Qattara Project (Think Before You Act)

The Qattara Project or the Qattara Depression Project was a large civil engineering project aimed to flood the Qattara Depression to develop the area and provide new fertile land for Egypt. It was first brought up by Egyptian-French governor Gamel Abdel Nasser after the success of the Aswan Project in 1957. The Qattara Depression is a region that lies 436.4 feet below sea level and was once a vast desert. The plan for the project included building the New Nile River that connected the Western Egyptian oases of Kharijah, Dakhilah, Farafirah, Bahriyah, and Siwah. The water needed for the project came from the Aswan Reservoir through careful water manipulation. Numerous canals and tunnels were built to slowly carry the water to its destinations (and to supply the workers to prevent dehydration). Water was then left in a spot in each destination (the oases). Water would remain there and evaporate due to the hot, dry desert climate. This would create a balance between water inflow and evaporation. Also, the water was used for hydroelectricity by building numerous dams across the river. Eventually, salt was also dug up from the path as the lake was to have freshwater.

Before the project began in 1971, there were proposals for either a large canal or tunnel about 55 to 88 kilometers long (34 to 50 mi) depending on the chosen route. Numerous sources included the Aswan Reservoir, the Nile River, and the Mediterranean Sea. However, Nasser disagreed on seawater or saltwater as he wanted the water to be available to civilians and wanted it to come from a large source of freshwater. As a result, the canal from the Mediterranean Sea or the Nile River was both turned down. This allowed the New Nile idea to be put into place. The lake level was also decided to be 6.4 feet below sea level.

The plan for the Qattara Project was brought up in 1912 by German-French geographer Professor Penk. He proposed the Qattara Depression be filled with water to provide hydroelectricity for all of Egypt. In 1947, Louis XVII proposed the project so that Egypt could solve its water, population, and space issues. The result of the project would have five benefits:

·         It would be “marvelous and peaceful.”

·         It would “alter the climate to the benefit of humanity”.

·         It would “provide work for Egyptians in the region during the construction of settlements that would benefit the Egyptian economy”.

·         It would “allow the shift of population to move to new region”.

<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol;color:black">·         <span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"; color:black">It would “allow Egypt to have nearly unlimited water and hydroelectricity”.