Harnessing the Nile

rawn from near the bottom of the reservoir. Egyptian farmers prize the "red water," which is vastly richer in fertilizing value than clear water can be. In the autumn, after the silt-laden water has passed off, the sluice-gates will be closed gradually until the reservoir is full, which, with normal conditions, will be in January and February. From April to the end of August, when the Nile runs low, and the demand for water for the crops is at its highest, the gates will be systematically opened, and the summer supply of the river supplemented by the water which, had it not been stored, would have flowed uselessly into the Mediterranean. Thus Middle Egypt and the delta will secure more or less perennial irrigation.

The added irrigation resulting from the big reservoir, it has been computed, will permanently benefit Egypt to the value of $100,000,000. A direct annual return to the revenue of $2,000,000--more than twice the sum to be paid each year to the firm building the dam--from sale of water and tax