Cairo University

Faculty of Engineering

Mechanical Power Department

4th year

The High Dam in Aswan

Name: Ahmad Abas ElTaweel
Sec:

B.N:

16
Submitted to: Dr. Ahmed El-Degwy

Date: 26 / 3 /2016

Table Of Contents :

Abstract & Introduction

Project description
Construction and Filling
Electricity production
Irrigation Scheme
Archaeological Sites
Effects
Health

Abstract :

In 1956 it was decided by the Egyptian government to build one of the highest dams in
the world with the biggest man made reservoir in the world. Several studies had been
conducted to study the impact of High Aswan Dam (HAD) on the surrounding
environment. However, these studies were usually conducted on scattered matter, i.e.
there was no integration of all of the different impacts the analysis of this study is to
produce auditing for the HAD project. It also aims the reviewing the positive and the
negative impacts of the project that affect the environment. A general evaluation for the
HAD project has been drown out.

Introduction :

Nile River floods ranges from 43 to 150 billion cubic meters per year. Due to the great
yearly variation and the month to month flood variation it was very important to build a
major structure to secure water resources during low periods and protect Egypt from
high floods.
This structure was built in 1970 and called High Aswan Dam (HAD).
HAD has many Advantages which can be listed as follows:
1) Expansion of cultivation.
2) Transfer one million feddans from seasonal to perennial irrigation.
3) Protection from high floods.
4) Hydropower generation.
5) Improvement of navigation.
On the other hand, it has some Disadvantages which can be listed as follows:
1) Fertility problem of the cultivation lands due to the storage of the sediment U.S.
the HAD
2) Shore protection problem due to the erosion of the shores by the sea.
3) Some other physical social biological and cultural problems.

- Project Description :

The High Aswan Dam is a rockfill dam, constructed across the Nile at a distance of 7
km south of the city of Aswan. The Spillway is located on the western side. The total
length of the dam is 3600 m, of which 520-m is located between the two banks of the
river, and the rest extend along both sides. The height of the dam is 111 m above the
riverbed. Its width is 980 m at the bottom and l0 m at the top The body of the dam
consists of granite and sand, in the middle of which there is a core of Aswan puddle clay
to minimize water Seepage. At the front, it is connected with a horizontal impervious
curtain. Since the dam bed consists of alluvial materials, it has a vertical Cut-off curtain
extending below the core.
With the same depth as the sedimentary layer, the reservoir storage capacity is 162
Billion Cubic Meters (BCM) distributed as follows:
90 BCM: lives storage capacity between levels 147 m and 175 m.
31 BCM: dead storage for sediment deposition.
41 BCM: storage available for high flood waters between Levels of 175 m and 182.

- Construction and filling, 19601976 :

The Soviets also provided technicians and heavy machinery. The enormous rock and
clay dam was designed by the Soviet Hydroproject Institute along with some Egyptian
engineers. 25,000 Egyptian engineers and workers contributed to the construction of the
dams.
On the Egyptian side, the project was led by Osman Ahmed Osman's Arab Contractors.
The relatively young Osman underbid his only competitor by one-half.

1960: Start of construction on 9 January

1964: First dam construction stage completed, reservoir started filling
1970: The High Dam, as-Sad al-'Aali, completed on 21 July
1976: Reservoir reached capacity

2011: plans to build extension to dam

- Electricity production:

The dam powers twelve generators each rated at 175 megawatts (235,000 hp), with a
total of 2.1 gigawatts (2,800,000 hp).
Power generation began in 1967. When the dam first reached peak output it produced
around half of Egypt's entire electricity production (about 15 percent by 1998) and
allowed most Egyptian villages to use electricity for the first time.
The High Dam has also improved the efficiency and the extension of the Old Aswan
Hydropower stations by regulating upstream flows.

Irrigation Scheme :

- Due to the absence of appreciable rainfall, Egypt's agriculture depends entirely on

irrigation. With irrigation, two crops per year can be produced, except for sugar cane
which has a growing period of almost one year.
- The high dam at Aswan releases, on average, 55 cubic kilometres
(45,000,000 acreft) water per year, of which some 46 cubic kilometres
(37,000,000 acreft) are diverted into the irrigation canals.
- In the Nile valley and delta, almost 33,600 square kilometres (13,000 sq mi) benefit
from these waters producing on average 1.8 crops per year. The annual crop
consumptive use of water is about 38 cubic kilometres (31,000,000 acreft). Hence,
the overall irrigation efficiency is 38/46 = 0.82 or 82%. This is a relatively high
irrigation efficiency. The field irrigation efficiencies are much less, but the losses are
re-used downstream. This continuous re-use accounts for the high overall efficiency.

- The following table shows that the equal distribution of irrigation water over the
branch canals taking off from the one main irrigation canal, the Mansuriya Canal
near Giza, leaves much to be desired:

Branch canal
Kafr Nasser
Beni Magdul
El Mansuria
El Hammami upstream
El Hammami downstream
El Shimi

Water delivery in m/feddan

4700
3500
3300
2800
1800
1200

The salt concentration of the water in the Aswan reservoir is about 0.25 kilograms per
cubic metre (0.42 lb/cu yd), a very low salinity level.
At an annual inflow of 55 cubic kilometres (45,000,000 acreft), the annual salt import
reaches 14 million tons. The average salt concentration of the drainage water evacuated
into the sea and the coastal lakes is 2.7 kilograms per cubic metre (4.6 lb/cu yd).
At an annual discharge of 10 cubic kilometres (2.4 cu mi) (not counting the 2 kilograms
per cubic metre [3.4 lb/cu yd] of salt intrusion from the sea and the lakes, see figure
"Water balances"), the annual salt export reaches 27 million ton. In 1995, the salt export
was higher than the import, and Egypt's agricultural lands were desalinizing.
Part of this could be due to the large number of subsurface drainage projects executed in
the last decades to control the water table and soil salinity.

- Archaeological sites:

22 monuments and architectural complexes, including the Abu Simbel temples, that
were threatened by flooding from Lake Nasser were preserved by moving them to the
shores of Lake Nasser under the UNESCO Nubia Campaign. Also moved were Philae,
Kalabsha and Amada.
Other monuments were granted to countries that helped with the works (such as the
Debod temple in Madrid, the Temple of Taffeh in Leiden and the Temple of Dendur in
New York).
The remaining archaeological sites, including the Buhen fort have been flooded by Lake
Nasser.

- Effects:

The High Dam has resulted in protection from floods and droughts, an increase in
agricultural production and employment, electricity production and improved navigation
that benefits tourism. Conversely, the dam flooded a large area, causing the relocation of
over 100,000 people. Many archaeological sites were submerged while others were
relocated. The dam is blamed for coastline erosion, soil salinity and health problems.
The assessment of the costs and benefits of the dam remains controversial decades after
its completion. According to one estimate, the annual economic benefit of the High Dam
immediately after its completion was E255 million (US$587 million using the 1970
exchange rate of US$2.30 per E1): 140 million from agricultural production, 100
million from hydroelectric generation, 10 million from flood protection, and 5 million
from improved navigation. At the time of its construction, total cost, including
unspecified "subsidiary projects" and the extension of electric power lines, amounted to
450 million. Not taking into account the negative environmental and social effects of
the dam, its costs are thus estimated to have been recovered within only two years. [20]
One observer notes: "The impacts of the Aswan High Dam have been overwhelmingly
positive. Although the Dam has contributed to some environmental problems, these have
proved to be significantly less severe than was generally expected, or currently believed
by many people."[21] Another observer disagrees and recommended that the dam should
be torn down. Tearing it down would cost only a fraction of the funds required for

"continually combating the dam's consequential damage" and 500,000 hectares of fertile
land could be reclaimed from the layers of mud on the bed of the drained reservoir.
Periodic floods and droughts have affected Egypt since ancient times. The dam
mitigated the effects of floods, such as those in 1964, 1973 and 1988. Navigation along
the river has been improved, both upstream and downstream of the dam. Sailing along
the Nile is a favorite tourism activity, which is mainly done during winter when the
natural flow of the Nile would have been too low to allow navigation of cruise ships. A
new fishing industry has been created around Lake Nasser, though it is struggling due to
its distance from any significant markets. The annual production was about 35 000 tons
in the mid-1990s. Factories for the fishing industry and packaging have been set up near
the Lake.

- Health:

Contrary to many predictions made prior to the Aswan High Dam construction and
publications that followed, that the prevalence of bilharzia (schistosomiasis) would
increase, it did not.[34] This assumption did not take into account the extent of perennial
irrigation that was already present throughout Egypt decades before the high dam
closure. By the 1950s only a small proportion of Upper Egypt had not been converted
from basin (low transmission) to perennial (high transmission) irrigation. Expansion of
perennial irrigation systems in Egypt did not depend on the high dam. In fact, within 15
years of the high dam closure there was solid evidence that biharzia was declining in

Upper Egypt. S. haematobium has since disappeared altogether.[35] Suggested reasons

for this include improvements in irrigation practice. In the Nile Delta, schistosomaisis
had been highly endemic, with prevalence in the villages 50% or higher for almost
a century before. This was a consequence of the conversion of the Delta to perennial
irrigation to grow long staple cotton by the British. This has changed. Large scale
treatment programs in the 1990s using single dose oral medication contributed greatly to
reducing the prevalence and severity of S. mansoni in the Delta.