A Tour of Egypt 13Egypt’s move toward modernity. Considerable international
controversy resulted from the former Soviet Union’s financing
of the dam after refusal by Western institutions. The Dam
became operational in 1971 and by 1974, revenues had
exceeded construction costs. Subsequently, increasing costs
of reclamation have offset the value of providing a regulated
flow of Nile water for irrigation.
Though it is ecologically
controversial for several reasons,
the High Dam rapidly increased
modernisation throughout Egypt
by providing an accessible source
for electrical generation. Older
people will tell you that food
just doesn’t taste as good as it
used to when the Nile flooded.
This is probably a result of
the subsequent need to use
chemical fertilisers that were
never needed when rich soil was
deposited annually.
Culturally, construction of
the dam was also controversial.
As a result of rising water in Lake Nasser, numerous small
Nubian villages had to be relocated north of the dam.
Historians and archaeologists worldwide were up in arms
because many ancient ruins could not be saved from the
rising waters. Seemingly superhuman international efforts
saved some historical sites by rapid excavations or by
systematically disassembling, moving and reconstructing
them at a new site, such as the great temples at Abu Simbel.
Increasing desertification and prolonged droughts in the
Sahel and Sahara Deserts seriously threaten Egyptian water
management and use of its water resources. In 1987, Lake
Nasser’s water level was at its lowest since the lake filled—at
a level actually below the amount needed to run the Aswan
power station.
Oil and natural gas are two of Egypt’s most important
natural resources although their quantities do not compare
Schistosomiasis
After building the high dam,
one interesting health result has
been an increase in an ancient
disease named schistosomiasis
or Bilharzia (named after
the German-born scientist,
Theodor Bilharz, whose work
in intestinal parasites rewarded
him with a prestigious position
at the Kasr el Aïny Faculty of
Medicine in Cairo until his death
in 1862). Apparently, the annual
fl ooding washed away the snails
that host the parasite eggs, thus,
annually removing some of the
means of infection.