Aswan Dam environmental consequences. From the history of the design and construction of the Aswan High Dam The settlement where the Egyptian dam was built

The Aswan Dam is sometimes called the “pyramid of the 20th century” - in terms of its scale, the structure is not inferior to the grandiose creation of the ancients. Quite the contrary: 17 times more stone was used to build the dam than for the Cheops pyramid. And different countries of the world participated in the construction.

Without a reservoir, the Nile overflowed its banks every year during the summer, overflowing with the flow of water from eastern Africa. These floods carried fertile silt and minerals that made the soil around the Nile fertile and ideal for agriculture.

As the population along the river's banks grew, there was a need to control the flow of water to protect farmland and cotton fields. In a high-water year, entire fields could be completely washed away, while in a low-water year, famine due to drought was widespread. The purpose of the water project - the construction of a dam and reservoir - was to prevent floods, provide Egypt with electricity and create a network of irrigation canals for agriculture.

The British began building the first dam in 1899, finishing construction in 1902. The project was designed by Sir William Willcox and involved several distinguished engineers, including Sir Benjamin Baker and Sir John Aird, whose firm John Aird and Company was the main contractor. The dam was an impressive structure 1,900 m long and 54 m high. The initial design, as it soon became clear, was inadequate, and the height of the dam was raised in two stages, in 1907–1912 and 1929–1933.

Its characteristics were as follows: its length was 2.1 km, it had 179 culverts. On the left side of the dam there was a lock for transporting ships across the dam, and there was a power station nearby.

When in 1946 the water rose almost to the level of the dam, it was decided to build a second dam 6 km up the river. Work on its design began in 1952, immediately after the revolution. It was initially assumed that the United States and Great Britain would help finance construction by providing a loan of $270 million in exchange for Nasser's participation in resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict. However, in July 1956, both countries rescinded their proposal. Possible reasons for this step include a secret agreement on the supply of small arms with Czechoslovakia, which was part of the Eastern bloc, and Egypt’s recognition of the PRC.

After Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, intending to use tolls on passing ships to subsidize the Upper Dam project, Britain, France and Israel provoked a military conflict by occupying the canal with troops during the Suez Crisis.

But under pressure from the UN, the USA and the USSR, they were forced to leave and leave the canal in Egyptian hands. At the height of the Cold War in the struggle for the Third World countries, the Soviet Union in 1958 offered technical assistance in the construction of the dam, with a third of the cost of the project written off due to the loyalty of the Nasser regime to the USSR. The huge dam was designed by the Soviet institute "Gidroproekt".

Construction began in 1960. The Upper Dam was completed on July 21, 1970, but the reservoir began to fill in 1964, when the first stage of construction of the dam was completed. The reservoir put many archaeological sites in danger of disappearing, so a rescue operation was undertaken under the auspices of UNESCO, as a result of which 24 major monuments were moved to safer places or transferred to countries that helped with the work (Temple of Debod in Madrid and Temple of Dendur in New York ).

The grand opening and commissioning of the Aswan hydropower complex took place on January 15, 1971, with the participation of the President of the UAR Anwar Sadat, who cut the ribbon in the blue arch on the crest of the dam, and the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR N.V. Podgorny.

The Aswan Dam solved all the tasks assigned to it: to protect Egyptians living in the valley from floods and dry seasons by regulating the water level for many years. Irrigated land has increased by 30% - 800,000 hectares, old lands now produce not one harvest, but three. This became possible due to the fact that earlier, when the land was flooded, the residents planted crops there, and when the water receded from the Nile River, the crops were harvested, now the water has become constant and they can be planted all the time, without waiting for the river to flood again. But at the same time, people lost natural fertilizer - silt brought with the river flood; now they use imported fertilizers. In addition, the dam became the largest source of electricity, providing 2.1 million kW. Many villages had never had light in their homes before. During construction, thousands of Egyptians received a construction education, now many of them have become managers in government agencies and directors of enterprises.

Demonstration in Aswan in connection with the launch of one of the units of the Aswan High Dam. 1968

Water from the Aswan Reservoir irrigates fields reclaimed from the desert

Main characteristics of the waterworks

The Aswan Upper Dam is 3600 m long, 980 m wide at the base, 40 m wide at the crest and 111 m high, it consists of 43 million m³ of earth materials, that is, it is a gravity earth dam. The maximum water flow through all culverts of the dam is 16,000 m³/s.

The Toshka Canal connects the reservoir with Lake Toshka. The reservoir, named Lake Nasser, has a length of 550 km and a maximum width of 35 km; Its surface area is 5250 km², and its total volume is 132 km³.

Lake Nasser is the world's largest reservoir, stretching for five hundred kilometers, the depth of which in some places reaches one hundred and eighty meters. Due to its gigantic size, the lake is more like an inland sea, all the more interesting since it is an inland sea of ​​Africa.

The capacity of twelve generators (each 175 MW) is 2.1 GW of electricity. When the hydroelectric power station reached its design output by 1967, it provided about half of all energy generated in Egypt.

After the construction of the Aswan hydroelectric complex, the negative consequences of the floods of 1964 and 1973, as well as the droughts of 1972–1973 and 1983–1984, were prevented. A significant number of fisheries have developed around Lake Nasser.

Ecological problems

In addition to the benefits, however, the damming of the Nile has caused many environmental problems. Large areas of lower Nubia were flooded, displacing more than 90,000 people. Lake Nasser flooded valuable archaeological sites. Fertile silt, which was washed annually during floods into the Nile floodplains, now lingers above the dam. Nowadays, silt is gradually raising the level of Lake Nasser. In addition, changes have occurred in the Mediterranean ecosystem - fish catches on the coast have decreased as nutrients have ceased to flow from the Nile.

There is some erosion of farmland downriver. Shoreline erosion, due to a lack of new sediment from floods, will eventually cause the loss of fisheries in the lakes, which are currently Egypt's largest source of fish. The lowering of the Nile Delta will lead to an influx of sea water into its northern part, where rice plantations are now located. The delta itself, no longer fertilized by Nile silt, lost its former fertility. The production of red bricks, which uses delta clay, has also been affected. In the eastern Mediterranean there is significant erosion of coastlines due to a lack of sand previously brought by the Nile.

The need to use artificial fertilizers supplied by international corporations is also controversial because, unlike river silt, they cause chemical pollution. Inadequate irrigation control has resulted in some farmland being destroyed by flooding and increasing salinity. This problem is exacerbated by weakened river flows, causing salt water to intrude further into the delta.

Mediterranean fisheries were also affected by the dam's construction, as the marine ecosystem was heavily dependent on the rich flow of phosphates and silicates from the Nile. Mediterranean catches have dropped by almost half since the dam. Cases of schistosomiasis have become more frequent, as a large amount of algae in Lake Nasser promotes the proliferation of snails that carry this disease.

Due to the Aswan High Dam, the salinity of the Mediterranean Sea has increased; the salt flow from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean can be traced for thousands of kilometers in the Atlantic.

In the late 1990s, Lake Nasser began to expand westward and flood the Toshka lowland. To prevent this phenomenon, the Toshka Canal was built, allowing part of the Nile waters to be diverted to the western regions of the country.

Aswan dam – type from space

Aswan dam – type from space

Text: Lyudmila Smerkovich |

2015-07-22 | Photo: Rita Willaert / flickr; Stuart Rankin / flickr; gil7416/dollarphotoclub; cliff hellis/flickr; unknown; Fredhsu/wikipedia; GeneralMills / flickr (“Progress thru Research,” Vol. 20, No. 3, 1966) |

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When construction of the Aswan Dam on the great Nile River began in the 1960s, the Temple of Abu Simbel, dedicated to Pharaoh Ramses II and his beloved wife Nefertari and built three thousand years ago, was under threat of flooding. The operation to save the temples became one of the largest international engineering and construction projects of the last century.

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Ramesses (Ramses) II the Great was a pharaoh of Ancient Egypt who reigned approximately 1279-1213 BC. and received the honorary title A-nakhtu, which means “winner.” Among the Greeks, his name became Sesostris, the hero of legendary tales and world conqueror.

The scale of the Aswan hydropower complex can be assessed from its technical passport: “Electromechanical equipment: number of units - 12. Power - 2100 megawatts, electricity generation - 8 billion kilowatt-hours per year. The complex includes a rockfill dam with a clay core 111 meters high and 3820 meters long, 520 of which are in the riverbed part. The volume of the embankment is 41.4 million cubic meters, an inlet canal 1150 meters long, an outlet canal 538 meters long, tunnel water conduits 282 meters long and 15 meters in diameter, a flood spillway in the form of a concrete spillway dam 288 meters long, a reservoir with a useful volume of 114 cubic kilometers . Under the base of the dam, a unique anti-seepage curtain with a depth of 165 meters was created, for the construction of which an original system of underwater compaction of sandy soils was specially developed.”

In addition to generating electricity, which is still enough for the whole of Egypt, the Aswan Dam gave the country the opportunity to transfer 300 thousand hectares from seasonal irrigation to permanent irrigation and to develop about 600 thousand hectares of new land using water reserves in the man-made Lake Nasser. However, in addition to the obvious economic benefits, the new hydroelectric power station created several new problems that did not appear immediately - the natural balance of the movement of silt and sand along the Nile was disrupted; its delta began to gradually collapse; the lands that did not naturally receive annual fertilizer during the flood began to become salty. These problems are gradually being solved through new projects that support the ecology of the great river, and only one loss should have become irreversible not only for Egypt, but for the entire earthly civilization. The flood zone formed when the dam was launched included unique monuments of the ancient Egyptian kingdoms, in particular the temple complex of Abu Simbel, built thirteen centuries BC.

sacred mountain

Judging by archaeological data, this place was considered sacred even before Pharaoh Ramesses II decided to perpetuate his military victories and fair rule by building majestic temples. Many centuries later, when the temples were buried under tons of sand, Arab sailors called this rock Abu Simbel - “father of bread”, since one of the fragments of a stone bas-relief could be seen on the shore: a man in an ancient Egyptian apron that resembled a measure of bread.

The temples of Ramses were rediscovered only in 1813, when the Swiss explorer Burckhardt, traveling disguised as an Arab up the Nile, reached the third rapids of the great river. He drew attention to the huge heads, crowned with the crowns of the pharaohs, protruding from the sand, but the guides could not tell anything intelligible about these statues. Burckhardt reported his discovery, and the expedition of the famous adventurer and treasure hunter Belzoni immediately followed in his footsteps. Under his leadership, the temples were excavated from the sand, and although the expected treasures were not found in them, Belzoni wrote in his diary: “We entered the most extensive and most beautiful crypt in Nubia. Our surprise increased even more when it turned out that it was not only a very large, but also a magnificently decorated temple - with bas-reliefs, paintings and statues.”

In hieroglyphic inscriptions, Abu Simbel is called the “sacred mountain”, and the entire complex of buildings and fortifications is called the “fortress-city of Ramesses”. On one of the columns of the Small Temple there is an inscription carved: “Ramesses, strong in truth, favorite of Amon, created this divine dwelling for his beloved wife Nefertari.”

The temple complex of Abu Simbel really turned out to be magnificent - both from a historical and artistic, as well as from an engineering point of view. Both temples, Big and Small, are carved into a sandstone rock about 100 meters high. Both temples have beautiful bas-reliefs, wall paintings and many cryptograms and inscriptions praising the pharaoh. The large temple consists of 14 rooms penetrating 60 meters into the rock. The largest hall, decorated with eight statues of the god-pharaoh, measures 18 by 16 meters and rises to a height of 8 meters. The large hall depicts mainly battle scenes. Some paintings on the walls of the hall depict the victories of the pharaoh in Libya and Nubia, but the most significant scene is the Battle of Kadet, where the decisive battle between the Egyptians and the Hittites took place.

The temple was built in such a way that twice a year the sun rising in the morning pierces the entire suite of underground halls with its rays and illuminates the statues of the sanctuary. When the temple was moved, it was possible to restore its structure so that this property was preserved.

At the entrance to the Great Temple there are four colossal statues, twenty meters high. Crowned with crowns, with uraei on their foreheads and false beards, the colossi seated on thrones symbolize supreme power. Under their feet are the defeated enemies of the pharaoh. On the thrones of the colossi are depicted the gods of the Nile, who bind together papyrus and a lily - a sign of the unity of both lands, Lower and Upper Egypt. At the feet of the colossi there are female figures that look very fragile compared to the huge statues of the king - these are images of Nefertari, the beloved wife of Ramesses, his mother and daughters.

On the thigh of one of the statues of Ramesses, an inscription in ancient Greek was found made with knives, which historians date back to the 6th century BC: “When King Psammetichus came to Elephantine, those who came with Psammetichus, the son of Theocles, wrote this. They sailed by ship through Kerkis as long as the river allowed. Potasimto led the foreigners, Amasis led the Egyptians. Archon, the son of Amoibikh, and Pelek, the son of Udam, wrote this.” The Ionian mercenaries who immortalized themselves in this act of vandalism left behind one of the oldest examples of Greek writing.

The small temple is more elegant and feminine - it is dedicated to Nefertari, “she for whom the sun shines.” It has only 5 halls, also decorated with statues of gods and the royal couple. As the writer and traveler Jacques Christian writes in his book “In the Land of the Pharaohs”: “Ramesses is present in the sanctuary of his wife, he performs two functions there: a military leader, a conqueror of the forces of darkness, and a high priest who performs sacrifices. The columns here are crowned with the faces of the goddess Hathor, the ruler of love and joy, there are many images of flowers around, the tall silhouette of Nefertari sanctifies everything around with its noble beauty. At the entrance to the temple, the pharaoh is depicted holding out flowers to Hathor and the queen in the image of the goddess Isis. On the other side of the gate, Ramses protects Nefertari, he defeats the Nubians and Asians, imposes tribute on his enemies and pays honor to Amun-Ra and Horus."

All these cultural treasures of ancient civilization, perfectly preserved under a layer of sand, should have perished irrevocably at the bottom of Lake Nasser Reservoir. But the rescue of the temples of Abu Simbel was declared an action of global significance under the auspices of UNESCO. The hasty planning of the rescue operation began.

Moving

Several ideas have been proposed for preserving the temples of Ramses II and Nefertari - starting from the construction of a high dam to protect the territory of the temple complex from the waters of an artificial lake, and ending with a transparent cap through which tourists from river boats could admire the beauty of the ancient statues found at the bottom. The most attractive option was the project of Italian engineers, who proposed using heavy-duty jacks to lift and move the entire rock with the temples carved in it, but this idea was too expensive to implement. As a result, we settled on the project of the Swedish company Vattenbyggnadsbyran (VBB), which consisted in the fact that the temple would be cut into blocks, transported and assembled in a new location.

This project had its own risks and difficulties. Firstly, it was necessary to have time to saw and transport the blocks before water was released into the reservoir, and there was not much time left before that. Secondly, there was a risk that the cuts would open internal cracks and cavities in the stone or damage the soft sandstone so that it would be impossible to reassemble the previous structure. This problem was solved by strengthening natural stone with polymer compounds in all suspicious places. And finally, the new place for the temples was different from their native hill; the chosen site had yet to be turned into a semblance of the rock on which the temples were originally built.

Among the sculptural scenes of the Great Temple there is an image of the royal children lined up in two rows - daughters on one side, sons on the other. Below is a small inscription: “Made by the sculptor of King Piai, son of Ha-Nefer.” This signature is invaluable, since the sculptors of Ancient Egypt very rarely indicated their names.

At the first stage of preparation, the temples were measured in detail, photographed, and then the cutting lines of the stone were planned based on the drawings. The area around the old and new temple sites was also mapped in detail. Along the way, geographical and geological studies were carried out, including the properties of local sandstone and the behavior of groundwater, excavations and excavations were carried out. Since the construction of the Aswan Dam took place simultaneously, the water level in the Nile rose by several meters per year. To protect the construction site that Abu Simbel had turned into, a temporary dam was erected, but the waters of the Nile forced engineers to work faster and faster - soon the territory of the temple complex was to be flooded.

Before temples began to be divided into blocks using special thin saws used to cut marble, special safety measures were taken. Strong steel scaffolding was installed inside the temple halls, sand mounds were created in front of the facades of the temples, and protective screens were installed above the facades; All the stones lying there were removed from the slopes above the temples. By October 1965, the “roof” - the natural rock that served as their vault - was completely removed from the temples, and they began to move the statues and parts of the interior decoration. On October 10, the dismantling of the huge statues of the pharaoh in front of the entrance to the temple began. A journalist who was present wrote in his diary: “The sun rose slightly above the horizon when the crane operator received the order to begin. Slowly, slowly, the god king's face separated from his ears... It was a sight I will never forget. For a moment, I was overcome by the wild thought that modern barbarians were trying to destroy the great pharaoh. Hanging on the cable, the huge face slowly turned around its axis. It seemed that the expression on his face under the rays of the sun was transformed by the play of light and shadow... Then the pharaoh’s face was gently laid on the bed of a special trailer so that it would be taken to the platform where other parts of the temple were already stored.”

Each of the blocks was numbered in order to assemble temples in a new place without visible changes. When the internal structure of the temples was completely recreated on a specially cut out huge terrace, they were covered with a reinforced concrete cap and a hill was poured on top. During assembly, the blocks were additionally strengthened with a resinous compound, which was pumped into the drilled holes so that the fragile sandstone would not crumble after cutting, transportation and installation. When recreating temples, new questions arose: is it worth “improving” what has been destroyed by time, for example, is it not possible to return to its place the head of one of the colossi that fell in ancient times? How to mask the consequences of movement? The director of the Egyptian Archaeological Authority wrote at the time of the project's completion: “The damage done to the pharaoh will be healed. The connecting seams will be filled with mortar down to a few millimeters from the surface. We could achieve more: not only heal the wounds, but also make the stitches invisible. But will this be fair to our ancestors, to ourselves and to those who come here after us?

The relocation operation took three years, from 1965 to 1968, but until 1972 work continued to bring the landscape around the temple complex to a form consistent with the previous position of the temples.

Now the temples look almost the same as before they were moved to a new location, and the broken head of the colossus rests in the same place where it was before - at his feet. Thousands of tourists visit this place, no less popular than the pyramids of the pharaohs, although not as ancient. This monument of ancient Egyptian art today is also a monument to the glory of the talent and work of engineers and workers, people from different countries who joined forces to move the temples of Ramesses and Nefertari. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat said of the rescue of Abu Simbel: "The peoples of the earth are capable of performing miracles when they unite with good intentions."

Temples of Abu Simbel and the history of their salvation in numbers:

The facade of the temples is carved into the rock 31 meters high and 38 meters wide. Above the facade there is an ornament carved in the form of twenty-two baboons greeting the sunrise. Each of these monkeys measures about 2.5 meters.

The facade of the large temple is decorated with four statues of the pharaoh, depicted sitting on a throne. The height of these statues is about 20 meters, and the head of each sculpture reaches four meters. The weight of each statue exceeds 1200 tons.

The façade of the Small Temple is decorated with six full-length figures, each 11 meters high. Between the statues of Pharaoh Ramesses II are placed statues of his wife Nefertari. This is a rare case of the image of the pharaoh's wife in sculptures of the same size as the figures of the king himself.

More than 50 countries around the world took part in the project to move the temples of Abu Simbel.

The cost of the temple relocation project amounted to about $42 million in 1968 prices.

The cave temple complex was moved 65 meters higher and 200 meters further from the river. For transportation, the temples were cut into 1036 blocks, the weight of which reached from 5 to 20 tons.

History of construction

The British began construction of the first dam in 1899, finishing it in 1902. The project was designed by Sir William Willcox and involved several distinguished engineers, including Sir Benjamin Baker and Sir John Aird, whose firm, John Aird and Company, was the main contractor. The dam was an impressive structure 1,900 m long and 54 m high. The initial design, as it soon became clear, was inadequate, and the height of the dam was raised in two stages, 1907-1912 and 1929-1933.

Construction began in 1960. The Upper Dam was completed on July 21, 1970, however the reservoir began to fill already in 1964, when the first stage of construction of the dam was completed. The reservoir put many archaeological sites in danger of disappearing, so a rescue operation was undertaken under the auspices of UNESCO, as a result of which 24 major monuments were moved to safer places or transferred to countries that helped with the work (Temple of Debod in Madrid and Temple of Dendur in New York ).

Main characteristics of the waterworks

Panorama

The Aswan High Dam is 3600 m long, 980 m wide at the base, 40 m wide at the crest and 111 m high, it consists of 43 million m³ of soil materials. The maximum water flow through all culverts of the dam is 16,000 m³/s.

The Toshka Canal connects the reservoir with Lake Toshka. The reservoir, named Lake Nasser, has a length of 550 km and a maximum width of 35 km; Its surface area is 5250 km² and its total volume is 132 km³.

The capacity of twelve generators (each 175 MW) is 2.1 GW of electricity. When the hydroelectric power station reached its design output by 1967, it provided about half of all energy generated in Egypt.

After the construction of the Aswan hydroelectric complex, the negative consequences of the floods of 1964 and 1973, as well as the droughts of 1972-1973 and 1983-1984, were prevented. A significant number of fisheries have developed around Lake Nasser.

Ecological problems

In addition to the benefits, however, the damming of the Nile has caused many environmental problems. Vast areas of lower Nubia were flooded, displacing more than 90,000 people. Lake Nasser flooded valuable archaeological sites. Fertile silt, which was washed annually during floods into the Nile floodplains, is now retained above the dam. Nowadays, silt is gradually raising the level of Lake Nasser. In addition, changes have occurred in the Mediterranean ecosystem - fish catches on the coast have decreased as nutrients have ceased to flow from the Nile.

There is some erosion of farmland downriver. Shoreline erosion, due to a lack of new sediment from floods, will eventually cause the loss of fisheries in the lakes, which are currently Egypt's largest source of fish. The lowering of the Nile Delta will lead to an influx of sea water into its northern part, where rice plantations are now located. The delta itself, no longer fertilized by Nile silt, lost its former fertility. The production of red bricks, which uses delta clay, has also been affected. In the eastern Mediterranean there is significant erosion of coastlines due to a lack of sand previously brought by the Nile.

The need to use artificial fertilizers supplied by international corporations is also controversial because, unlike river silt, they cause chemical pollution. Insufficient irrigation control has resulted in some farmland being destroyed by flooding and increasing salinity. This problem is exacerbated by weakened river flows, causing salt water to intrude further into the delta.

Mediterranean fisheries were also affected by the dam's construction, as the marine ecosystem was heavily dependent on the rich flow of phosphates and silicates from the Nile. Mediterranean catches have dropped by almost half since the dam. Cases of schistosomiasis have become more frequent, since a large amount of algae in Lake Nasser contributes to the proliferation of snails that carry this disease.

The Aswan Dam tends to increase the salinity of the Mediterranean Sea, thereby affecting the flow from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean (see Strait of Gibraltar). This flow can be traced for thousands of kilometers in the Atlantic. Some people believe [ Who?] that this dam influence accelerates the processes that will lead to the next ice age.

At the end of the 1990s. Lake Nasser began to expand to the west and flood the Toshka lowland. To prevent this phenomenon, the Toshka Canal was built, allowing part of the Nile waters to be diverted to the western regions of the country.

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• southeastern Mediterranean restored ecosystem

The Aswan hydroelectric power station is an engineering structure located in Egypt. This hydroelectric power station can amaze any tourist with its majestic size; the base of this structure is approximately 400 million cubic meters. The length of this dam is about 3.5 kilometers, its width reaches up to 1 kilometer, and its height is about 100 meters. The crest of the dam is 40 meters. literally in a second, the water intake of this structure is capable of passing approximately 16,000 cubic meters of water.

Why was such a large structure erected and why was it needed in this place? To get an answer to this question, let's plunge into the history of sunny Egypt.

The full-flowing Nile River flows throughout hot Egypt, making it the longest river on our planet. This great river has been the main source of life for the Egyptians since ancient times. Currently, the Nile River is an important element of this area. The Nile River contains on its banks the population of this large country; there are many large cities here, including Cairo and Luxor, and the beautiful city of Alexandria is also located here.

In ancient Egypt, in the spring and summer, the Nile River flows rapidly, causing water to overflow its banks, resulting in large floods. The height of the waves can reach almost 10 meters, thus washing away everything in their path. Thus, along with water, a lot of silt comes, it begins to settle on the fields, but it serves as an ideal fertilizer for the soil. If the Nile flood does not occur, this means that the year will be bad and without a harvest.

Creation of the Aswan hydroelectric power station

Initially, a project that would regulate the waters of the Nile River and control its overflow was created back in the 11th century, but for technical reasons it could not yet be implemented. Only at the beginning of the 20th century, engineers from Britain began to build a dam, which reaches a height of 50 meters and its length is 2 kilometers. But still, the project was not completed; it was built twice. This dam was called the Lower Dam, as it stood to protect the Nile River until about half of the twentieth century.

In the middle of the 20th century, for the first time this dam was able to reach its peak, then the question arose about the construction of a new dam, which could be located just above the Nile River itself.

The project began to be created in the mid-20th century, in the fifties, literally after the revolution in Egypt ended. But then the development of the design of this dam was postponed for quite a long time; it dragged on for many years.

The construction of the dam in Egypt pursued the following goals:

1. Preventive actions regarding floods.
2. Uninterrupted electricity supply to all homes and various objects.
3. Formation of a network for irrigation of the farm.
4. Education allows ships to sail on the Nile all year round.

This large dam took about ten years to create, but this reservoir began to be filled in the sixties. Thus, the artificially created reservoir was able to receive the name Nasser; its dimensions reach up to 500 kilometers in length and about 30 kilometers in width. The area of ​​this reservoir is more than 5 million square kilometers. Not a single photograph can convey the scale of the reservoir that was created with the help of man.

The hydroelectric power station was equipped with twelve generators with a capacity of approximately 2000 MW. The hydroelectric power station began operating around the seventies. The ribbon that opened this facility was cut by the Egyptian President.

Ecological problems

A high dam is a creation of a structure with the help of man, but there are also minor disadvantages. The construction of this structure could cause some environmental problems that could not be eliminated, although the engineers tried their best.

Here are some important problems that the construction of hydroelectric power stations caused:

1. Flooding of large areas meant that residents had to be relocated.
2. That silt, which was so useful, began to crawl out beyond the dam, thereby the water level began to rise.
3. Fishing catches have decreased.
4. Formation of soil erosion.

I have a bad attitude towards environmentalists. Usually this is a paid crook. But sometimes, though occasionally, they are right. Let me give you an example:
The height of the Cold War. The Cuban missile crisis has just died down. As if mocking the proletarians from the fraternal socialist countries, the stars and stripes power engineers launch here and there their thin capitalist one hundred and ten volts instead of the strong workers’ and peasants’ two hundred and twenty. The situation is heating up. And Nikita Sergeevich, as usual, without a moment’s hesitation, makes a bold hydraulic decision...
...The Nile is the longest river in the world, its length is 6,650 km, the basin area covers 3,400,000 km;. The Nile flows from south to north and has three main tributaries: the White Nile, the Blue Nile and the Atbara. The most distant source of the Nile is the Kagera River, which rises in Burundi and, being the border between Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda, flows into Lake Victoria. From here the Victoria Nile originates, which then crosses the Kyoga and Albert deserts and, from an area called Nimule, crosses the border of Sudan. This stretch of the Nile is called the White Nile. The Blue Nile originates in central Ethiopia and merges with the White Nile near Khartoum. The Blue Nile carries water that causes floods in Egypt and fertilizes the lands. The third tributary of the Nile, the Albar, merges with the Nile in the northeast of Hartema. Having reached Lake Nasser in Egypt near Cairo, the Nile begins to form a delta. The Nile flows into the sea from 7 channels, 5 of which form small lakes. Lakes Rosetta and Damietta are 10 meters deep. The width of the Nile River delta at its confluence with the sea between the cities of Alexandria and Dumyat is 300 km.
Without a reservoir, the Nile overflowed its banks every year during the summer, overflowing with water from the depths of Africa. These floods carried fertile silt and minerals that made the soil around the Nile extremely fertile and ideal for agriculture. True, in a high-water year, entire fields could be completely washed away. And in the low-water year, famine due to drought was widespread. But, in general, the Nile fed Egypt for thousands of years...
The best definition of the Nile River comes from former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who in his book The River War compares the Nile River and its basin to a large palm tree. As Churchill writes, the roots of this tree are "in Lake Victoria, Albert and the Sadd region, the trunk is in Egypt and the Sudan, and the Nile Delta forms its branches." Currently, Egypt uses about 70% of the Nile's water resources, Sudan - 25%, and the remaining 8 countries account for 5% of the river's water. Egypt has an agricultural policy based 99% on irrigation from the Nile.
The goal of the Aswan Project was to prevent floods, provide Egypt with electricity, and create a network of irrigation canals for agriculture. Well, Nikita Sergeevich loved to raise virgin soil. Well, don’t feed him bread - let him raise virgin soil. Even in Egypt...
After the completion of the dam, the area of ​​Egypt's irrigated land increased by a third. Because of the ability to regulate flow, many old lands received water year-round and produced three crops instead of one. Plus the dam's hydroelectric power plant, with a capacity of 2.1 million kW, which has become the largest source of energy in the country. Because of these reasons, the Egyptians are still tolerating the existence of the Aswan Dam, although their patience is already coming to an end. And that's why:
The Upper Dam was completed on July 21, 1970, and, since then, fertile silt and minerals began to settle in front of the dam, in Lake Nasser. And, accordingly, they stopped coming to the fields. But, gradually, increasing the level of Lake Nasser. Not due to water, but due to the silt settling at its bottom. Which slowly but surely rises to the level of the upper edge of the dam. But it is impossible to increase the height of the dam - due to the increase in the weight of the dam body, its base is deformed.
To prevent the build-up of silt levels in Lake Nasser, the Toshka Canal was built to divert the waters of the Nile with the silt it contains to the west of Lake Nasser. But this is a temporary solution, since the Toshka lowland will sooner or later be filled with the same silt.
But the problems of Lake Nasser are just the beginning. The berries, caused by the settling of silt in Lake Nasser, bloomed luxuriantly in the Nile Delta itself.
Almost the entire population of Egypt lives in the Nile River Delta, which makes up 0.03% of the country's territory. As a result of the lack of fertile silt in the fields, the fertility of the Nile Delta began to decline year by year. But it's not only that. Before the construction of the dam, the silt was carried out to the sea, and, again, as a consequence, stopped the erosion of the coast by the sea throughout the eastern Mediterranean. After the construction of the dam, the removal of silt into the sea stopped and, of course, as a consequence, every storm now erodes the sea coast in the Nile Delta region.
This notorious delta itself is not very large. Just north of Cairo, 150 km south of its confluence with the sea, the Nile River splits into branches. That is, the Nile Delta is approximately an isosceles triangle with a side of 150 kilometers. The area of ​​the Nile Delta is 24 thousand km;. And, for example, the kingdom of the Netherlands occupies an area of ​​41.5 thousand square meters. km, that is, almost twice the area of ​​the Nile Delta. And only 16 million people live in this supposedly densely populated country. And in half of Holland, called the Nile Delta, almost the entire population of Egypt lives - about 80 million today. That is, Holland, compared to the Nile Delta, is a sparsely populated country. Almost uninhabited...
Throughout the eastern Mediterranean there is significant erosion of coastlines due to a lack of sand previously brought by the Nile. In Israel, for example, because of this, beaches are actively being eroded, and measures to protect them cost a pretty penny. The same problem occurs in Lebanon, Cyprus and Syria. And even on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, the process of beach erosion is quite noticeable.
According to Hamdi Hussein-Khalifa, head of the ministry's research center, most of the Nile Delta could be flooded before the end of this century (the Nile Delta is flat as a table and lies just above sea level). And Egypt's Minister of Ecology, Maged George, said that 50% of the Nile Delta could be flooded. The reason is coastal erosion.
But there is no need to wait until the end of the century. If the dam is blown up, then the entire Nile Delta with tens of millions of Egyptians living on it will plunge into the abyss of water for a couple of days. In the post-Pliocene period, the Nile valley was a narrow, 15-kilometer-wide sea bay, cutting deeply into the mainland. If the Aswan High Dam explodes, this narrow bay will be filled with water from Lake Nasser. And it’s not difficult to blow up a dam. A small break in the dam built in an arc is enough for the resulting water flow to wash away everything.
True, in a few days the water level in the delta will drop. But soil fertility will increase sharply. Because the soil level in the Nile Delta will rise by one and a half meters due to the silt that the stormy waters will bring with them from the suddenly empty Lake Nasser.
It is for this reason that Egypt became the first Arab country to make peace with Israel.
Problems such as the use of artificial fertilizers, which, unlike river silt, cause chemical pollution of soil and groundwater, are no longer discussed. As well as the almost completely stopped fishing in the Nile, which is also polluted by the same fertilizers.
The salinity problem in the Nile Delta is exacerbated by a general reduction in flow (a significant part of the Nile water evaporates from the surface of Lake Nasser). The city of Aswan, where the dam was built, is the southernmost city in Egypt. Located on the banks of the Nile, about thousands of kilometers south of the river delta, close to the border with Sudan. Aswan is the Sahara Desert. That is, very hot and zero humidity. As a result, the evaporation of precious fresh water from the surface of Lake Nasser is colossal. The loss of a significant portion of the Nile's freshwater flow due to evaporation from Lake Nasser has sharply reduced the discharge of Nile freshwater into the delta.
As a result, salt water intrudes further into the delta. Some farmland has already been destroyed by salty groundwater flooding. And the area of ​​such saline soil in the Nile Delta is growing rapidly. The Nile soil, the so-called Geth, is dried silt. Gef is very fertile, more fertile than black soil, and significantly more so. But this is not yet salted. Nothing will grow on salted hef. And it is almost impossible to restore a saline hef.
Mediterranean fisheries were also affected by the dam's construction, as the marine ecosystem was heavily dependent on the rich flow of phosphates and silicates from the Nile. Since the dam, Mediterranean catches have dropped by almost half.
In Egypt, the incidence of schistosomiasis has increased sharply in recent years, as a large amount of algae in Lake Nasser contributes to the proliferation of snails that carry this disease. The ecology of the Nile Valley is generally an extremely fragile thing. Something happened to the Nile water - and the consequences are cyclopean. According to the book of Exodus, God brought disaster upon Egypt as punishment for Pharaoh's refusal to free the Hebrews from slavery. There were ten disasters, or Plagues: first, the water in the Nile turned to blood, then came invasions of toads, midges and dog flies, then a plague of livestock, then the bodies of the Egyptians were covered with ulcers and boils, then a hail of fire hit the country, then an invasion of locusts , then impenetrable darkness fell on Egypt, and then all the first-born children in the country died, except for the Jewish ones.
Yes, the fiery hail and subsequent darkness were apparently caused by the eruption of the Santorini volcano on the island of the same name in the Mediterranean Sea. But everything else, in fact, all these Egyptian executions are environmental disasters. As a result, the general situation in Egypt deteriorated to such an extent that Jews left the country.
...The Nile Delta, I repeat, was formed on the site of a bay that was gradually filled with sediment from silt from the Nile. And now, after the cessation of the flow of this same silt, this so far nameless bay is gradually returning to life.
The Egyptians are hastily developing a 20-year program to combat the advancing sea. Back in 2007, a dam project was proposed that would not only separate salt and fresh water (above and below the ground), but also raise the shore by two meters. True, its implementation requires more money than the entire budget of Egypt over 10 years. However, its effectiveness is extremely doubtful...
In 1929, when the region was under British control, a document was prepared regulating the use of the Nile's water resources, according to which Egypt is practically the owner of the Nile River. After Sudan declared independence in 1959, the agreement was revised. Sudan was given the right to use 1/4 of the Nile waters. However, in the same year, adjustments made to the document once again emphasize that Egypt is the only dominant force on the river. According to the agreement, no country without Egypt's permission will be able to build dams or irrigation canals on the Nile River, drain land for agriculture or take any actions that could reduce the volume of water in the river. According to the document, Egypt can use the right of veto on the implementation of any project related to the waters of the river. It is clear that the countries located in the upper reaches of the Nile are not going to put up with such a blatant violation of their sovereignty.
In addition to Egypt and Sudan, Ethiopia, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda and Eritrea also use Nile waters. After Sudan separated from Egypt, a treaty was signed between the countries in 1959, according to which 87% of the Nile waters were divided between Egypt and Sudan. Meanwhile, the countries located at the sources of the Nile note that at the time of the conclusion of the treaty they were British colonies and, naturally, no one took their interests into account. Since 2004, African countries in the Nile Basin have begun to make demands for the construction of dams, power plants, and the implementation of agricultural projects based on irrigation systems. Noting that the agreement was signed in 1929 by Great Britain and the colonial period was left behind, the countries demanded the signing of a new document.

PS. Due to global warming, the level of the world's oceans in general, and the Mediterranean Sea in particular, is gradually rising. Over the last century, the level of the Mediterranean Sea has risen by 20 centimeters, which has led to flooding and salinization of a large area of ​​\u200b\u200bcultivable land in the Delta. By 2025, the Mediterranean Sea is likely to rise by another 30 centimeters.