Dredging the Clays of the Nile: Potential Challenges and Opportunities on the Shores of the Aswan High Dam Reservoir and the Nile Valley in Egypt

Abstract

The Aswan High Dam (AHD) Reservoir has become a major storage for sediments over the last 50 years. The southern part in Sudan called Lake Nubia is heavily silted and is developing a new delta. The construction of the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is expected to retain an important volume of silt and lower the levels of the water in the AHD Reservoir during fill‐up. The impact is a reduction of the storage capacity in Sudan and Egypt, but the silver lining is an opportunity for development of small communities through dredging and the construction of onshore sediment ponds that can be turned into farm land.