Assessment of Sediment Deposition in Aswan High Dam Reservoir During 50 Years (1964–2014)

Abstract

During the last century, many dams exist along the Nile River for various purposes. The existing reservoirs especially those on the Blue Nile, Atbara, and the main Nile River are seriously affected by sediment deposition at unexpected rates.

Roseires Dam was constructed on the Blue Nile (Sudan) to store water for irrigation; the dam lost 40% of its original capacity in a span of 43 years. Khashm el-Girba Dam was constructed on Atbara River (Sudan); the dam lost 53% of its original capacity in a span of 46 years.

As for the Aswan High Dam (AHD), it created a reservoir behind it which is Aswan High Dam Reservoir (AHDR). The AHDR is the second largest human-made reservoir in the world. The reservoir extends from the southern part of Egypt to the northern part of Sudan. The AHDR has a total length of about 500 km (350 km inside Egypt and 150 km inside Sudan), the average width of the reservoir is about 12 km, and its storage capacity is 162 billion m³.

This chapter is an attempt to assess and analyzes the deposition in the Aswan High Dam Reservoir during the last 50 years from 1964 to 2014, by using different techniques to estimate the effective life span of the reservoir.

The traditional method gives overestimate in the calculation of deposit sediment by almost 10% in comparing by GIS method.