have, thus far, failed to create an effective political and legal compromise around the equitable use of Nile waters. Viewing the Nile as a legitimate geographic unit of analysis offers scholars the opportunity to surpass area-studies boundaries that separate the politics of Ethiopia from those of Sudan and Egypt. By elucidating the interconnected ecology of these countries via the Nile, this paper also hopes to speculate on alternative regional frameworks that enrich our understanding of constituent nation-states.