Aswan High Dam

Aswan High Dam

A heroic symbol and an environmental liability, this dam on the Nile River was built as a central part of modern Egypt's nationalist efforts toward modernization and industrial growth. Begun in 1960 and completed by 1970, the High Dam lies near the town of Aswan, which sits at the Nile's first cataract, or waterfall, 200 river mi (322 km) from Egypt's southern border. The dam generates urban and industrial power, controls the Nile's annual flooding, ensures year-round, reliable irrigation, and has boosted the country's economic development as its population climbed from 20 million in 1947 to 58 million in 1990. The Aswan High Dam is one of a generation of huge dams built on the world's major rivers between 1930 and 1970 as both functional and symbolic monuments to progress and development. It also represents the hazards of large-scale efforts to control nature. Altered flooding, irrigation, and sediment deposition patterns have led to the displacement of villagers and farmers, a costly dependence on imported fertilizer, water quality problems and health hazards, and erosion of the Nile Delta.

Aswan attracted international attention in 1956, when planners pointed out that flooding behind the new dam would drown a number of ancient Egyptian tombs and monuments.

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