As Egypt is threatened with losing its vital water supply, the building of dams in the region highlights the fragility of water supply in North Africa.
History:
In 1843 it was decided to build a series of diversion dams (barrages or weirs) across the Nile at the head of the delta about 12 miles downstream from Cairo, so as to raise the level of water upstream to supply the irrigation canals and to regulate navigation. This delta barrage scheme was not fully completed until 1861, after which it was extended and improved; it may be regarded as marking the beginning of modern irrigation in the Nile valley. The Zifta Barrage, nearly halfway along the Damietta branch of the deltaic Nile, was added to this system in 1901. In 1902 the Asyūṭ Barrage, more than 200 miles upstream from Cairo, was completed. This was followed in 1909 by the barrage at Isnā (Esna), about 160 miles above Asyūṭ, and in 1930 by the barrage at Najʿ Hammādī, 150 miles above Asyūṭ.
The first dam at Aswān was constructed between 1899 and 1902; it has a series of four locks to allow navigation. The dam has twice been enlarged—first between 1908 and 1911 and again between 1929 and 1934—thus raising the water level and increasing the dam’s capacity. It is also equipped with a hydroelectric plant with an installed power of more than 345 megawatts.
Brittanica
On July 21, 1970, Egyptian engineers completed the Aswan Dam, which controls the flow of the Nile River.
Egypt and Ethiopia have expelled diplomats from each other’s countries in a sharp escalation of tensions already fuelled by the long-running dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
Egypt and Ethiopia have turned a long-running dispute over the Nile into a fresh diplomatic confrontation, expelling each other’s diplomats and giving them just 48 hours to leave. The escalation began in Addis Ababa, where Ethiopia declared Egyptian diplomat Ahmed Moharam Ahmed Soliman persona non grata and ordered him to leave the country within 48 hours. Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry said the decision was taken under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations but did not publicly explain what prompted it.
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile river in the Benishangul-Gumuz region of Ethiopia. Egypt wants the United Nations Security Council to “undertake its responsibilities” and prevent Ethiopia from starting to fill its massive, newly built hydroelectric dam on the Nile River.
Retired, living in the Scottish Borders after living most of my life in cities in England. I can now indulge my interest in all aspects of living close to nature in a wild landscape. I live on what was once the Iapetus Ocean which took millions of years to travel from the Southern Hemisphere to here in the Northern Hemisphere. That set me thinking and questioning and seeking answers.
In 1998 I co-wrote Millennium Countdown (US)/ A Business Guide to the Year 2000 (UK) see https://www.abebooks.co.uk/products/isbn/9780749427917
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