ABSTRACT
This century has seen the establishment of a series of large-scale irrigation works on the Nile that has radically transformed the Nile valley of Egypt and the Sudan to permit it to support nearly 35 million out of the 45 million living in the Nile Basin. The great flood of the Nile, so beneficial to Egypt, is the result of the torrential summer monsoonal rains of the Ethiopian plateau which sweep down through deep gorges to swell in chocolate-coloured flood the Blue Nile and Atbara. Throughout much of the Sudan and practically the whole of Egypt agriculture necessarily relies upon irrigation. This reliance is partial in the Sudan but total in Egypt and is based almost entirely upon the waters of the Nile. The use of the Nile for irrigation in Egypt may be traced back to the dawn of history, when seed was sown in the mud left after the annual flood waters had subsided.
