Geology -- Egypt; Nile River; Water-supply -- Egypt
The flood of 1874 was an early one and the basins were discharged on a
falling Nile, still they raised the Cairo gauge to 8·7 metres on the 5th
October while it would have risen to 8·5 on the 15th September with
perennial irrigation. The flood of 1878 was an exceedingly late one and
the basins had to be discharged while the river was still very high. By
the 10th October, the river had risen to 8·7 metres at Cairo when the
banks were breached and all future rise stopped. With perennial
irrigation, the maximum gauge of 8·6 metres would have been reached on
the 10th October. The flood of 1892 was at Assuân 10 centimetres below
that of 1874 and 20 centimetres below that of 1878, and midway between
them in point of time. It was also under complete control owing to the
new regulating works on the basins. It rose to 8·4 metres at Cairo on
the 5th October and fell exceedingly slowly. With perennial irrigation,
it would have risen to 8·4 at Cairo on the 30th September and then
fallen rapidly.
Speaking generally, we may say that with perennial irrigation the very
high floods at Cairo will be 15 days in advance of what they are at
present, that they will not rise higher, and that they will fall 15 days
earlier than what they do now. With low floods there will be no
appreciable difference as to date, but the floods will be slightly
higher at Cairo. In ordinary floods, there will be an advance of from 20
to 25 days in the date of the maximum flood, and a maximum gauge at
Cairo 50 or 60 centimetres under the maximum gauge at Assuân. We have so
far considered Cairo only, as the Delta proper depends on the Cairo
gauge. We now turn to the Nile in Upper Egypt itself: south of Sohag,
there will be no serious change in levels, but the Sohagia and Ibrahimia
canals between them carry at present 750 cubic metres per second in
excess of what they would carry if there were perennial irrigation in
Egypt, and the greater part of this water is not returned to the Nile
until the Kushesha escape is reached. The reach of the Nile from Sohag
to Kushesha is the one which will experience the greatest changes, and I
calculate that there will be a rise of 40 centimetres as compared with
the maximum gauges under basin irrigation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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