60 



Immense pumping plants have been installed to remov^e the water 

 from the surface, and drains have been dug. The surface of the 

 ground is pulverized before fresh water is applied. After the water 

 has dissolved some of the salts it is allowed to flow away. That which 

 is a])sorbed by the soil reaches the drains and runs away by gravity or 

 is lifted by pumps. This is an expensive and tedious process, but as 

 soon as a portion of the salts are removed rice can be grown, and by 

 careful use of the water the land continues to improve in quality. 

 Much land has l^een thus treated and is now growing cotton and the 

 more valuable crops of Egypt. 



Since the occupation of the English S5,U(H»,0(JU or 'S0,U(JO,UU(» have 

 been spent in drainage work. After the barrage was put in condition 

 for service perennial irrigation in the delta was greatly stimulated, 

 and it became necessary to provide for removing the added volume of 

 water drained from the tields. Much of this water ran into channels 

 tributary to the lakes. (PI. XXIV.) The level of these gradually rose 

 and threatened large areas of adjoining farming lands. Some of the 

 lakes were drained b}' constructing simple works which permitted them 

 to flow into the sea whenever there was sufficient ditterence in level. 

 Lake Edku })clongs to this class. 



Lake Mareotis, near Alexandria, has probably given the most 

 tr()u])l(\ Its surface varies from (U to 11 feet below the sea level. 

 Unless it can be maintained at least 8 feet })elow sea level large areas 

 of adjoining lands already drained revert tcj their original condition. 

 Until 1892 evaporation kept the level of the lake at a satisfactory 

 height and pumping was not practiced. A pumping plant was 

 installed in the winter of 1892-93, but, in spite of the fact that it 

 discharged 2<l<» cubic feet per second, the level of the lake was higher 

 the following year than it had been for ten years before. This rise is 

 attributed to an increased rainfall as well as to the increased volume 

 of water from the irrigated lands. Soon after the installation of the 

 first pumps others were added, until now the plant has a capacity of 

 1,200 cubic feet per second. The pumps are of the centrifugal pattern 

 and are required to raise the water only about 10 feet. They operate 

 from November until the following May or June. The cost of 

 pumping is about 20 cents per acre-foot, or about 60 cents per 

 1,000,000 gallons. 



The government owns two pumping plants besides the one at Lake 

 Mareotis. One of these is for draining the Wady Tumilat, a narrow 

 strip of land in a gap in the Arabian desert northeast of Cairo, where 

 a Considerable area has been injured by infiltration from the Ismail ia 

 Canal. The station is located at Kassasin. The other station, located 

 at Atfeh and previously referred to, pumps water from the Nile into 

 the Mahmoudia Canal. 



