Aswan dams. Abu Simbel: a legacy saved

The old dam made it possible to regulate the flow of the Nile, but it could not fulfill the main task - to save Egypt from droughts and floods. And so in the 1960s. 6 km south of it, a high-altitude Aswan dam was built.

The dam, built with the assistance of Soviet specialists, was named one of the ten outstanding structures of the 20th century by the International Association of Civil Engineers. The Egyptians themselves call it the pyramid of the 20th century. But a different time gave rise to other scales. The body of the dam could fit 17 pyramids of Cheops. Its length is almost 4 km, the width along the bottom is 1 km, and the height is 111 m. Behind the dam, the artificial lake Nasser (Aswan Reservoir), squeezed from both sides by rocks, stretches for 500 km.

The Aswan hydroelectric complex was fully put into operation on January 15, 1971. Since then, Egyptian fellah peasants have known neither droughts nor floods. The dam became a crane that blocked the capricious Nile. Cultivation areas have expanded significantly, many old lands receive water all year round and produce three crops instead of one. The capacity of the HPP of the dam is 2.1 million kW.
Hundreds of villages received electricity for the first time. Fish are bred in the reservoir. Over 11 years of construction, many thousands of specialists have been trained.

Experts believe that the dam is practically eternal. It is built from local granite, sprinkled with sand and gravel. The main problem is the silting of the reservoir. The dam retains the silt brought by the water. Scientists have calculated that silt will completely displace water not earlier than in 500 years. But technologies for cleaning the reservoir are already being developed.

Construction history

The British began construction of the first dam in 1899, finishing it in 1902. The project was designed by Sir William Willcox and involved several eminent engineers, including Sir Benjamin Baker and Sir John Aird, whose firm, John Aird and Company, was the main contractor. The dam was an imposing structure 1,900 meters long and 54 meters high. The initial design, as was soon found out, was inadequate, and the height of the dam was raised in two stages, 1907-1912 and 1929-1933.

When in 1946 the water rose almost to the level of the dam, it was decided to build a second dam 6 km up the river. Work on its design began in 1952, immediately after the revolution. Initially, the US and UK were supposed to help finance the construction by providing a $270 million loan in exchange for Nasser's involvement in resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict. However, in July 1956, both countries canceled their offer. The possible reasons for this step are a secret agreement on the supply of small arms with Czechoslovakia, which was part of the Eastern bloc, and Egypt's recognition of China.

After Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, intending to use tolls from passing ships to subsidize the Upper Dam project, Britain, France and Israel provoked a military conflict by occupying the Canal with troops during the Suez Crisis. But under pressure from the UN, the US and the USSR, they were forced to withdraw and leave the canal in Egyptian hands. At the height of the Cold War in the struggle for the Third World countries, the Soviet Union in 1958 offered technical assistance in the construction of the dam, with a third of the cost of the project written off due to the loyalty of the Nasser regime to the USSR. The huge dam was designed by the Soviet institute Hydroproject.

Construction began in 1960. The Upper Dam was completed on July 21, 1970, but the reservoir began to fill up already in 1964, when the first stage of the dam was completed. The reservoir endangered many archeological monuments, so a rescue operation was undertaken under the auspices of UNESCO, as a result of which 24 major monuments were moved to safer places or transferred to countries that helped with the work (Temple of Debod in Madrid and Temple of Dendur in New York). ).
The high-rise dam was built on Soviet loans. Egypt fully paid for it back in the 1970s.

On the left bank of the river, at the western base of the dam, a majestic monument dedicated to Egyptian-Soviet friendship has been erected. Five lotus petals shot up 75 m. The monument was built according to the project of architects Yu. Omelchenko and P. Pavlov, the bas-reliefs were made by sculptor N. Vechkanov. On the central petal, inside the lotus, the words of the President of Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918-1970) are engraved: “Over the long years of joint work, the Arab-Soviet friendship has been forged and tempered, not inferior in its strength to the highest Aswan dam.” At a height of 46 m, the lotus petals are connected by an observation deck, but access there is closed.

In 1971, for the first time, a dam was erected, which established control over the great river Nile. The dam is a grandiose and bold project, not without reason it is also called the “new miracle of Egypt”.

The Aswan dam, on the one hand, brought the desired benefits, but, on the other hand, led to serious difficulties. Climate change has taken place in southern Egypt, it rains much more often.

Aswan is the southernmost city in mainland Egypt. Located on the banks of the Nile, about a thousand kilometers from the river delta, this city in ancient times was a major trading center, a crossroads for caravan routes. A variety of goods from the central region (primarily ivory) were brought here, which were then transported down the Nile towards the port cities of the sea. Aswan has about 275,000 inhabitants.

The climate of Aswan was once dry and hot, but after the construction of the Aswan Dam and the formation of a huge city near the city, the local air rose to a tropical level (although the average temperature remained the same - in summer, in the afternoon, it reaches 45 degrees). Now exotic flowers and trees grow in the once deserted Aswan.

History of the Aswan Dam

In 1902, the first dam was opened, installed by engineers a little south of Aswan. It was built on in 1933. But this Aswan dam could not cope with the waters of the Nile, so it became necessary to build a new dam.

On January 15, 1971, the second dam across the Nile south of Aswan was officially opened by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. The work had begun eleven years earlier, under President Abdel Nasser.

The dam plan was developed in, and the installation was carried out with the assistance of the Soviet Union. USSR and signed a contract for the construction of the Aswan Dam and a hydroelectric power station on the Nile in 1958. Moscow provided 400 million rubles, supplied equipment, raw materials and specialists.

The construction of the dam was a very laborious and costly process. So many stones, sand, clay and concrete went into the construction of the dam that 17 pyramids of Cheops could easily be built from this material. More than 450 people died during the work.

In order for the dam to be installed, the surrounding area had to be cleared. For this, the houses of more than 60,000 inhabitants were demolished, who, as a result, were forced to move to new houses.

A lot of historical and natural monuments were flooded. Only the most valuable ones were demolished. It was in control. The beautiful island of Philae, for example, disappeared forever, but the temples from it were dismantled into numbered pieces, and then again, like a mosaic, assembled on another, located at a higher altitude.

The most difficult and expensive part of the action was the rescue of the famous rock temples in Abu Simbel, which are located 282 kilometers south of Aswan. Both temples, built around 1260 BC for Ramses II, were cut out of the rock mass, the facade of the largest temple is guarded by giant statues of the pharaoh - 20 meters in height. First, a huge glass house was built to protect the statues from rising water, and visitors were lowered down in glass vessels. But in the end, the temples and statues were carved out of the mountain, sawn into transportable blocks, and put together again at another location nearby. This complex work took 4 years.

Features of the structure of the Aswan Dam

The dam is an earthen dam with a granite stone fill and a core of clay and cement. The height of the dam is II meters, the length is 3.8 kilometers. At the base, it is 975 meters wide and narrows to 40 meters towards the upper edge. On the right bank, channels and 6 tunnels were cut into the rock, supplying water to the hydroelectric power station. At the beginning there is something like a triumphal arch through which cars can enter. At the very top of the dam is a four-lane road. At the very rear end of the dam, there are monoliths placed in a circle and symbolizing the sacred lotus flower. The dam created a giant artificial reservoir, which was named Nasser, after the Egyptian president. This is one of the largest artificial lakes in the world. It covers an area of ​​5244 square kilometers and extends 510 kilometers south through Nubia to Sudan. Water from Lake Nasser is used to irrigate the land. Now you can get high yields every year. The purpose of the dam was to control the water level in the Nile. For many centuries, people suffered from severe floods of the river, followed by flooding of fields, the destruction of a very valuable crop. Of course, with the installation of the dam, such spills are no longer recorded, the water level is controlled, and besides, the dam supplies electricity to the factories and cities of the country (passing through the dam, the water rotates the turbines that generate half of Egypt's electricity), but new problems have appeared. For example, the installation of a dam led to changes in the soil around due to the increased salt content in the water and a change in this place.

In the United Arab Republic of Egypt, water is critical to the development of agriculture, with the Nile River being the country's only source of water supply and subject to significant fluctuations.

To control the waters of the Nile, several low-pressure dams were previously built on the river, however, significant volumes of Nile water, up to 32 billion m3 per year, continued to be discharged into the Mediterranean Sea. In this regard, the idea arose of building a high-rise dam on the Nile to accumulate water, accumulate excess water in high water years and use them in years with low flow.

In accordance with the international Agreement, the development of the Aswan High Dam project was entrusted to the Hydroproject Institute.

Malyshev Nikolai Alexandrovich, Deputy Head and Chief Engineer of the Institute, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Hero of Socialist Labor, Laureate of the State Prize, was appointed the Chief Engineer of the project.

The project involved the construction of a rockfill dam on the Nile, 7 km south of the site of the old Aswan Dam, built in 1905. The dam has a total length of 3,600 meters, of which 520 meters are in the channel part of the river. The width of the dam is 980m along the base and 40m along the crest. The height of the dam is 111m. The body of the dam consists of a clay core, horizontal clay ponur, sand prisms, and rock fill. At the base of the core, its continuation is a vertical injection curtain, which fixes the alluvium in the base of the dam to a depth of 180 m to the bedrock, which actually represents the second underground impervious dam.

The flow of the Nile is diverted to a new conduit 1950 m long, consisting of two open channels - inlet and outlet, interconnected by six tunnels, each 250 m long, of circular section with a diameter of 17.0 m with reinforced concrete lining 1.0 m thick, passed in the rocky pillar under the right junction dams.

Each tunnel, bifurcating, brings water to the building of the hydroelectric power station, which houses 12 turbines with a capacity of 175 thousand kW, and to the bottom spillways, to discharge flood waters. The generation of electricity at hydroelectric power stations is 10 billion kWh in an average year in terms of water content, which was twice the generation of all power plants in the country at that time. Above the entrance head of each tunnel, a 60 m high water intake is provided, equipped with flat wheeled emergency repair and sliding repair gates. Winches are used as a drive mechanism.

In the left-bank junction of the dam, there is a catastrophic spillway for water discharge in case of exceeding the maximum allowable water level in the reservoir. The artificial reservoir created by the dam is one of the largest in the world. Its length is 500 km and the average width is 10 km. The total volume of the reservoir is 157 billion m3, of which 30 billion m3 is allocated for filling with sediments (for about 500 years), 37 billion m3 is a reserve for the accumulation of high floods and 10 billion m3 for water losses from filtration and evaporation.

The presented project has passed all the examinations, incl. examination of the International Committee and was approved in the future was put into practice. January 9, 1960 is considered the start date for the construction of the Aswan High Dam.

50 years ago, on May 15, 1964, in a solemn ceremony in the presence of the President of the UAR, the Heads of Governments of the USSR, Iraq and Algeria, the blocking of the Nile River was completed. Thus, the first stage of construction was completed, including a dam with a height of 47.0 m, with a partial implementation of the injection curtain, horizontal sections of six tunnels, six sections of the hydroelectric power station and six water intakes that were not built to full height with the placement of a drive mechanism - operational winches of the emergency repair gates. and repair on a temporary reinforced concrete overpass. This decision made it possible to regulate, if necessary, the omission of construction costs and continue the construction of the water intake to the design levels. The chief engineer of the project Malyshev N.A. was present at the solemn events. and Soviet specialists - participants in the construction.

During the blocking of the river, the preliminary constraint of the channel was carried out by filling the stone bank of the dam of the first stage in a pioneer way from both banks, as well as under water by self-unloading barges. By the time of completion of work on blocking the river, within the boundaries of the backfilled dam of sorted stone, alluvium under water was made by means of hydromechanization from previously harvested sand.

The work on the final stage of closing the breach was carried out on May 13-15, 1964. During 62 hours of continuous work, 74,500 m3 of stone were thrown into the breach, including 44,760 m3 from the right bank, 21,710 m3 from the left bank, and 8980 from self-unloading barges. m. The highest intensity of dumping was: 1980 m3/h (including from barges 500 m3/h).

Simultaneously with the blocking of the channel, work was carried out to flood the canal and wash out the dams. The canal was previously flooded by pumping a small amount of water into it by specially installed pumping stations. To speed up the process of initial erosion of the lintels, trenches were made in them and small explosive charges were laid for subsequent detonation.

At 12 noon 35min May 14 was blown up by an explosion of the upper jumper. After 20 minutes, intensive erosion of the soil began. After 30 min. the water in the pit reached the calculated level, at the same time the downstream cofferdam was blown up. A few minutes later, the pit was completely flooded, the water levels leveled off and the flow of the river was directed through the culverts located on the right bank.

During the construction period, about 50 hydroprojectors were involved in the hydroproject PIU at the construction of the Aswan hydroelectric complex and the Construction Department, seven of which (L.S. Alliluev, B.I. Godunov, V.I. Zhigunov, A.G. Mukhamedov, A P. Pavlov, I. N. Rozhkov and V. Ya. Shaitanov) are still working. The list of Hydroproject employees - participants in the design and construction is attached.

The UN Social Commission named the Aswan Hydroelectric Complex an outstanding engineering structure of the 20th century.

B.I. Godunov, head of the construction of the Aswan hydroelectric complex

List of Hydroproject employees who worked in the Hydroproject PIU on the construction of the Aswan hydroelectric complex:

1) I dreamed of seeing the Aswan Dam (السد العالي‎) since grades 10-11, when I read about it in the lessons of World History from Nikita Zagladin's textbook. Fortunately, studying at Cairo University made it possible to get there with fellow students from RUDN University and Kazan University. For me, the fact that it is to the south of the dam that crocodiles begin to live, which did not survive to the north of it for 960 km downstream of the Nile to the confluence of the Mediterranean Sea.

2) The Nile originates at the lake. Victoria in the south of the African continent. Flowing north to the Mediterranean Sea, the river divides it into western and eastern parts, crossing Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan and ending in Egypt on its way. Each of these states has its own interests in the use of its water resources. Without a reservoir, the Nile overflowed its banks every year during the summer, overflowing with the flow of east African waters. These floods carried fertile silt and minerals that made the soil around the Nile fertile and ideal for agriculture. As the population grew along the banks of the river, the need arose to control the flow of water to protect farmland and cotton fields. The average annual flow of the Nile in the region of Sudan and Egypt is estimated at 84 billion cubic meters. The average annual flow of the river is subject to significant fluctuations. The decrease in runoff in some years reaches 45 billion cubic meters, which leads to droughts, a rise to 150 billion cubic meters. causes floods. In a high-water year, entire fields could be completely washed away, while in a low-water year, famine due to drought was widespread. The purpose of this water project was to prevent floods, provide Egypt with electricity and create a network of irrigation canals for agriculture.

3) Engineers to help.
A feature of the hydroelectric station is the design of spillways with water outlet not under the water level of the downstream channel, but into the atmosphere with a jet discharge at a distance of 120-150 meters from the hydroelectric power station building. The flow of water thrown out by 12 spillways reaches 5000 m³ per second. The energy of the flow is extinguished by raising the jet 30 m above the water level of the tailpipe, followed by a fall into a channel about 20 m deep. For the first time in world practice, such a solution was applied during the construction of the Kuibyshevskaya HPP.
The high-rise Aswan dam consists of 3 sections. The right-bank and left-bank sections of the dam, 30 m high, have a rocky base, the channel section, 550 m long, 111 m high, has a sandy base. The thickness of the sands at the base is 130 meters. The dam was built in an existing reservoir with a depth of 35 meters without the installation of jumpers and drainage of the foundation. The dam has a flattened profile and is built from local materials. The core and ponur of the dam are made of the so-called Aswan clays.

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7) The day of the official opening of construction - January 9, 1960. On this day, the President of Egypt, pressing the red button on the remote control of the explosive device, exploded the rock in the pit of future structures. On May 15, 1964, the Nile was blocked. On this day, the construction site was visited by Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, President of Algeria Ferhat Abbas and President of Iraq Abdul Salam Aref. The Upper Dam was completed on July 21, 1970, but the reservoir began to fill up already in 1964, when the first stage of the dam was completed.

8) The grand opening and commissioning of the Aswan hydropower complex took place on January 15, 1971 with the participation of the President of the UAR Anwar Sadat, who cut the ribbon in the blue arch on the crest of the dam, and the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR N. V. Podgorny.
The history of this grandiose hydroelectric complex began in the Ukrainian city of Zaporozhye. Soviet contractors of the Egyptian project built a miniature of the future Aswan Dam (50 times less) at the Pravoberezhny quarry. For two years, the company "Dneprostroy" carried out all the necessary work, after which the necessary tests were carried out and the scientists chose a successful hydrotechnical option. More than 50 years have passed since that time, however, even now we can see the experimental construction of a dam on the territory of the Pravoberezhny quarry in Zaporozhye.

9) After the construction of the Aswan hydroelectric complex, the negative consequences of the floods of 1964 and 1973, as well as the droughts of 1972-1973 and 1983-1984, were prevented. A significant number of fish farms have formed around Lake Nasser. At the time of the launch of the last unit in 1967, the hydroelectric complex produced more than half of all electricity in the country. 15% in 1988.

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11) Russian students in Aswan before a forced march to the Aswan Dam.

12) How did the day start then? Having visited the island of Philae, we all realized that the Aswan Dam is 11 km away. At first they wanted to walk, then a taxi driver picked us up and took us to the beginning of the hydroelectric complex. In the picture - the old English dam and further - the Nile River.

13) Hydroelectric power plant of the Great Dam.

14) So, Firuza.

15) "Smirnova Margarita Yurievna". Rita, if you read the text, you will immediately understand where all this comes from.

16) Arslan.

17) In 1966, the Government of Egypt allocated money for an international competition for the project of the Monument of Friendship between the Arab and Soviet peoples, the so-called. "Flower of Aswan", installed in 1975. Five petals of a flower rise up to 75 meters, and at a height of 46 meters they are united by a ring of an observation deck, where up to 6 people can be at the same time and where you can climb with an elevator.

18) The authors of the monument: architects - Yuri Omelchenko and Pyotr Pavlov, the author of the bas-reliefs - Nikolai Vechkanov.

19) A complex composition of sculptural reliefs is united by the symbol of the abundance of water given by the dam - a giant splash of water thrown up by two hands on the central pylon (No. 3) opposite the entrance. There is also a stylized hydroelectric power station, the coats of arms of the countries and the words of the leaders.
Water falling on the left pylon (No. 2) provides powerful electricity and industrial success.
On the right pylon (No. 4), water, irrigating the land, ensures the success of agriculture.
When leaving the Monument, two large wings symbolize the rise of culture. On the right pylon (No. 1) - education and science, on the left (No. 5) - literature and art.

I have a bad attitude towards conservationists. Usually it's a paid scam. But sometimes, though occasionally, they are right. I'll give an example:
The height of the Cold War. The Caribbean crisis has just died down. As if mocking the proletarians from the fraternal socialist countries, the star-striped power engineers launch here and there their thin capitalist one hundred and ten volts instead of the strong worker-peasant two hundred and twenty. The situation is heating up. And Nikita Sergeevich, as usual, without hesitation for a minute, makes a bold hydraulic decision ...
...Nile is the longest river in the world, its length is 6,650 km, the basin area is 3,400,000 km;. The Nile flows from south to north and has three main tributaries: the White Nile, the Blue Nile and the Atbara. The most distant source of the Nile is the Kagera River, which originates in Burundi and, being the border between Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda, flows into Lake Victoria. From here the Nile Victoria originates, which then crosses the deserts of Kyoga and Albert and from the area called Nimule crosses the border of Sudan. This section of the Nile is called the White Nile. The Blue Nile is born in central Ethiopia and merges with the White Nile near Khartoum. The Blue Nile carries water that causes floods in Egypt and fertilizes the land. The third tributary of the Nile, the Albar, merges with the Nile in the northeast of Khartem. Having reached Lake Nasser in Egypt near Cairo, the Nile begins to form a delta. The Nile flows into the sea from 7 channels, 5 of them form small lakes. Lakes Rosetta and Damietta have a depth of 10 meters. The width of the delta of the Nile River at its confluence with the sea between the cities of Alexandria and Dumyat is 300 km.
Without a reservoir, the Nile overflowed its banks every year during the summer, overflowing with water from the depths of Africa. These floods carried fertile silt and minerals that made the soil around the Nile extremely fertile and ideal for agriculture. True, in a high-water year, entire fields could be completely washed away. And in the low-water year, famine was widespread due to drought. But, in general, the Nile fed Egypt for thousands of years ...
The best definition of the Nile River comes from former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who in his book The River War compares the Nile River and its basin to a large palm tree. As Churchill writes, the roots of this tree are "in Lakes Victoria, Albert and the Sadd region, the trunk is in Egypt and the Sudan, and the Nile Delta forms its branches." Currently, Egypt uses about 70% of the water resources of the Nile, Sudan - 25%, the remaining 8 countries account for 5% of the river's water. Egypt pursues an agricultural policy based on 99% irrigation based on the waters of the Nile.
The purpose of the Aswan project was to prevent floods, provide Egypt with electricity and create a network of irrigation canals for agriculture. Well, Nikita Sergeevich loved to raise virgin soil. Well, don’t feed him bread - let him raise virgin soil. Even in Egypt...
After the construction of the dam was completed, the area of ​​irrigated land in Egypt increased by a third. Due to the ability to regulate the flow, many old lands received water all year round and produce three crops instead of one. Plus the hydroelectric dam, with a capacity of 2.1 million kW, which has become the largest source of energy in the country. Because of these reasons, the Egyptians still tolerate the existence of the Aswan dam, although their patience is already coming to an end. And that's why:
The Upper Dam was completed on July 21, 1970, and, since then, fertile silt and minerals began to settle in front of the dam, in Lake Nasser. And, accordingly, they stopped coming to the fields. But, gradually, raising the level of Lake Nasser. Not due to water, but due to the silt deposited on its bottom. Which slowly but surely rises to the level of the upper edge of the dam. And it is impossible to increase the height of the dam - due to the increase in the weight of the body of the dam, its base is deformed.
To prevent the buildup of silt in Lake Nasser, the Toshka Canal was built to divert the waters of the Nile with the silt it contains to the west of Lake Nasser. But this is a temporary solution, since the Toshka lowland will sooner or later be filled with the same silt.
But the problems of Lake Nasser are only flowers. Berries, caused by silt in Lake Nasser, flourished in the Nile Delta itself.
Almost the entire population of Egypt lives in the Nile Delta, which makes up 0.03% of the country's territory. As a result of the lack of fertile silt in the fields, the fertility of the Nile Delta began to decline year by year. But it's not only that. Prior to the construction of the dam, silt was carried out to the sea, and, again as a consequence, stopped the erosion of the coast by the sea throughout the eastern Mediterranean. After the construction of the dam, the removal of silt into the sea stopped and, of course, as a result, every storm now erodes the sea coast in the Nile Delta region.
This notorious delta itself is not very large. A little north of Cairo, 150 km south of its confluence with the sea, the Nile River splits into branches. That is, the Nile Delta, approximately, is an isosceles triangle with a side of 150 kilometers. The area of ​​the Nile Delta is 24 thousand km; And, for example, the Kingdom of the Netherlands covers an area of ​​​​41.5 thousand square meters. km, that is, almost twice the area of ​​the Nile Delta. And lives in this supposedly densely populated country, only 16 million people. And in half of Holland, called the Nile Delta, almost the entire population of Egypt lives - somewhere around 80 million today. That is, Holland, in comparison with the Nile Delta, is a sparsely populated country. Almost uninhabited...
Throughout the eastern Mediterranean, there is significant erosion of coastlines due to the lack of sand, which was previously brought by the Nile. In Israel, for example, because of this, there is an active erosion of the beaches, and measures to protect them cost a lot of money. The same problem occurs in Lebanon, Cyprus and Syria. And even on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, the process of erosion of the beaches is quite noticeable.
According to Hamdi Hussein-Khalifa, head of the ministry's think tank, much of the Nile Delta could be flooded before the end of this century (the Nile Delta is flat as a table and just above sea level). And the Minister of Ecology of Egypt, Maged George, said that 50% of the area of ​​the Nile Delta could be flooded. The reason is the erosion of the coast.
But it is not necessary to wait until the end of the century. If the dam is blown up, then the entire Nile Delta with tens of millions of Egyptians living on it will plunge into the abyss of water for a couple of days. In the post-Pliocene period, the Nile valley was a narrow, 15 kilometers wide, sea bay, deeply cutting into the mainland. In the event of an explosion of the Aswan Dam, this narrow bay will be filled with water from Lake Nasser. And blowing up a dam is easy. A small break in the dam built by an arc is enough, as the resulting water stream will wash everything away.
True, in a few days the water level in the delta will drop. But soil fertility will increase dramatically. Because the soil level in the Nile Delta will rise by a meter and a half because of the silt that the turbulent waters will bring with them from the unexpectedly empty Lake Nasser.
It is for this reason that Egypt became the first Arab country to make peace with Israel.
Problems such as the use of artificial fertilizers, which, unlike river silt, cause chemical pollution of the soil and groundwater, are no longer discussed. As well as the almost completely stopped fishing in the Nile, which is just as polluted by all the same fertilizers.
The problem of salinity in the Nile Delta is exacerbated by the general reduction in runoff (a significant part of the Nile water evaporates from the surface of Lake Nasser). The city of Aswan, where the dam was built, is the southernmost city in Egypt. Located on the banks of the Nile, about a thousand kilometers south of the river delta, close to the border with Sudan. Aswan is the Sahara desert. That is very hot and zero humidity. As a result, the evaporation of precious fresh water from the surface of Lake Nasser is enormous. The loss of much of the Nile's freshwater runoff due to evaporation from Lake Nasser dramatically reduced the discharge of Nile freshwater into the delta.
As a result, salt water invades the delta further and further. Some agricultural lands have already been destroyed as a result of flooding with salty groundwater. And the area of ​​such saline soils in the Nile Delta is growing rapidly. The Nile land, the so-called Gath, is dried silt. Gath is very fertile, more fertile than chernozem, and much more so. But this is until it is salted. Nothing will grow on salted gef. And it is almost impossible to restore the salted gef.
Mediterranean fisheries were also affected by the construction of the dam, as the marine ecosystem was heavily dependent on the rich flow of phosphates and silicates from the Nile. Since the construction of the dam, Mediterranean catches have dropped by almost half.
In Egypt, the incidence of schistosomiasis has increased dramatically in recent years, as a large amount of algae in Lake Nasser contributes to the reproduction of snails - carriers of this disease. The ecology of the Nile Valley is generally an extremely fragile thing. Something happened to the Nile water - and the consequences are cyclopean. According to the book of Exodus, God brought disaster upon Egypt as a punishment for the Pharaoh's refusal to free the Jews from slavery. There were ten disasters, or executions: first, the water in the Nile turned into blood, then the invasion of toads, midges and dog flies followed, then the pestilence of cattle, then the bodies of the Egyptians were covered with ulcers and abscesses, then a fiery hail fell upon the country, then an invasion of locusts , then an impenetrable darkness fell on Egypt, and then all the first-born, except for the Jews, perished in the country.
Yes, the fiery hail and the darkness that followed were apparently caused by the eruption of the Santorin volcano on the island of the same name in the Mediterranean Sea. But everything else, in fact, all these Egyptian executions, are environmental disasters. As a result, the general situation in Egypt deteriorated to such an extent that the Jews left the country.
... The Nile Delta, I repeat, was formed on the site of the bay, gradually filled with sediments of silt from the Nile. And now, after the cessation of the flow of this very silt, this, while the nameless bay is gradually returning to life.
The Egyptians are hastily developing a 20-year program to combat the advance of the sea. Back in 2007, a dam project was proposed that would not only separate salt and fresh water (above and below ground), but also raise the coast by two meters. True, its implementation requires more money than the entire budget of Egypt for 10 years. However, its effectiveness is extremely doubtful ...
In 1929, when the region was under the control of Great Britain, a document was prepared regulating the use of the water resources of the Nile, according to which Egypt is practically the owner of the Nile River. After Sudan's independence in 1959, the agreement was revised. Sudan was granted the right to use 1/4 of the waters of the Nile. However, in the same year, the amendments made to the document once again emphasize that Egypt is the only dominant power on the river. According to the agreement, none of the countries without the permission of Egypt will not be able to build dams and irrigation canals on the Nile River, drain land for agriculture and take any action that could reduce the volume of water in the river. According to the document, Egypt can use the right of veto in the implementation of any project related to the waters of the river. It is clear that the countries located in the upper reaches of the Nile are not going to put up with such a blatant violation of their sovereignty.
In addition to Egypt and Sudan, the waters of the Nile are also used by Ethiopia, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda and Eritrea. After Sudan separated from Egypt, in 1959 an agreement was signed between the countries, according to which 87% of the waters of the Nile were divided between Egypt and Sudan. Meanwhile, the countries located at the source of the Nile note that at the time of the conclusion of the treaty they were British colonies and, of course, no one took into account their interests. The African countries of the Nile Basin since 2004 began to make demands regarding the construction of dams, power plants, as well as the implementation of agricultural projects based on an irrigation system. Noting that the agreement was signed in 1929 by Great Britain, and the colonial period was left behind, the countries demanded the signing of a new document.

PS. Due to global warming, the level of the world's oceans in general, and the Mediterranean Sea in particular, is gradually rising. Over the past century, the level of the Mediterranean Sea has risen by 20 centimeters, which has led to flooding as well as salinization of a large area of ​​cultivated land in the Delta. By 2025, the Mediterranean Sea is likely to rise another 30 centimeters.