Aswan Dam

The Aswan Dam is the general title for two dams, both of which are located over the Nile River in Aswan, Egypt. Since the 1950s, the title routinely mentions to the High Dam, which is the bigger and newer of the two. The Old Aswan Dam, or Aswan Low Dam, was first accomplished in 1902 and increased two times, throughout the British colonial period. Following self-reliance, the High Dam was assembled between 1960 and 1970. Both tasks directed to boost financial output by regulating the yearly stream inundating and supplying storage of water for agriculture, and subsequent, to develop hydroelectricity. Both have had immense influences on the finances and heritage of Egypt. The Old Aswan Dam was constructed at the previous first cataract of the Nile, and is established about 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) (686 kilometres (426 mi)) up-river and south-southeast of Cairo. The newer Aswan High Dam is established a farther 7.3 kilometres (4.5 mi) upriver from the older dam. (William, 11-198)

Before the dams were constructed, the River Nile inundated each year throughout summer, as water ran down the valley from its East African drainage basin. These floods conveyed high water and natural nutrients and minerals that every year enriched the fertile dirt along the floodplain and delta; this made the Nile valley perfect for agriculture since very vintage times. Because floods alter, in high-water years, the entire crop might be swabbed out, while in low-water years prevalent drought and famine rarely occurred. As Egypt's community increased and situation altered, both a yearn and proficiency evolved to command the floods, and therefore both defend and support farmland and the economically significant cotton fabric crop. With the reservoir storage supplied by these dams, the floods could be lessened, and the water could be retained for subsequent release. (William, 11-198)

The soonest try of construction a dam in Aswan designated days back to the 11th 100 years, when the Iraqi polymath and technician Ibn al-Haytham (known as Alhazen in the West) was summoned to Egypt by the Fatimid Caliph, Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, to regulate the inundating of the Nile, a task needing an early try at an Aswan Dam. After his area work made him cognizant of the impracticality of this design, and fearing the caliph's wrath, he pretended madness. He was kept under dwelling apprehend from 1011 until al-Hakim's death in 1021, throughout which time he composed his influential Book of Optics. (William, 11-198)

Following their 1882 attack and occupation of Egypt, the British started building of the first dam over the Nile in 1898. Construction continued until 1902, and it was opened on 10 December 1902, by HRH the Duke of Connaught and Strathearn. The task was conceived by Sir William Willcocks and engaged some eminent engineers of the time, encompassing Sir Benjamin Baker and Sir John Aird, whose firm, John Aird & Co., was the major contractor. (William, 11-198)

The Old Aswan Dam was conceived as a gravity-buttress dam; the buttress parts accommodate many barriers, which were opened annual to overtake the inundate and ...