The High Dam in Aswan Egypt

History of the Aswan High Dam:

The first-ever recorded attempt to build a dam near the  Aswan area was in the 11th century by the famous Arab polymath and engineer Ibn Al-Haytham.this was a result of being summoned by the Fatimid Caliph, Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah to figure out a solution for the Nile flooding. When testing out the idea practically it showed its inapplicability. Some of these temples are:

The second attempt to construct the Aswan Dam would be a British venture as they began construction of the first dam across the Nile in 1898 with construction extending to 1902. The project at the time was led by a sir Wiliam Wilcocks and was named the “Aswan Low Dam”.

The third attempt at constructing the Aswan High dam came in between 1954 to 1959 with plans for a New Aswan dam being suggested by a half greek, half Egyptian engineer called Adrian Daninios. Evidently, the government of Farouk showed no interest in the plans and went with Harold Edwin Hursts proposal instead. The aforementioned plan was comprised of storing the water in Sudan and Ethiopia due to the low evaporation rate in those areas. This venture, however, was short-lived as with the Officer movement led by Gamal Abdel Nasser Daninios plan was put into motion. Fearing the spread of Russian influence in the area both America and the United Kingdom offered to participate in the funding of the Dam. this lead to a loan of 270 million U.S.D in return for Nasser Spearheading the Arab-Israeli conflict due to him identifying as a neutralist and a natural leader. Following a power play by Nasser and requesting the Us to provide weapons that word conditioned to be used in defence only he was able to secure 56 and 14 million dollars from both Britain and the United kingdom after Russia offering to provide the weapons.

Following a Series of Political events and frictions between Egypt, the United States and the USSR (modern-day Russia) and concerns of the Abu Simbel temple being submerged the USSR continued to provide support for the Dam. Alongside the design and assistance provided by the Soviet Hydro project Institute alongside 25,000 Egyptian Engineers The construction of the Aswan high dam started in 1960. The Dam was finalized and the reservoir reached full capacity in 1976.
 

Importance of the Aswan High Dam

Now, what makes the Aswan Dam such an Important structure? well, there are a couple of good reasons for that and here are some of them:

• Before the existence of the Aswan Dam to manage the Flooding of the Nile although led to an enriched, fertile soil it could sometimes lead to the destruction of whole crops and widespread drought. Even with the existence of the old dam, a fully controlled flood was unimaginable until after the Aswan High dam.

• Due to the lack of sufficient rainfall, Egypt’s agriculture depends mainly on irrigation. The average amount of 55 cubic kilometres released by the dam is quintessential to many areas surrounding the Nile and the Delta area.

• Ove the Years the Aswan Dam has Protected Egypt from several drought periods between 1972 to 1973 & 1983 to 1987 that would have been utterly devastating.

• Another Vital benefit of the Aswan High Dam is its power Generation. Consisting of twelve generators each rated at 175 megawatts. Totalling at a wapping 2.1 gigawatts it was a main factor & reason for some villages getting electricity for the first time.

• The Aswan dam has also benefited the archaeological field as over 22 moments and architectural complexes were spared the threat of being flooded 

In conclusion, Although providing several benefits the Aswan Dam it has not been without some negative effects such as the waterlogging, increases in the soil salinity, Decreases in fish catches in the area are some examples. However, they are not the majority as with all its flaws Life as we know it would not be unfathomable without it.

Marvel a the High Dam and Beauty of Aswan with our Egypt Tours