THE ASSOUAN DAM

Taranaki Herald, Volume LX, Issue 143980, 24 December 1912, Page 3

THE ASSOUAN DAM

ADDITION OPENED. Ba Electric Telegraph.—Copyright. (Received'Dec. 24, 10.30 a.m.) CAIRO, Dec. 23. The Khedive opened the additions to the Assouan Dam, costing £1,500,000. Lord Kitchener read a message from King George.

[The Assouan. Dam in’ Upper Egypt at the first cataract of the Nile was built in 1899-1902 by the Egyptian Government for r.egulating the flow of the Nile for irrigation, purposes. It is 2187 yards long, and is built of solid masonry, weighing a million tons, but has 180 under-sluiees, which, when opened, will allow free passage for the early floods —the later annual inundation being, of course, conserved, At its original heigiiu the dam held up no less than 3,500,000,000 cubic feet of water, btit the height has now been raised am additional 24ft., rendering it capable l of impounding twice that volume of water and providing for the irrigation of 600,000 acres or sugar cane and cotton land.]