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The High Dam is located just south of the city
of Aswan in Egypt. .The High Dam was constructed not only to
regulate the yearly flood of the Nile, but also to create a
water reservoir capable of storing water to prevent famine
during severe droughts. Construction of the Dam began in 1960 as
a national project, undertaken by Egyptian president Nasser who
nationalized the Suez Canal to provide funds for the project.
With the American and the British refusing to secure a loan for
the construction, it was the Soviets that designed the earth
structure and provided the equipment required to build the power
station. During the course of construction, provisions were made
to repatriate the Nubian inhabitants, and, in a multi-national
effort, to relocate The Great Temple of Abu Simbel.
In 1970, the Aswan High Dam was inaugurated by president Sadat.
Today, the reservoir known as Lake Nasser spans approximately
500 kilometers across the Egyptian-Sudanese border. In spite of
the ecological problems caused by the dam, it has been a
blessing to the Egyptian community. It left the country
unaffected by the drought that hit Africa during the late
1980's, and, in the 1990's, spared Egypt several unexpectedly
high floods. A regulated agricultural system is now in place,
and, in 1996, for the first time, the water in Nasser Lake rose
above the spill level. Plans are underway to populate the area
along the spillway of Toshka and to create new communities along
the recently constructed Zayed Canal in the heart of the Sahara
Desert.
The Aswan Dams
The Aswan High Dam was designed to control the Nile River. The
huge dam controls flooding and stores water for times of
drought, it is equipped to provide hydroelectric power. .The
High dam was actually the second dam at Aswan, the first one
having been built in 1889. At the time Egypt was controlled by
the British and they were interested in increased irrigation
capabilities for cash crops, such as cotton. Due to the
irregular flooding pattern of the Nile river and increased water
demands, the dam had to be raised on 2 occasions (1912 and 1933)
in order to ensure its continued usefulness and safety. When
debates began again over raising the dam a third time,
suggestions were made to possibly build a new super dam.
It wasn't until Egypt experience a revolution in 1952 that the
political climate allowed the feasibility of a new dam to be
properly studied. The new dam, the Aswan High Dam, was a
technical marvel, being "5 kilometers long at its crest, and 1
kilometer thick at its base, and rises 107 meters above sea
level." With the dam's hydroelectric capabilities, the Egyptian
government strives to obtain the maximum benefits available from
every gallon of water that flows down the Nile.
And, while most people would agree the flood control and the
electricity the dam provides helps economic growth, the cost of
these benefits must also be examined. When the Aswan Dam was
built, the country of Nubia was flooded. The Egyptian government
made arrangements for the Nubians to be relocated, but their
lifestyle was destroyed. In fact many of the nomadic tribes in
the area were not warned of the changes that would be happening
to the river, which affected their routines in caring for their
livestock. Prior to the appearance of Lake Nasser, as the
northern part of the reservoir created by the dam is known, the
Nubians cultivated plots along the shore. Those areas are now
completely underwater. Many people have left the settlements
that were created for them and returned to the lake's edge,
trying to recreate their lost culture.
The Nile River is the main artery for Egypt and Nubia: the
present course of the river, traceable to at least 25,000 years
ago, is a determining factor of the topography of the region. In
a relatively rainless region, it is only because of the river's
annual flood that these areas became habitable and arable.
The yearly flood of the Nile is caused by late summer rains in
the plateau region of Ethiopia, which in turn swell the
tributaries of the Nile. At the peak of the flood, the volume of
the river's flow increases by as much as sixteen fold. Variable
amounts of rainfall to Ethiopia cause stunning differences in
the amount of flooding seen farther down the course of the Nile.
In a "lean year," such as 1913-1914, 12 billion cubic meters of
flood water swelled the river. A "fat year," such as 1878-79,
saw the level of the river increase by 155 billion cubic meters
of water.
At the turn of the century, agricultural production was being
outstripped by the growth of the population in Egypt and the
Sudan: the Nile had to be controlled if there was to be
agricultural stability along its banks. Harnessing the power of
the Nile would also yield the hydroelectric power necessary for
industry. To the increasingly industrial societies of the
region, the choice was clear. In 1899, construction of the first
Aswan Dam was begun. Completed in 1902, its height was raised in
subsequent building campaigns of 1907-12 and 1929-34. Even with
these renovations, the first, or "Low," dam proved to have an
inadequate reservoir area. In the event of extreme flooding, it
would be necessary to open the sluices of the dam to relieve the
water pressure against it, flooding the areas thought to be
protected. A second dam was necessary at Aswan, and in the early
1950s, designs began to be drawn for what was to become the High
Dam as Aswan. With the signing of the Nile Water Agreement by
Egypt and the Sudan in November of 1959, work began on the
second Aswan dam.
The building of the High Dam at Aswan would have grave
implications. Much of Lower Nubia would be submerged under the
reservoir created by the dam, destroying monuments and
archaeological sites from the First to the Third Cataracts of
the Nile River. Ambitious rescue operations were begun in 1960,
after an appeal was issued by Vittorino Veronese, the
Director-General of UNESCO.(United Nations Educational,
Scientific, and Cultural Organization) Three stages of
operations were necessary: survey of the area, excavation of
archaeological sites, and the final movement of as many
endangered monuments as was possible.
Twenty monuments from the Egyptian part of Nubia and four
monuments from the Sudan were dismantled, relocated and
re-erected. Many others were identified during the survey, and
were documented before their subsequent inundation. Special
permits were issued by the Egyptian and Sudanese governments for
archaeological excavations conducted by multinational teams of
researchers, including those from the University of
Pennsylvania. In the end, however, time ran out. It became clear
that it would not be possible to document many of the sites of
Lower Nubia completely, and that much of the information which
careful archaeological excavation can yield would be lost
forever.
The Nubian part of the Nile valley is under the water now backed
up behind the 225-foot High Dam at Aswan . It is estimated that
Lake Nasser, which extend to the south almost three hundred
miles behind the Dam, will have a surface area of more than 2000
square miles. It was hope that the water from the lake would
increase the productive area of Egypt by more than 30 percent
and that the turbines at the dam would provide significant
amount of electric power for the country. Part of the price for
this huge attempt to solve Egypt's economic problems and to move
towards modernity was the drowning of much of cultural history
of the area and the removal of the Nubian peoples from their
traditional homeland. Approximately 50,000 Nubians in Egypt and
another 50,000 in Sudan were suddenly uprooted from the lonely
quietude of their isolated Nile villages and transplanted into
prepared compact settlements of stone houses far removed from
the great river .The Nubians were provided with new communities,
in addition to being compensated financially to some degree for
their losses. In spite of the intensive archaeological efforts
prior to the completion of the dam, it is certain that much more
important evidence in this historically significant battleground
of the ancient world has been irretrievably lost beneath the
water .
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