WATER FOR EGYPT.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18584, 3 June 1930, Page 16

WATER FOR EGYPT.

GREAT IRRIGATION SCHEME After more than a quarter of a century of fruitless effort a real step in advance has been taken in regard to the great scheme to turn Lake Tsana, the headwaters of the Blue Nile in Abyssinia, into a vast reservoir which will serve to bring countless fresh acres of land in the Sudan and Egypt under control. An agreement has recently been signed at Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, between representatives of England, the Sudan, Abyssinia, and the J. G. White Engineering Corporation of New York, by which emissaries of the last named shall make a detailed survey of the lake as soon as the rains end in October o November, with a view to decidn .ne best methods retaining until the winter months th# huge quantities of water which at present flow down uselessly into the sea duri the summer floods. They will aL < ligate the posibiiity of buildng a motor road from Adds Ababa to the lake. These two surveys will probably take at least a year, after which, if all goes well, the interested parties will meet again to daw up a final agreement for the necessary constructional work and the extent of the concessions to be allowed. LORD KITCHENERS IDEA Great Britain has been interested in this project ever since 1902. when a treaty was signed by which His Majesty Emperor Menelik 11.. King of Ethiopia, engages himself toward the Government of His Britannic Majesty not to construct or allow to be constructed. any work across the Blue Nile. Lake Tsana, or the Eobat—a tributary of the Nile—which would • arrest the flow of their waters into the : Nile, except in agreement with His 1 Britannic Majesty’s Government, and ! the Government of the Sudan.” The late Lord Kitcher,er conceived the idea of the construction of a barrage at the head of Lake Asana. when he effected the conquest of the Sudan. While the negotiations progressed on I friendly lines—the British Government ! acting in a fiduciary capacity for the Sudan —the desire of Abyssinia was i that the great task of constructing the dam should be undertaken by neutral interests. This is one of the reasons why an American firm is to undertake the work. CAREFUL BRITISH SERVE «. British interest in the scheme is based on the Sudan’s need for an adequate supply A water. The present supply ! meets immediate requirements, but, looking ahead for a decade, it can be seen that a greater supply may be needed. Lake Tsana has already been carefully surveyed by a couple of British engineers. Messrs Grabham and Black, who reported that there is a natural dam across practically the whole of the southern corner of the ! lake where the Blue Nile debouches. ! The configuration of the lake is such, I they say in their report, ‘‘that it ! might be said to have been designed 1 by Providence to facilitate the utilisai tion of the water of the lake for the . | benefit of cultivators in the Sudan and Egypt without need to interfere with ; the amenities of the people living | around the lake.” j The engineers estimate that by raising the winter level of the lake to 6ft 50me8.000.000.000 cubic feet of water | could be stored. Allowing for evapora- ! tion and other losses en route, this would mean 5.000.000.000 cubic feet ! of water to irrigate the fields of the i Sudan and Egypt, which is about twice , i the amount at present contained by the great Assuan Dam— the- main source of Egypt’s water for irrigation. 1 Conditions lor building the Tsana dam being so extremely favourable. - Messrs Grabham and Black put the cost of the construction work at no 5 more than £2.500.000. to which they added a further £1.000.000 for a motor road to the Sudan frontier for the purpose of bringing up supplies. • ne cost of a similar road to Addis Ababa would be far in excess of this figure owing to the fact that the road would have to cross a whole series 1 oi mountain rn and innumerable rivers. But no doubt political reasons make it essential to see whether this e route is practicable. d! «