Lake Nasser

From ArticleWorld

Lake Nasser is the name of an artificial lake, behind Aswan High Dam, in southern Egypt and northern Sudan. In Arabic it is called "Buhayrat Nasir". However, the name Lake Nasser actually refers only to the larger part of the lake that is inside Egypt, while the part in the Sudanese territory is called Lake Nubia.

Lake Nasser was created in the 1960s as a result of floods from the Aswan High Dam, which was built across the Nile during the period from 1958 till 1970. The dam was built to regulate the flow of the Nile. The lake takes it name from the Egyptian President during that time Gamal Abdel Nasser, who took the decision of building Aswan High Dam.

The lake is about 312 miles long (1550 square miles) with an area of 2026 square miles (5,248 km2), making it the largest man-made lake in the world. It has a storage capacity of 170,000 km³ of fresh water. Its water is used for drinking, fishing and irrigation. Both Lake Nasser and Aswan High Dam provide electricity for all of Egypt.

In spite of the benefits Egypt enjoyed from the construction of Aswan High Dam and Lake Nasser, it also produced some serious negative effects. The temples of Abu Simbel, one of the most important Ancient Egyptian sites were dismantled and moved during the 1960s from its place to higher ground. Though other ancient sites were completely flooded by the water and lost. The Sudanese port and railway terminal of Wadi Halfa sank under the waters. Egypt's Nubian region was flooded and thousands of Nubian people had to relocate after their villages submerged. The level of the lake raised during the 1990s resulting in overflowing water into the Western Desert, which formed the Toshka Lakes in South Egypt.