The Nile Today -- The MB of Ian Alex Blease

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Date Posted: 06:38:17 03/09/09 Mon
Author: Ian A Blease
Author Host/IP: cpc1-darl6-0-0-cust743.midd.cable.ntl.com / 82.1.142.232
Subject: The Nile Today

JC's mention of the Nile in an earlier post, reminded of just how much the Aswan High Dam has destroyed the natural order of the River's flow. Whether or not you believe it to have been in Egypt's interests to build such a dam, it's effects are catastrophic, the full extent of the damage will only increase as the years pass. Man has not learned the lesson that tampering with natural systems, is inviting ecological and enviromental disaster in the future...

The construction of dams on the Nile, particularly the Aswan High Dam, transformed the mighty river into a large and predictable irrigation ditch. Lake Nasser, the world's largest artificial lake, has enabled planned use of the Nile regardless of the amount of rainfall in Central Africa and East Africa. The dams have also affected the Nile Valley's fertility, which was dependent for centuries not only on the water brought to the arable land but also on the materials left by the water. Researchers have estimated that beneficial silt deposits in the valley began about 10,000 years ago. The average annual deposit of arable soil through the course of the river valley was about nine meters. Analysis of the flow revealed that 10.7 million tons of solid matter passed Cairo each year. Today the Aswan High Dam obstructs most of this sediment, which is now retained in Lake Nasser. The reduction in annual silt deposits has contributed to rising water tables and increasing soil salinity in the Delta, the erosion of the river's banks in Upper Egypt, and the erosion of the alluvial fan along the shore of the Mediterranean Sea.

Ian

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Replies:

Re: The Nile Today -- JC, 06:49:13 03/09/09 Mon
- Re: The Nile Today -- Ian, 11:26:20 03/09/09 Mon
Re: The Nile Today -- Fuzz, 14:38:40 03/09/09 Mon
- Re: The Nile Today -- Ian, 16:43:05 03/09/09 Mon