WORKSHEET 70: Aswan High Dam

The Aswan High Dam was built near the town of Aswan in Egypt. Egypt is located in Africa.

Africa	Egypt, showing the location of the dam

The Aswan High Dam was built nearly 4 miles south of the old dam which was called the Low Dam.

It took 11 years to build the dam (1960 to 1971).

One of the problems of building the dam was that the land of Nubia had to be flooded to create the reservoir called Lake Nasser (310 miles in size). Under lake Nasser is religious buildings, homes and cemeteries. These have all of been lost.

10 000 people had to move from their homes in Nubia to other places in Egypt. Some of the people did not want to move house.

30 000 Egyptian people worked day and night to construct the Aswan high Dam.

The dam has meant that there is plenty of fresh and clean drinking water for the people of Egypt. They get their drinking water from Lake Nasser.

Sometimes the Aswan High Dam gets blocked by silt and mud. It has to be cleaned which is expensive. This blocked silt and mud can also create diseases in Lake Nasser. If people drink this water then they become ill, so the water has to be cleaned before it is suitable to drink.

The Aswan High Dam is 2 and a half miles long and it has 12 turbines in it.

The Soviet Union helped the Egyptian government to build the dam.

The Aswan High dam,  built between 1960 and 1971	The Aswan Low Dam, completed in 1902

The Aswan Dam is also a hydro-electric power station. It has 12 turbines or engines which produce 10 billion kilowatts of electricity every year. The water from the River Nile turns the turbines and this makes electricity. The electricity is taken from the dam by cables and is used in factories and homes all over Egypt. People use the electricity for cooking, lighting, watching television and many other activities.

Water from Lake Nasser is pumped into people's homes all over Egypt and is used for washing, drinking and in machines like washing machines. Factories also use the water for cooling.

Bigger boats can now travel down the River Nile. These boats carry cargo and people who are on cruises. The Aswan High Dam has made the River Nile more navigable. Navigable means that boats can use the river for sailing on as it is deep.

The Aswan High Dam keeps the depth of the water in the Nile at the same level throughout the year. There are gates in the dam and they more gates can be opened to let more water from Lake Nasser into the Nile if the level of water is low. If the level of water is high in the Nile, then some of the gates can be shut so that the water level can return to normal.

The temples of Abu Simbel had to be moved because they used to stand where Lake Nasser is. The temples took a long time to move as each stone had to be removed individually.

Some of the water from Lake Nasser is lost every year (about 15%). This is because some of it leaks through the dam and the rest is lost by evaporation. This is a waste of water.

The Nile delta is becoming smaller. This is because the river Nile no longer carries any sediment and pebbles downstream from the dam. The pebbles and sediment get stuck behind the dam. Wildlife is losing it's home around the delta because the delta is shrinking in size and the wildlife is losing it's home.

Farmers use water from the River Nile to irrigate their crops. Before the Aswan dams were built, the River Nile used to flood every year but no one knew exactly when the flood would occur. Now that the dams have been built, the Egyptian government can flood the land when they want to.

The Aswan High Dam is 3600 metres long and 111 metres high.