GCSE Geography

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GCSE Geography

• Year 10

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UNIT 2

• WATER, LANDFORMS PEOPLE.

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Case Study

• Over coming water shortages and controlling
  floods.
• The River Nile and the Aswan high dam, Egypt.

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Introduction

• There are many world examples of where an attempt
  to solve one human problem can create new
  environmental ones. The building of the Aswan
  Dam on the River Nile in Egypt is one such
  example.

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A satellite image of the Nile basin

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Facts about the Nile

• The Nile is the worlds longest river.
• It flows 6,690 km (4,160 miles) from its source
  on the equator to its mouth in the Mediterranean
  Sea.
• The river basin of the Nile covers one-tenth of
  all Africa.
• During its 1,520 km (950 mile) journey through
  Egypt it has no tributaries and hardly ever gets
  any rain.

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A photograph of the River Nile
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Egypt, the gift of the Nile

• Nile supported agricultural
• population for thousands of
• years.
• River supplied Egypts water
• needs.
• Annual floods deposited nutrient-rich silt next
• to river and in delta.
• Irrigation made farming possible in an
• otherwise desert area.

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Water for irrigation was obtained by two methods

• Each Autumn, annual flood water was allowed to
  cover the land, where it remained trapped behind
  small bunds until it deposited its silt.
• 2. During the rest of the year when river levels
  were low, water was lifted one or two metres by a
  shaduf (sakia) wheel or Archimedes screw.

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Only the land next to the Nile had a reliable,
regular supply of water. Land further away from
the river needed to be irrigated. Irrigation is
the artificial watering of the land. One old
method is shown below

• The Shaduf is a long pole. At one end is a
  bucket which is dipped into the river, and at the
  other end is a heavyweight. The weight makes it
  easier to swing the full bucket round to the
  irrigation channel.

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Early river management

• Since the time of the Pharaohs, the Egyptians
  wanted to control the Nile so that its level
  would remain constant throughout the year.
• Barrages designed to store water did not meet the
  needs of the countrys rapidly growing population
  and increasing demand for food.
• The problem was how to increase the area of
  cultivated land and, at the same time, produce
  electricity.

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The Aswan High Dam
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Aswan High Dam fact file

• The dam and associated hydro-electric power
  station, opened in 1971.
• It took 11 years to construct.
• Lake Nasser, which formed behind the dam, is 550
  km in length.
• The area of Lake Nasser is 6000 km 2.
• The total capacity of the lake is 162, 000
  million litres.

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A multipurpose scheme

• It was built
• To stop, by storing water in Lake Nasser, serious
  flooding in the Lower Nile valley and, by
  releasing it throughout the year, to maintain a
  constant river level.
• To provide water all the year round for domestic,
  agricultural and industrial use.
• To increase the area of cultivation.
• To provide hydro-electric power.

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Was the dam a success?

• While the scheme has indeed brought many
  benefits to Egypt (mainly economic and social),
  it has also created many problems (often
  environmental and health), some of which were
  unforeseen.

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Advantages of the dam
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Disadvantages of the dam