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Egypt builds worlds largest man-made river
- exabrial 3y agoWhere is the fresh water coming from?
- macintux 3y agoApparently treated agricultural wastewater. I would never have guessed that. https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2021/04/egypt-plans-new-delta-boost-food-security https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2021/04/egypt-plans-new...
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- manojr13 3y agoVisited egypt recently. This project originates from upper egypt's Lake Nasser (near Abu Simbel) which is a very large water body.
- mkl 3y agoAre you sure you're talking about the same project? That contradicts the maps others have posted in this thread [1], and would also be way longer than 114km to reach the New Delta. [1] https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/1/100343/10-information-to-know-about-Egypt%E2%80%99s-New-Delta-project https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/1/100343/10-information-t...
- ChuckMcM 3y agoThe California aqueduct (444 miles, 714km) would like to have a word :-). Basically built for the same reason, the central valley of California was mostly arid but the top soil was good for agriculture. The underground aquifer was a limit on how much farming (and of what type) could be done.
- MichaelZuo 3y agoThere are indeed several man-made rivers longer then this so it's unclear what the editors were thinking with this headline. The longest one that I know of is the Grand Canal in China, which begain construction approx. 1400 years ago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Canal_(China) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Canal_(China)
- dogma1138 3y agoWhilst it could be that the editor or author are technically wrong it’s also quite possible that they might be technically correct and were just arguing semantics here. As far as geography/geology/hydrology goes rivers have a specific definition which the grand canal might not fit especially as one big system since afaik it extends and connects to multiple rivers and the water doesn’t flow in a single direction into a larger body of water.
- MichaelZuo 3y agoEach contiguous part of the Grand Canal only flows in one direction, it would be impossible for it to work otherwise. You do have a point though that this new river in Egypt may be the 'largest' on some other metric.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- Retric 3y agoThe issue isn’t direction but rather having multiple branches as a river only includes channel(s) going downstream from a single point. Without that definition a river’s length would be the length of every river connected to it. Thus the Mississippi and Ohio river are considered different rivers even though their waters mix and both flow downstream through the same channel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_River https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_River, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_River https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_River
- jimnotgym 3y ago> EGYPT: 35% of the pipe works The other 65% is broken! Not a pathetic joke I just read it the wrong way!
- hn_throwaway_99 3y agoAre there any other sources that have more info on this project? This feels like a construction puff piece. Specifically: 1. A map would be nice. 2. Where is the water coming from, and how is it ensured that this water source is sustainable? 3. A general overview of Egypt's "New Delta" project, and how this is central to its goals.
- erulabs 3y agoAgreed - Looking forward to a B1M episode about it. I found this tweet thread [1] which has a lot of interesting information. Some maps make it appear to be connected to the Nile, while this poster continues to say it transfers "wastewater from Alexandria to western desert". Quite cool if it's all wastewater, but I suspect it must be a combination of Nile water and wastewater. 1. https://twitter.com/mahmouedgamal44/status/1633231497837662209 https://twitter.com/mahmouedgamal44/status/16332314978376622...
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- twelvechairs 3y agoMap FYI https://www.egypttoday.com/siteimages/ArticleImgs/2021/3/30/238320-%D9%85%D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%B9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%A7-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%AF-1600x1000.jpg https://www.egypttoday.com/siteimages/ArticleImgs/2021/3/30/...
- wesleywt 3y agoSeem like one of those dictator megaprojects that rarely go well and is just a source of corruption.
- justrealist 3y ago> The New Delta project is the future of Egypt. It will be implemented in two years,” Sisi said in statements during his visit to the Suez Canal Authority’s Maritime Training and Simulation Center in the canal city of Ismailia There's a LOT that Egypt does wrong that I don't want to replicate in the US. But the US could never get a project of this scale through environmental review anymore, much less in less than 20 years. Really quite disappointing seeing incompetent autocracies outperforming us at building anything larger than a semiconductor.
- tick_tock_tick 3y agoI mean we build slow because of "environmental reviews" and regulatory capture. You'd expect autocracies to be able to execute quicker anyway.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago> we build slow because of "environmental reviews" and regulatory capture. You'd expect autocracies to be able to execute quicker anyway. To emphasize: the Hoover Dam was authorized in 1928 and dedicated in '35 [1]. Permitting private enforcement of NEPA [2] has been a disaster. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoover_Dam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoover_Dam [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Environmental_Policy_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Environmental_Policy_...
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- SoftTalker 3y agoHere's my favorite example: Plans for the Empire State Building announced August 29, 1929. Construction began on March 17, 1930. The building formally opened on May 1, 1931. No computer aided drafting, no project management software. Oh, and the stock market crashed shortly after the building was announced.
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- mrwnmonm 3y agoEgypt don't know what she should do.
- sva_ 3y agoFirst of all, I believe this should be called a canal, since rivers are naturally formed and canals built. > Spanning a length of 114 kilometers, Even the Mittelland Canal in Germany is 326km[0], so how it it the largest 'manmade river' in the world? 0. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mittelland_Canal https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mittelland_Canal
- Cthulhu_ 3y agoSounds like marketing; if they call it a canal there's longer ones, if they call it a river it has its own definitions. Or something.
- jascii 3y agoBeing "naturally formed" isn't a requirement to be a river. Being gravity fed and naturally flowing is. A canal doesn't have significant flow.
- sva_ 3y agoBut would you really call this concrete structure you see in the picture a river?
- EngManagerIsMe 3y agoIf the LA River is any historical precedent, yes.
- rjbwork 3y agoIf the LA River can be a river, why not?
- sva_ 3y agoThe flow of water was there before the concrete constructions were made, I guess?
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- thadk 3y agoThis article I found by searching has a map: https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/1/100343/10-information-to-know-about-Egypt’s-New-Delta-project https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/1/100343/10-information-t... It says the schedule got sped up from 10 years to 2 years. I wonder if the Ethiopian Dam scheduled for completion in the coming months had anything to do with that? https://www.dw.com/en/ethiopias-gerd-dam-a-potential-boon-for-all-experts-say/a-65254058 https://www.dw.com/en/ethiopias-gerd-dam-a-potential-boon-fo...
- glonq 3y agoFrom that EgyptToday article, written two years ago: > it was scheduled to finish within ten years, but President Abdel Fatah al Sisi directed that it should be completed within two years From the submitted article, written today: > 35% of the pipe works and 65% of the open track have been completed Any bets on when it really finishes?
- Apocryphon 3y agoKinda neat that a country that’s a successor to an ancient hydraulic empire continues to carry on that civilization’s legacy of massive hydrological projects. Also see the Aswan Dam.
- polar 3y agoNot the Qattara Depression Project [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qattara_Depression_Project https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qattara_Depression_Project
- nologic01 3y agoAre there any prior examples of rehydrating the desert that have actually worked? (note: from an agricultural perspective, not as artificial oases turned into gambling destinations :-). The question is in relation to the quality of the soil after millenia of arid conditions. The Nile valley and delta are historically fertile due to seasonal sedimentation, but that too has stopped with the Aswan High Dam [1] [1] https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-30216-4_5 https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-30216-4_...
- igravious 3y ago“China's efforts to halt the Gobi provide a blueprint for tackling desertification” https://www.unccd.int/news-stories/stories/chinas-efforts-halt-gobi-provide-blueprint-tackling-desertification https://www.unccd.int/news-stories/stories/chinas-efforts-ha...
- thekid314 3y agoEgypt's previous de-desertification project "Toshka" kinda of worked. It wasn't the massive job creator that it was sold as because most of the farming was very large scale and mechanized. But it was able to produce large amounts of high quality food that Egyptians rarely saw because it was more valuable for export. Here are some photos I shot of it for The National: https://www.daviddegner.com/photography/toshka/ https://www.daviddegner.com/photography/toshka/
- hn_throwaway_99 3y ago> Are there any prior examples of rehydrating the desert that have actually worked? As others have noted, there are large swaths of productive agriculture land in California that were, and would continue to be, giant deserts without extensive irrigation projects. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Valley https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Valley
- carlob 3y agoYeah, that is true for now, but it's probably not going to work long term because of soil salinity. Some posit that the reason for the rise and fall of the various fertile crescent civilizations was due exactly to this. If you wanna know more about it Cadillac Desert is an excellent start.
- readthenotes1 3y ago35%+65% = 100%
- OJFord 3y agoAka a canal? Or is there some distinction being made?
- lisper 3y agoIs there a reason they don't just call it a canal? That seems like a perfectly serviceable English word.
- tobyjsullivan 3y agoWhile I won't check my facts, it feels likely the publication is to blame on this one. I'm pretty sure the Egyptians are not referring to it as anything in English. Meanwhile, how can a writer resist playing on "the world's largest river in Egypt"? (Okay, perhaps they should have resisted harder.)
- halJordan 3y agoNo I don't think there's a reason. Possibly that the primary sense of a canal is to transport things and this is to transport water. But that's the other sense of the word. I blame it on the firing of copy editors. Maybe this is another thing chatgpt can save us from.
- frosted-flakes 3y agoAqueduct (noun) A pipe or channel designed to transport water from a remote source, usually by gravity.
- misja111 3y agoI guess if they would have called it 'world's largest canal', it would have been more obvious that the title is not true. That honor goes to the Grand Canal in China, with a length of 1776km.
- del_operator 3y ago> Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi recently hailed the New Delta project as the largest initiative ever undertaken in the country. Wait a minute, how are we scoping and measuring initiatives when there’s at least one Great Pyramid plus a few others that may rank fairly high.
- MauroIksem 3y agoQaddafi's irrigation system in the Libyan desert was more impressive.
- gladiatr72 3y ago[dead]
- ankit84 3y agoThe Narmada Canal is 500+ kms. https://twitter.com/sumitsonii/status/1645832376730390528 https://twitter.com/sumitsonii/status/1645832376730390528
- franz68 3y agoNo map to show where this is built ??
- idlewords 3y ago"We have a large river at home"
- Sparkyte 3y agoAnything to make Egypt relevent again eh? Lacking a little relevency since the Pharohs died.
- hoseja 3y agoInteresting that the feddan mentioned in the article [0] is very close to the acre, another oxplow-derived unit of area. Also, surely this won't have disastrous ecological consequences... (clueless) [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feddan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feddan
- vietvu 3y agoIsn't China's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South%E2%80%93North_Water_Transfer_Project https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South%E2%80%93North_Water_Tran... is the biggest?
- oofnik 3y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Man-Made_River https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Man-Made_River 1,600 km vs. 114 km. And elsewhere in North Africa, no less. Come on, Egypt, do better.
- Woodi 3y agoI hope it is not another humanwish-river like prior works that ditch actual reality...