Aswan High Dam

Was it worth it?

A case study of water storage and transfer in Egypt (an L.E.D.C.)

Acknowledgement to : The Geography Portal site

Location
Aswan is about 600 kms south of Cairo the capital of Egypt. Where is The delta The flood plain The desert areas Libya

Sudan?

Facts
The Aswan High Dam is 3600 metres long and 111 metres high. The Soviet Union helped the Egyptian government to build the dam. The Aswan High Dam has 12 turbines which generate over 10 billion kilowatts of electricity every year. Construction started on the dam in 1960 and it was completed in 1971. 30 000 Egyptian people worked day and night to build the Aswan High Dam. Lake Nasser was created behind the Aswan High Dam. It is the largest artificial lake in the World (560 kms in length). It is named after Gamal Abdul Nasser, the former President of Egypt.

The Aswan High Dam Project in Egypt, which was completed

in 1970. The dam is built on the River Nile and provides:

Hydro-Electric Power (HEP) Irrigation water for surrounding farmland Water supply to the population Flood control.
i.e. A MULTIPURPOSE SCHEME

The Advantages of the Aswan Dam

There are many advantages of the Aswan Dam. These are shown on the spider diagram below :

Helping Egypt to develop:

The formation of the Lake Nasser reservoir creates HEP opportunities and controls flooding. This helps Egypt to develop in two ways. Firstly it provides the electricity needed for people and industry to increase their quality of life and to stop the flooding which ruins so many livelihoods and claims lives.

Electricity for homes and industry:

HEP is used to generate electricity that is taken to homes and industries by pylons.

Aluminium and copper smelting industry

Flood control:
Control of flooding is carried out by the dam. By keeping so much water back in Lake Nasser, the River Nile rarely floods the surrounding farmland any more.

New farmland created:

The act of keeping back the water from the River Nile has lowered its level, effectively creating new farmland by the river sides. This is also less prone to flooding.

Irrigation water for nearby farmland:

Development of irrigation channels from Lake Nasser, takes water from the reservoir to the nearby desert to make farmland for watering crops. The electricity pumps the water there.

Fish stocks in Lake Nasser:

Fish live in the lake and can be fished more easily by those fishermen who used to fish in the River Nile. This should improve their livelihoods and fish stocks can be replaced more easily.

Also creates tourism via game fishing.

The Disadvantages of the Aswan Dam

There are many disadvantages caused by the Aswan Dam. These are shown on the spider diagram below:

High set-up costs of building the dam:

Egypt had to borrow a great deal of money to set this dam up from the Russians. Egypt will be repaying the loans back for a very long time and so it is doubtful whether this will help Egypt to develop at all

Irrigated farmland suffers from salination:

When water evaporates in these hot areas, it brings salts to the soil surface. This is called salinisation and it is not good for the soils or the crops. If too much salt rises to the surface, it can kill the plants and reduce yields.

Water-borne diseases increase:

As the water in both the reservoir and irrigation channels is contained and in a lot of places static, this promotes the build up of water snails which carry the disease bilharzia. Many other diseases also increase as they are not 'flushed away' by the flow of the River Nile.

Land lost from flooding of Lake Nasser:

Although there were some land gains from the building of the dam, there were much more losses behind the dam where the land was flooded to make the reservoir of Lake Nasser. Many people were moved and made homeless as well as losing their farmland.

The temples of Abu Simnel had to be moved.

Evaporation from Lake Nasser is very high:

This is an extremely hot area of the world. Evaporation from Lake Nasser is very high as a consequence and this means a lot of water is lost.

Silt builds up in Lake Nasser:

Silt, that would normally make its way down river gets trapped behind the dam, lowering the level of the reservoir. In addition, this silt would have made its way onto farmland and onto the Nile Delta and this is now causing farmland to become less fertile and the Nile Delta to stop growing. Also, Cairo brick makers are suffering as they no longer have enough silt deposits to make their bricks from.

Mud brick village

Natural flooding / silt is lost:

Flooding is an important natural event which enables silt to be placed on farmland, making it more fertile. Without this flooding, the farmland in front of the dam is becoming less fertile. Yields of crops will drop and eventually people may lose money or starve. In addition, those who do not have the luxury of an irrigation channel, will suffer from a lack of water entirely.