1902.] Sir B. Baker on The Nile Dams and Reservoir. 185 



WEEKLY EVENING MEETING, 

 Friday, June 6, 1902. 



H.R.H. The Prince of Wales, E.G. G.CV.O. LL.D. F.R.S., 



Vice-Patron, in the Chair. 



Sir Benjamin Baker, K.C.M.G. LL.D. D.Sc. F.R.S. M.B.L, 

 Past President Institution of Civil Engineers. 



The Nile Dams and Beservoir. 



Mr. Cecil Rhodes, last Christmas, when riding across the hot and 

 dusty desert between Aswan and the Nile Reservoir works, inci- 

 dentally remarked that, after all, there was no climate like England's ; 

 and as for rain, why, it did good and hurt nobody. Glancing around 

 at the apparently limitless desert on all sides of us, the hills and 

 valleys, beautiful in form, but doomed for all time to remain of 

 uniform burnt-brick hue, bare of trees, and of the many-coloured 

 growths which adorn a rainy country, one could not but reflect how 

 puny were the efforts of man when attempting to combat any decree 

 of Nature. The desert lands of Egypt will remain desert, however 

 many millions of pounds are expended in Nile reservoirs. All that 

 man can do is to extend somewhat the narrow strip of green running 

 along the banks of the Nile, and to render that and the other low- 

 lying lands more productive than they are at present with a scanty 

 supply of water (Fig. 1). 



The Nile Reservoir at Aswan will contain over 1000 million 

 tons of water. This statement will probably convey little meaning 

 to most people ; and in truth the quantity may be made to appear 

 either small or large at will by a judicious selection of illustrations. 

 Thus the absolute insignificance to Egypt of 1000 million tons of 

 water in a reservoir, as compared with a reasonable rainfall, will be 

 apparent at once when it is considered that the annual rainfall on the 

 area included within the four-mile cab radius from Charing Cross is 

 about 100 million tons, and that the rainfall on London and its 

 suburbs within a thirteen-mile radius would, therefore, about suffice 

 to fill the Nile Reservoir. On the other hand, we may, by choosing 

 other illustrations, restore the Nile Reservoir to the dignity of its 

 just position of one of the greatest engineering works of the day. 

 Thus the question of the water supply of London, and its prospective 

 population of 11 J millions, has been prominently before the public 

 for some years ; and many will remember what was termed the colossal 

 project of our member. Sir Alexander Binnie, late Engineer of the 

 London County Council, for constructing reservoirs in every reason- 

 ably available valley in Wales, to store up water for London, and to 



