THE EISENLOHR COLLECTION IN 
 EGYPTOLOGY AND ASSYRIOLOGY 
 
 PRESENTED TO CORNELL UNIVERSITY BY 
 
 X902 
 
 AdM^l i/4l2AL 
 
 3947 
 
PERENNIAL IRRIGATION AND FLOOD PROTECTION FOR EGYPT. 
 
 REPORTS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON RESERVOIRS 
 
 WITH A 
 
 NOTE BY W. E. GARSTIN, 
 
 UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE, PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT. 
 
 [Translated from the French]. 
 
 5fr 
 
 CAIRO: 
 
 NATIONAL PRINTING OFFICE, 
 
 1894, 
 
The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924032177390 
 
PERENNIAL IRRIGATION AND FLOOD PROTECTION FOR EGYPT. 
 
 REPORTS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON RESERVOIRS 
 
 WITH A 
 
 NOTE BY W. E. GARSTIN, 
 
 UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE, PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT. 
 
 [Translated from the French]. 
 
 CAIRO: 
 
 NATIONAL PRINTING OFFICE, 
 1894. 
 
NOTE BY W. E. GARSTIN, 
 
 UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE, PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT. 
 
To 
 His Excellency NUBAR PASHA, 
 
 President of the Covmcil of Ministers. 
 
 Excellency, 
 
 I have the honour to submit for your consideration, the reports presented 
 by the Technical Commission appointed by the Government for the purpose of 
 examining the different projects for the storage of Nile water. 
 
 To the above I have added a note of my own in which I make my definite 
 recommendation to the Grovernment upon this subject. 
 
 Knowing as I do, the keen interest which Your Excellency has always 
 taken in the progress of this most important question from the first day of 
 its inception up to the present time, I present this report to you with great 
 pleasure. 
 
 The completion of the necessary studies takes us one step nearer that goal 
 which is so essential for the prosperity of Egypt, I mean the completion of 
 a Nile reservoir. 
 
 I have the honour to be. 
 
 Excellency, 
 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 W. E. Garstin. 
 Cairo, 17th May, 1894. 
 
nsroTE 
 
 UPON THE 
 
 REPORTS OF THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION. 
 
 1 . — The following Note will be as brief as I can make it, and will 
 consist merely of a summary of the Commissions proposals, together with my 
 final recommendations to the Government. My task in writing it has been 
 greatly simplified by the very clear and comprehensive manner in which the 
 Commission has presented its Report. 
 
 2. — The Technical Commission consisting of Sir Benjamin Baker, "^^^ Teohmoai 
 
 Commission. 
 
 K. C. M. Gr. ; Monsieur Auguste Boule; and Signor Giacomo Torricelli , 
 assembled at Cairo on the 26th February, and on the following day started for 
 the Fayum and Upper Egypt. As its report shows, it examined all the sites 
 proposed by Mr. Willcocks for the formation of a Reservoir and inspected 
 the whole Nile valley lying between Girgah and the 2nd Cataract. On its 
 return to Cairo on the 23rd March it commenced the preparation of its 
 report. As wiU be seen, the three members were agreed up to a certain 
 point and drew up a joint report which they presented on the 10th April. Upon 
 the remaining points Messrs. Baker andjTorricelli, who were in complete accord 
 throughout, handed in their note upon the 10th April. M. Boule, who 
 differed from them entirely upon certain questions, submitted a separate report 
 on the 18th April. To facilitate reference, I will here repeat the five questions 
 presented by me (see page 8 of my previous note) to the Commission for its 
 consideration. 
 
 They were : — 
 
 (1) The proposal to construct a dam at some point of the Nile between 
 Cairo and Wadi Haifa, and to form a storage reservoir in the valley of the 
 river itself. 
 
 (2) The proposal to construct a storage reservoir in the Wadi Rayan 
 depressions in the desert, 
 
 (3) An examination of all the designs, plans and estimates prepared by us 
 for the different projects. 
 
 (4) An opinion as to whether the sanitary condition of the country will be 
 a;ffected in any way by the storage of such a body of water, as is now proposed. 
 
VIII NOTE BY W. E. OARSTIN. 
 
 (5) A selection from among the difierent projects, which have been 
 submitted, for the information of the Egyptian Government. 
 
 The Report 3. — Upon the first four of the above questions the opinion of the 
 
 Commission. Commissiou is practically unanimous. Upon the fifth, there is a divergence 
 of opinion. The majority consisting of Messrs. Baker and Torricelli, were, 
 as has been stated, completely agreed, and made a definite selection fron among 
 the projects submitted to them for consideration. M. Boule differed entirely 
 from the views held by his colleagues and has exhaustively detailed his reasons 
 for so doing in the separate note prepared by him . The points upon which 
 the Technical Commission was unanimous may be thus detailed : — 
 
 a. The question of the Wadi-Rayan reservoir. 
 
 &. That the valley of the Nile itself was more suitable to the formation of 
 a reservoir than the Wadi-Rayan, 
 
 c. That the Reservoir dam should not be solid, but should be pierced by 
 numerous undersluices, regulated by gates and capable of passing the whole 
 volume of the Nile in flood. 
 
 d. That there is no insurmountable engineering difliculty in the way oi 
 constructing such a dam^, and of ensuring its permanent stability. 
 
 e.- That upon sanitary grounds there is no objection to the construction of 
 such a reservoir. 
 
 The 4. — The members of the Commission went carefully into this question 
 
 ayan. ^^^ ^^ ^^ grouud and in committee. They examined Mr. Cope Whitehouse 
 and heard his views on the subject. These views will be found detailed in the 
 proees-verbal of the 27 March, The conclusions arrived at by the Commission 
 are : — It accepts the method of filling and emptying the reservoir as designed 
 by us, aind also our proposed alignment of the canal^ but it considers the width 
 of the latter, even after its enlargement by me, to be insufficient and recommends 
 that the bed width be increased from 61 to 70 metres. It further considers that the 
 rates for work adopted by M, Willcocks are too low thus bearing out the fears 
 expressed on pages 35 and 41 of my previous note. The cost of the Rayan 
 project as estimated by the Commission is L,E. 3,707,880 against my estimate 
 of L,B, 2,718,420 being an increase of L.E. 989,460. 
 
 "With respect to the time required for the execution of the works and the 
 filling of the reservoir the Commission is practically in accord with us, althoucrh 
 it considers it as possible that the construction of this reservoir might, by percola- 
 tion, cause dangerous swamping in the Fayum province. The Commission was 
 invited by M. Cope Whitehouse to give its opinion as to the possible utilisation 
 of the Wadi Rayan as a drainage receptacle and as to the conversion of the 
 Wadi Lulu into a separate reservoir. Its members however considered that the 
 above projects did not enter into the scope of the questions submitted to them 
 which had reference solely to the formation of a reservoir in the Wad' Rayan itself 
 
NOTE BY W. E. GARSTIN. IX 
 
 5. — As regards the sanitary aspect of this scheme the Commission shares 
 Rogers Pasha's views that the formation of a reservoir in the Rayan desert could 
 only have the hest effect upon the sanitary condition of the country. On the 
 question of salt in the water it also agrees with Rogers Pasha. Finally it 
 shares the doubts expressed hy me on page 39 of my former note, as to 
 whether the reservoir would really succeed in supplying the required 
 increased discharge during the latter half of the month of July supposing that 
 the flood water was late in its arrival and did not overtake^ and overlap^ the 
 reservoir water. Before leaving the subject of the Wadi Ray an, I wish here to 
 express my regret that M. Cope Whitehouse did not see fit to accept my 
 invitation to accompany the members of the Technical Commission during 
 their visit to the spot. 
 
 6. — In para. 3 I have already detailed the points upon which the Com- Reservoirs 
 mission is unanimous with respect to Nubian reservoirs. In paragraphs 31 to 34 Ni^yauey. 
 of the joint report of its members these points are treated so tersely and clearly 
 
 and have been themselves condensed from so many proces-verbaux that I 
 shall attempt no further condensation . The Commission fully endoi'ses all that 
 we have said as to the necessity of having a dam provided with numerous 
 undersluices and fully accepts Mr. Willcocks' views upon this point. It shares 
 moreover in his opinion that a solid dam like that proposed by M. Prompt in 
 1890 would inevitably, cause the speedy silting up of the reservoir, and would 
 deprive the flood water of a large proportion of the fertilizing elements held in 
 solution, thus injuring the cultivation in Egypt. It further agrees with Mr. 
 "Willcocks that the best time in which to store the water is during the winter 
 months after the passage of the floods. The Commission expresses its opinion 
 that, given a suitable site, a dam pierced by sufficient openings to alloM^ of the 
 passage of the river in flood, could be constructed. It goes on to say that, 
 from the point of view of engineering science there would be no difficulty in 
 constructing such a dam in the Nile valley and ensuring its permanent stability. 
 As regards the sanitary questions raised by the construction of a dam 
 reservoir the Commission unanimously accepts the views put forward by Rogers 
 Pasha, Director General of Sanitation, in his note upon the subject and is of 
 opinion that the storage of this water would, supposing proper precautions be 
 taken to prevent its pollution, be an advantage to Egy^jt from the point of view 
 of the public health. 
 
 7_ Thus far as I have said the Commission is unanimous. I now come The selection 
 
 to what is in many respects the most important question of all, or the selection be« sue 
 of one from among the different projects prepared and submitted by us for its '^ 
 
 '-^ a reservoir 
 
 consideration. The majority of the Commission, Messrs. Baker and Torricelli 
 are in complete agreement upon this point and have definitively accepted 
 
NOTE BY W. E. GARSTIN. 
 
 one from among the projects submitted, proposing however certain modifica- 
 tions in the original design which they consider would add to the stability 
 of the dam. The third member M. Boule rejects all the schemes laid before 
 them. In consequence of this divergence of opinion two separate reports have 
 been submitted by the gentlemen in question, the one by M. Boule and the other 
 by Sir Benjamin Baker and Signor Torricelli. 
 
 M. BouKa 8. — I will commence with M. Boule's note. As M. Boule devotes a 
 
 "°*^" considerable portion of his report to making certain strictures upon the way 
 in which the nature of the mission was made known to him, and upon the 
 way in which the Commission was conducted, I shall very briefly reply to 
 these criticisms before taking up the technical part of the question as discussed 
 by him. He dwells at length upon the fact, that, had he received my printed 
 note in sufficient time, he could not have accepted the mission offered to him, 
 as the five questions therein detailed, as being those upon which his advice was 
 requested, restricted in too great a degree the deliberations of the Commission, 
 and forced him as he says to make a choice from among projects that were too 
 summarily explained in the Government report, and too summarily represented 
 in the plans and drawings submitted. I can only express my regret that 
 for M. Boule's sake, the above documents did not reach him until within 
 three days of his leaving France. I did my best to ensure their arriving 
 in time, as a copy was sent to him and to each of his colleagues on the 
 very day of their publication. Had he not started earlier than was absolutely 
 necessary, and arrived in Egypt four days before the date upon which the Com- 
 mission was asked to assemble, he might perhaps have had time to study 
 my note and to have refused the mission. Much however as for his sake 
 I may regret the annoyance that he has been unintentionally caused, my regret 
 is tempered by a feeling of satisfaction that the Egyptian Government has not 
 been deprived of the benefit of his experience and advice. 
 
 9. — An alleged want of proficiency in French on the part of the Enghsh 
 and Italian members of the Commission seems to have caused annoyance to 
 M. Boule. It is certainly regrettable that all three of its members did not speak 
 one common language, but this was hardly to be .hoped for or expected, and 
 the Egyptian Government in its choice of members was more influenced by the 
 fact that they were eminent engineers than that they were fluent linguists. This 
 difficulty must as a rule occur, whenever experts of different nationalities meet 
 together for discussion. The Government did all in its power to minimize the 
 inconvenience alluded to by appointing : first, Mr. Ferdinand Roux and after 
 wards Mr. Arnold Perry, both of whom have great proficiency in languages as 
 secretaries and interpreters to the Commission. I cannot help expressing my 
 regret at the tone which M. Boule throughout his report has thought fit to 
 
NOTE BY W. E. GARSTIN. XI 
 
 adopt when speaking of Mr. 'Willcocks. It is true that he also criticizes freely 
 the action of his colleagues, but these gentlemen are perfectly competent to 
 defend themselves or ignore his remarks as they may think fit. As regards 
 Mr. Willcocks, who only attended the meetings of the committee when invited 
 to do so by its members, I have the assurance of both Sir Benjamin Baker and 
 Signor Torricelli that he kept his temper admirably throughout under what 
 must frequently have been exceedingly trying circumstances. Finally M. Boule 
 is at great pains to prove, that, whatever his colleagues may themselves assert 
 to the contrary they have rejected every one of the projects submitted to them 
 by the Government engineers. So much does he insist upon this point that he 
 repeats his assertion no less than eight different times in his note. 
 
 Sir Benjamin Baker and Signor Torricelli would almost appear to have 
 anticipated that Monsieur Boule would make this statement, for, in their joint 
 report, they, with equal persistence, insist upon the fact that they have accepted 
 the Government project, merely proposing certain modifications which will 
 improve, but not materially alter it. They further say, « the Government has 
 « before it a good project, and one worthy of all confidence ; a project of 
 « which even the member of the Commission disagreeing with the majority 
 « speaks as realizable. » 
 
 10. — I will now turn to the more purely technical portions of m. boui^'s 
 M. Boule's note. After a careful search throughout the whole of his report. 
 
 criticism 
 of the 
 
 I have failed to find any definite proposals. There are many generalities, but no Qo'emment 
 
 . proposals. 
 
 single detailed scheme which we can take up and discuss seriously. Monsieur Boule 
 although not allowing that the Government proposals have been accepted even 
 in part, admits that the design as modified by Messrs. Baker and Torricelli is 
 possible of execution : it is true he modifies this admission by saying, « it is 
 « possible as everything is possible if expense be no object. » At the same 
 time one great point is gained by his admission, grudging though it be. 
 
 It proves the fact that the Commission is unanimous in considering a 
 dam as proposed by Messrs. Baker and Torricelli to be a feasible project. 
 As M. Boule is further in accord with his colleagues in rejecting both the 
 Kalabshah and Silsilah sites as being suitable for the construction of a dam 
 holding up 25.00 metres of water, it follows again that the Commission is 
 unanimously of opinion that the Assuan Cataract as suggested by Mr. Willcocks 
 is the only site possible for a single dam of the kind proposed. M. Boule, it is 
 true, utterly declines to consider the Assuan site as a possible one, but he bases 
 his objections to it solely upon the grounds that were this dam constructed the 
 temple of Philee would be either submerged or would have to be removed. 
 As he says, « J'ai declare que je ne saurais m'associer a aucune proposition 
 « de submerger, ou meme de modifier d'une maniere quelconque les anciennes 
 « constructions qui se trouvent dans I'ile de Philae » . 
 
XII NOTE BY W. E. GARSTIN. 
 
 U. Boulg's 
 proposals. 
 
 11. — His minor objections to the work as recorded in the proces-verbal 
 of the 15th March have been answered in detail by Sir B. Baker and Signor 
 Torricelli. In his report however M. Boule adds some further objections. He 
 lays great stress upon the danger to the stability of the dam that might arise 
 from the expansion and contraction of the iron pipes when exposed to the 
 sun's rays in summer, and also from the destructive action of the water 
 issuing from these pipes, upon the rocky bed of the river. I think his 
 fears are exaggerated, more especially as the pipes will be laid in sections 
 of a metre and a quarter in length and as during the hottest period of the 
 year they will be under water. At the same time it would be quite feasible 
 to remove all possible anxiety on this subject, by constructing as Mr. Willcocks 
 has suggested, a low subsidiary solid weir downstream of the dam. By this 
 means the pipes could be kept permanently submerged and at the same time a 
 cushion of water would be provided to break the force of the rush of the 
 current issuing from the undersluices. This has been successfully introduced 
 in the Betwa and Nira reservoir dams in India. M. Boule pleads earnestly 
 against the drowning out of Nubia, which would be necessitated by the 
 construction of this dam. He talks at length upon the area of cultivation 
 and the number of flourishing villages which would be submerged thus 
 completely countering the opinon of M. Prompt who on page 10 of his 
 note upon « Le Caire port de mer », when criticising Mr. Willcocks' 
 figures for compensation says « ce resultat est vraiment extraordinaire pour 
 « tons ceux qui savent que depuis Kalabshah jusqu'a Ouadi-Halpha la vallee du 
 « Nil est entierement deserte ». In spite of his opinion as above recorded, 
 M. Boule with strange inconsistency advocates as one among the many 
 « ideas » sketched out by him, the constructionof three high level dams with 
 that at Kalabshah to hold up water to R. L. 118.00 which is the maximum 
 level to which I had proposed to raise it at that site. As regards the 
 inhabitants in Nubia I imagine that if they are to be drowned out at all 
 it will be a matter of indifference to them whether this result is attained by means 
 of one or of three dams. As a matter of fact we anticipate that eventually 
 the prosperity of Nubia will be considerably increased by the annual inundation. 
 M. Boule further complains that no means have been devised for working 
 the sluice gates under a less head of pressure than 22 metres. On page 21 of my 
 previous note I had already stated that a chief feature of the dam as designed by 
 Mr. Willcocks was the insuring of the gates not being worked under the extreme 
 head of pressure. In order to gain this end the waterway was increased from 
 2,000 to 2,400 square metres. 
 
 12. — I will now detail the different general proposals made by M. Boule 
 as far I have been able to find them in his report and in the proems- verbaux. He 
 lays down no definite lines to be followed, and has not assisted us in the discus- 
 
NOTE BY W. E. GARSTIN. Xni 
 
 sion of his proposals by indicating any such details, as levels, type of foundation, 
 etc. etc. He merely informs us, that, « Engineers familiar with the progress 
 « actually attained in the construction of "Barrages mobiles" and compressed 
 « air foundations could construct anywhere works of this sort, of as great a 
 « height as might be wished which would cost much less than the project 
 « submitted by my colleagues » . We could have wished for something rather 
 more precise than the above. 
 
 The following are M. Boule's general ideas as to possible reservoir 
 projects. 
 
 (a) A succession of « barrages mobiles » of low height between Cairo and 
 Silsilah. 
 
 {h) A succession of « barrages mobiles » of moderate height at Silsilah, 
 Assuan and Kalabshah. 
 
 {c) A succession of three « barrages mobiles » of great height at Assuan, 
 Philse and Kalabshah. 
 
 [d) A succession of low level « barrages mobiles > at the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 
 subsequent cataracts. 
 
 The first three proposals have been so completely disposed of by Messrs. 
 Baker and Torricelli in paragraph 16 and 22 of their separate report that 
 I need do no more than refer to their opinions as therein expressed. With 
 respect to the fourth proposal I may state that we have already considered 
 such works as far as lies in our power. 
 
 We have taken careful cross sections of as much of the 2nd cataract as 
 lies within the Egyptian frontier. We have found that the cost of such a work 
 would be out of all proportion to the amount of water stored, for the reasons 
 that I have given on page 22 and page 39 of my previous note. 
 
 There is another fact which must not be lost sight of when considering the 
 construction of possible reservoirs south of the 2nd cataract. This is the 
 absence of any limestone between Assuan and Khartoum ( I might almost say 
 between Assuan and the Equator). The cost then of such works would be very 
 largely increased owing to the necessity of having to transport all the lime 
 required from the quarries north of Assouan. I would wish to state here, that 
 during the four years of study that we have given to these projects we have 
 fully considered and discussed all the systems and plans proposed by M. Boule 
 as well as several others which may not have occurred to him. The results of 
 our studies have forced us to the conclusion that there is only one possible way 
 of storing water economically and without danger in the valley of the Nile ; 
 this being the system proposed by us and now accepted with modifications by 
 the majority of the Commission. M. Boule in the proces-verbaux, and even 
 in his report, finds fault with Mr. Willcocks for the rapidity with which he has 
 answered his questions. He fails to see that these same questions, although 
 new to himself, had been for years the subject of study by the officers of the 
 Reservoir Department. 
 
XIV NOTE BY W. E. &ARSTIN. 
 
 13. — M . Boule finally proposes a grand ' 'concurrence " of the Engineers 
 and constructors of Europe in order that they might study and propose a 
 solution of the entire project. To the above he adds an international jury of 
 engineers, formed as he says on the lines of the composition of the Caisse 
 of the Public Debt. These gentlemen would examine and finally adjudicate 
 upon the different projects submitted to them. I regret that M. Boule's modesty 
 should have led him to such a conclusion. I am certain that the Egyptian 
 Government, having asked for his opinion, would have greatly preferred that 
 he, having rejected all the designs proposed by its engineers, should have 
 submitted, even if in the rough a definite project and design of his own. 
 I think he must allow, that the detailed surveys and levels of the river from 
 Cairo to Wadi Haifa, which we placed at his disposal were sufficient to 
 enable an ordinary engineer, much less one of his attainments, to decide upon 
 the general arrangements of the open dams he proposes, their number, the 
 height to which they would hold up water and their general design. Instead 
 of this we have only as I have said the assurance that skilled engineers now 
 a days could easily design « barrages mobiles » which would completely meet 
 the requirements of Egypt. Such minor questions, as the nature of the founda- 
 tions, the pressure they would have to stand, the sort of gate that would be 
 used, the amount of water that could be stored and the cost of such works 
 have been left completely undecided and have not even been discussed in any 
 but a general way by M. Boule. 
 
 Report 14. — Fortunately for the Egyptian Grovernment Sir Benjamin Baker and 
 
 SignorTorricelK have thoroughly entered into the above questions and to their 
 report I now turn. They begin with the statement, that the studies made 
 by the Egyptian Government during the past four years and completed by their 
 own personal inspection of the River, render it possible for them to make 
 an immediate selection from among the projects submitted to them. As far as 
 both design and site are concerned they are of opinion that absolute security 
 is the essential consideration. The conditions which guarantee this security 
 are in their opinion : — 
 
 (1) A solid incompressible rock foundation. 
 
 (2) A wide section of river to allow of the dam as nearly as possible 
 approaching the conditions of a solid one and permitting the water issuing from 
 the sluices to be well scattered and evenly distributed. 
 
 (3) A shallow depth of water, and consequently a comparatively less 
 height of dam. 
 
 They then examine the different sites. They reject Silsilah on account of 
 the inferiority of the sandstone bed, and Kalabshah on account of the narrow 
 section of the river channel and the great depth of water at that site. Finally 
 they consider that between Wadi Haifa and Cairo there is no place on the ^" - 
 
 of 
 Sir B, Baker 
 
 and 
 S' Torricelli. 
 
NOTE BY W. E. GARSTIN. XV 
 
 fulfilling all the above conditions except that proposed by the Government 
 engineers viz : the Assuan Cataract downstream of the PhilseTemple^ and 
 they have no hesitation in recommending the adoption of this site. They then 
 discuss the general plans upon which a reservoir dam should be designed and 
 conclude by stating that a single dam as proposed by us is not only the best, but 
 also the only possible means of storing the large volume of water required for 
 Egypt. Entering into details of design they show where they agree with us and 
 where they prefer modifying our proposals. Every modification they suggest 
 is in the direction of making the design more and more approach that of a solid 
 dam and of increasing its stability. Speaking in the name of the Public Works 
 Department, I can only say that we most cordially accept each and all of their 
 proposed modifications as an undoubted improvement upon our own design. 
 
 Messrs. Baker and Torricelli accept the waterway for the under sluices as 
 proposed by Mr. "Willcocks. They accept all the latters figures as to height, 
 head of water, discharging power and general arrangement. They suggest the 
 very important modification of substituting in the under sluices cast iron pipes 
 for granite ashlar. For the sake of safety they have in their calculations 
 reduced the limit of pressure allowable per square centimetre of surface and 
 have consequently increased the thickness of our original section of dam. At 
 the same time they have increased the thickness of the piers separating the under 
 sluices. All the above modifications we as 1 say most cordially accept, as being 
 most undoubtedly improvements upon our own design. 
 
 15. — They accept as reasonable Mr. Willcocks' revised estimate of 
 L.E. 1,855,000 based upon the above modifications. This is an increase of 
 L. E. 360,000 or a little more than 25 per cent upon my original estimate of 
 L. E. 1,495,000. In both cases the cost of removing the Philse Temple has 
 been omitted. This difference cannot be considered as excessive if the impor- 
 tance of the work is borne in mind. Finally Messrs. Baker and Torricelli 
 show, that, including the cost of raising the Temple and adding the supple- 
 mentary works necessitated for which they accept the figures given in my 
 previous report. The total cost of the works will be : — 
 
 Dam at Assuan 1,855,000 L.E. 
 
 Removal of Philae Temple 200,000 > 
 
 Supplementary Irrigation works 3,001,000 » 
 
 Total... 5,056,000 L.E. 
 
 Assuming that the reservoir will store 2,550,000,000 metres cube of water 
 the price per metre cube works out to l/5th of a piastre or less than half the cost 
 of that delivered by means of the Wadi-Rayan project which as is shown in the 
 joint report of the Commission comes to 1/2 a piastre per metre cube of water 
 stored. 
 
XVI NOTE BY W. E. GARSTIN. 
 
 Sir B.Baker 16. — Haviug recorded its own opinions on the questions of the reservoir 
 
 s'Tomvjeuis dams, the majority of the Commission replies to M. Boule's criticisms of their 
 
 criticiBms proposals and shows clearly that these criticisms have no serious foundation 
 
 M. Bouis's either as to excessive length, dangerous velocity through the sluices or incon- 
 
 proposais. ^gj^jg^^ heading up of the river in flood. They consider the general schemes 
 
 indicated by M. Boule, and entering into details prove that as regards, cost, 
 
 stability, power of storing water and capabilities of design, they are infinitely, 
 
 inferior to the single dam project as approved by them, while the only one 
 
 ( (c) on page 16) really capable of storing the required amount of water is 
 
 absolutely dangerous. 
 
 Sir B. Baker's 17. — Thc majority of the Commission concludes by saying that it recom- 
 
 s'To^oeui'8 mends a single dam pierced with numerous undersluices as the best and safest 
 concinsions. golutiou of thc reservolr problem. It accepts the Assuan cataract as the best 
 and indeed as the only practicable site for the construction of such a dam. 
 
 It insists that it would be a waste of time for the Grovernment to make 
 further studies in order to seek better methods of design, or better sites as it 
 is convinced that none such exist. 
 
 conoiuBions. 18. — Sir Beujamiu Baker aud Slguor TorricelU have dlscusscd SO ably and 
 
 thoroughly all the questions submitted to the Commission that I have practically 
 nothing left to add. I can only endorse every word they say ^ with respect to the 
 single dam at Assuan which project was that submitted by Mr. Willcoeks and 
 approved of by me. I can only express my great satisfaction that our proposals 
 have been approved by men so eminent in their profession as the two gentlemen 
 above named. As regards the modifications proposed by them there can be no 
 question as to there adding to the stability of the dam and the Egyptian Govern- 
 ment may well feel satisfied that, before committing itself to any scheme it has 
 obtained the opinion of two such distinguished men. I conclude by offering 
 my most sincere thanks to the three members of the Commission for the way in 
 which they have devoted their time and labour to the preparation of the very 
 valuable reports with which they have favoured us. 
 
 phite Temple. 19. — I come lastly to that portion of the subject which with a large 
 
 number of persons is doubtless the most important, as it certainly is the most 
 difficult, question of all those to be solved. I may say at once that after reading 
 Messrs. Baker and Torricelli's report I completely share their opinion that the 
 Assuan Cataract site is the only possible one for a dam reservoir and further that 
 a single dam of sufficient height to store water for the wants of Egypt is the only 
 possible solution of the reservoir problem as far as that portion of the Nile 
 valley that lies between Cairo and Wadi Haifa is concerned. The Government 
 of Egypt must then decide i either to construct a single dam at Assuan or to 
 
NOTB BY W. E. GABSTIN. XVII 
 
 postpone the question altogether until that portion of the river lying to the 
 south of the present Egyptian frontier has been thoroughly explored and 
 studied. If its decision be in favour of the former solution, it must also decide 
 as to what is to become of the Philae Temple. As regards this part of the 
 question I have little to add to the opinion I expressed on the subject in my 
 previous note. "When I wrote my first report I thought and hoped that possible 
 alternative sites existed, but the report of Messrs. Baker and Torrlcelli clearly 
 shows that such is not the case and that the dam if made can only be made at 
 Assuan. This narrows the question to very small limits and leaves the Egyptian 
 Government face to face with the problem as to what is to be done with Philae. 
 If the dam be made at Assuan the Temple must either be raised, removed or 
 submerged, I have already suggested its removal to the island of Biggeh and 
 Sir Benjamin Baker suggests raising it to such a height as to place it above 
 the level of the highest flood water. Mr. Somers Clarke the well known 
 archaeologist has suggested a third alternative. This is that if it be decided to 
 leave the Temple where it is, which in the case of the dam being made would 
 result in its annual submersion, a complete archaeological survey and investigation 
 be made of Nubia, and that accurate drawings and surveys should be made of all 
 such relics of interest as would be submerged by the reservoir : that such of these 
 monuments as would bear transporting should be transported to the Cairo 
 Museum so that if the submersion of these remains be decided upon as unavoid- 
 able, as much should be done as lay in our power to record them and preserve 
 their interesting features from obliteration. Should this proposal be carried out 
 I would suggest that Monsieur de Morgan be asked to undertake the work and 
 that a sum of say L. E. 50,000 be added to the dam estimate to cover the 
 expenditure required. 
 
 20. — It is of course for the Egyptian Government to decide upon this 
 point and to it I leave the question. It must duly weigh the sentiment connected 
 with the Temple and its surroundings against the benefits to be derived by the 
 country in general from the construction of the reservoir. I trust, however, 
 that we its advisers who are so unfortunately thrust into the position of having 
 to recommend a work that will involve possible damage to one of the most 
 beautiful monuments in the world, will, if not now, be some day acquitted 
 of having done this wantonly and without regret. 
 
 W. E. Garstin. 
 Cairo, 11th May, 1894. 
 
REPORT 
 
 OP THB 
 
 TECIIISriC.A.IL. C03i^3i^ISSIODSr 
 
 ON NILE RESERVOIRS. 
 
REPORT 
 
 OFTHB 
 
 TECHNICA.L COMMISSION ON NILE RESERVOIRS. 
 
 To His Excellency RIAZ PASHA, 
 
 President of the Council of Ministers. 
 
 Excellency, 
 
 1. — We have the honour to inform you that in accordance with 
 instructions received from the Under Secretary of State to the Public Works 
 Department, we have inspected the different sites proposed for the reservoirs in 
 the valley of the Nile and in the Wadi Rayan. We have carefully examined 
 the designs, plans and estimates prepared by the Government engineers for the 
 different projects. 
 
 2. — To this report are attached the proceedings of 18 meetings, but the 
 Commission brings to your knowledge the fact, that recognising the immense 
 importance of the projetcs submitted to it for consideration, it has since its 
 arrival in Egypt been perpetually occupied in discussing and examining these 
 projects. A complete report of all the doings of the Commission would be too 
 bulky. It must be understood that many questions and details not contained in 
 the proceedings of the meetings have been fully considered by the Commission. 
 
 3. — The information supplied to the Commission by the Under Secretary 
 of State is in great part contained in a very clear a5d complete review of the 
 reservoir projects dated 27th December 1893, and in an important report on the 
 same subject by Mr. W- Willcooks, Director General of Reservoirs, dated 
 25th November 1893 accompanied by 29 plans and designs. 
 
 4 . — The Under Secretary of State in the above mentioned report has altered 
 some of the original proposals, and submitted his modified projects to Govern- 
 
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 
 
 ment with the observation that in spite of all the confidence which might 
 reasonably be placed in the engineers who have prepared the works, he 
 considered it convenient, in consideration of the interests at stake, to consult some 
 of the engineers who were most occupied with hydraulic works in Europe. 
 
 5. — The Under Secretary of State, inconsequence, proposed to the Council 
 of Ministers of the Egyptian Government to appoint a technical Commission to 
 examine the projects which had been prepared and to give its opinion to the 
 Egyptian Government. A Commission consisting of : 
 
 Sir Benjamin Baker, Vice President of the Institution of Civil Engineers 
 at London. 
 
 M. Auguste Boule, Inspector General of the Fonts et Chaussees at Paris. 
 
 Signor Giacomo Torricelli, Professor of Irrigation and Agriculture at the 
 Naples University. 
 
 6. — The Council of Ministers having approved of this proposition, the 
 Under Secretary of State telegraphed to the above mentioned engineers on the 
 26th January 1894 and confirmed the telegrams by official letters of the same 
 date. The Engineers were invited to come to Cairo at the earliest possible date 
 after the 20th February in order to constitute a Commission to examine the 
 projects for water storage in Egypt and to give their opinion to the Government 
 on this subject. 
 
 7. — On page 8 of his note, M. Garstin thus enumerates the questions 
 before the Commission : 
 
 « 1 . The proposal to construct a dam at some point of the Nile between 
 « Wadi-Halfa and Cairo, and to form a storage reservoir in the valley of the 
 « river itself. 
 
 « 2. The proposal to construct a storage reservoir in the Wadi Ray an 
 « depression in the desert. 
 
 « 3. An examination of all the designs, plans and estimates prepared by us 
 « for the different projects. 
 
 ft 4. An opinion as to whether the sanitary condition of the country will 
 « be affected in any way by the storage of such a body of water as is now 
 « proposed. 
 
 « 5. A selection from among the different projects which have been 
 « submitted for the information of the Egyptian Government. » 
 
 8. — The Commission met at Cairo and left for the Fayum on the 27th 
 February in order to begin the inspection of the different sites and to examine 
 the nature of rock and soil as seen by personal observation or indicated by 
 borings (see Appendix I which gives an account of the voyage). 
 
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 5 
 
 9. — The members of the Commission returned to Cairo at the end of 
 their inspection and continued their dehberation from the 24th March at the 
 Ministry of Public Works. 
 
 10. — The history of the reservoir question has been briefly treated in 
 the report of the Under Secretary of State. « So long ago as 1873 the 
 « distinguished French engineer, Linant de Bellefonds Pasha, suggested the Silsila 
 « gate of the Nile as a suitable site for a regulating weir: it was another 
 « Frenchman, Count de la Motte who further developed the idea and proposed 
 « a reservoir dam at the same site. Owing to financial difficulties, however, 
 « nothing was done until 1889 when M. Prompt, the French member of the 
 « Egyptian Railway Board, pressed upon the Grovernment the necessity of 
 « studying the question. Mr. Willcocks was then deputed to take up the 
 « project as a whole, not only as regards Grebel Silsila, but also as regards the 
 « entire Nile valley between the 2nd Cataract and Cairo. This report is the 
 « result of his four years study. » 
 
 11. — If the Delta Barrage had been completed in conformity with the 
 project of Mougel Bey, there is no doubt that the question of water storage for 
 summer use would have been solved a long time ago. But the haste with which 
 the work was carried out and other circumstances beyond the control of the 
 engineers prevented the realisation of the head of 4 , 5 metres of water, and it 
 was even found impossible to utilise the existing minimum summer supply ot 
 the Nile. To-day however, thanks to the repairs carried out by the Government 
 engineers, the Barrage can hold up a sufficient head of water to permit of the 
 utilisation of the whole of the available summer supply. No water is allowed 
 to run to waste in either of the Nile branches and yet the demands of the 
 cultivators are not fully met ; it has further been found by observation that in 
 certain years the summer supply of the Nile falls below half the mean minimum. 
 Under these conditions, the jquestion of water storage for agricultural purposes 
 has become a question of capital importance for Egypt and for all those who 
 interest themselves in the well being of the country. 
 
 After having carefully examined and discussed the projects presented by 
 the Government engineers the Commission has formulated its opinion in the 
 accompanying report which we have the honour to address to you. 
 
 We have the honour to be. 
 
 Excellency, 
 
 Your obedient servants. 
 
 AUGUSTE BOULB. 
 
 B. Baker. 
 
 G. TOBRICELLI. 
 
 Cairo, 10th April, 1894. 
 
BEPORT OF THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE WADl-RAYAN. 
 
 12. — According to the calculations of the Reservoir Department, one 
 could take annually from the Nile and discharge into the Wadi Rayan depression 
 5 milliards of cubic metres of water during the winter season ( see note at 
 bottom of page 12, of Mr. Garstin's report) but this would necessitate the 
 construction of a canal between the Nile and the Wadi Rayan of dimensions 
 truly excessive . 
 
 According to the project, out of the 1551 millions of cubic metres considered 
 necessary for Lower Egypt alone, the reservoir could not supply more 
 than 1,280 millions of cubic metres per annum after deducting losses by 
 evaporation. 
 
 Its maximum discharge would be 340 cubic metres per second on the 15th 
 July (Mr. Garstin's report pages 37 and 38). 
 
 It is assumed that the discharge of the Nile varies according to the law 
 indicated by Mr. Garstin (page 37 of his note). 
 
 13. — The feeding canals could discharge each year 2,500 millions of 
 cubic metres and there would remain therefore (2,500 — 1,280) millions or 
 1,220 millions of cubic metres to meet the losses by evaporation and every 
 other source. Is this reserve suflScient ? The Commission cannot give an opinion 
 on this subject for though it can calculate exactly the losses by evaporation, it 
 is impossible to foretell the magnitude of the infiltrations. 
 
 14. — The Commission considers that if the Government accepted the 
 Wadi Rayan project the following plan should be adopted ; a single canal for 
 feeding and discharging, the utilisation of the Bahr Yusuf as an auxiliary feeder, 
 and the alignment known as the Bahr Belama and shown on plan XVI. 
 
 15. — The Commission considers it safer to admit a loss of head of 
 60 centimetres which will necessitate for the part of the canal in the Nile valley 
 a bed width of 70 metres instead of 61 . 
 
 16. — The Commission accepts the proposed side slopes of the section in 
 the valley of the Nile, in the rock cutting and in the salty marls below water 
 
REPORT OP THE ^rECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 
 
 level. Above water level however it prefers for the deep cutting in marl, bermes 
 of 2 metres and slopes of 2 vertical to 1 horizontal instead of 4 vertical to 1 
 horizontal. 
 
 17. — The Commission considers that the prices of 2 piastres and 4 
 piastres per cubic metre respectively are sufficient for the cuttings in sand and 
 clay. In the salty marls and rock cutting however it considers the prices of 5 
 piastres and 8 piastres as too low and proposes raising them to 6 and 1 piastres 
 respectively, in consideration of the fact that the quantities of material to be 
 removed are very great and the depth excessive. 
 
 18. — The Commission is of opinion that the filUng of the depression 
 between the levels of — 42.00 and + 27.00 while the Fayim province lies 
 between + 25.00 and — 42.00 might cause the formation of springs and marshes 
 in the low lands of the Fayum. These springs would necessitate the construction 
 of special drainage works to minimize the damage to the cultivated lands. The 
 loss from infiltration would delay the time of filling of the reservoir and also 
 reduce the amount of water available annually for irrigatioii. The Commission 
 cannot calculate with exactitude the extent of these losses. It thinks that they will 
 be at first considerable and diminish annually owing to the silting up of the smaller 
 springs by the muddy waters of the Nile flood, but if there are considerable 
 fissures (as appears probable) they will never be diminished. 
 
 19. — The Commission thinks that three years as a minimum will be 
 necessary for the execution of the works. The length of time that the filling 
 will take will depend in such a large measure on the extent of the losses by 
 infiltration that it is impossible to estimate it with exactitude. The' Commission 
 thinks however that the necessity of staunching the springs with Nile mud and 
 of quickly filling the reservoir, will oblige the Government to fill the reservoir 
 during flood time only when the water is charged with deposit. The Commission 
 cannot therefore affirm that the reservoir will be able to work in 10 years 
 even if the sections of the canals are a maximum. 
 
 20. — The Commission is of opinion that the establishment of a reservoir 
 in the Wadi Rayan can have no effects other than favourable as far as the 
 sanitary conditions of the country are concerned. As to the quantity of salt 
 which is likely to be contained in the water the Commission adopts the views 
 expressed by Rogers Pasha in his note of 1894. 
 
 21. — The Commission has obtained from Mr. Willcocks comparative 
 estimates of the cost of the works necessary for the establishment of a reservoir 
 in the Wadi Rayan : — 
 
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 
 
 Estimates of cost of the Wadi Rayan Reservoir. 
 
 22. — (1) Approximate estimate made by Major Brown and adopted 
 by Mr. Garstin for the project proposed by him : — 
 
 L.E. 2,718,420. 
 
 (2) Estimate of the same canal based on the longitudinal section recently 
 taken by Mr. Willcocks, and at the rates mentioned in his report : — 
 
 L.E. 3,069,750. 
 
 (3) Estimate of the same canal calculated by Mr. Willcocks after the 
 modifications Introduced by the Commission in both dimensions and rates : — 
 
 L.E. 8,707,880. 
 
 23. — To this sum however there should be added, for the Assiout Weir 
 
 and for the works needed to utilise the water, a further sum of L.E. 2,550,000(^). 
 
 "This raises the total to L.E. 6,242,880 not including the new drainage cut parallel 
 
 to the Bahr Yusuf which Major Brown has mentioned in the last paragraph of 
 
 his note dated 15th November 1893 Appendix XL 
 
 The Commission accepts Major Brown's opinion as to the necessity of the 
 drain, but it does not dispose of the means necessary to calculate the additional 
 cost of this drainage cut. The price per metre cube of water would be : — 
 
 624,288,000 _ 
 1,280,000,000 "^ ^/^ ^\^iv& 
 or 1 7/ per cubic metre of water stored. The Commission does not consider 
 this figure as too high, but it is of opinion that it is very unfortunate that the 
 Wady Rayan cannot supply Middle Egypt with water, since according to the 
 reports presented to the Commission, the benefits to Lower Egypt are far inferior 
 to those accruing to Middle or Upper Egypt. These benefits are the following: — 
 Increase of yield : — 
 
 Lower Egypt L.E. 3,390,000 
 
 Middle Egypt > 4,686,000 
 
 Upper Egypt » 4,637,255 
 
 Increase of revenue : — 
 
 Lower Egypt L.E. 270,400 
 
 Middle Egypt » 571,750 
 
 24. — Before coming to any conclusion on the Wadi Rayan project, the 
 Commission considered it advisable to invite Mr. Cope Whitehouse as Mr. 
 Garstin had suggested in page 41 of his note. It heard all that Mr. Cope White- 
 house had to say at the meeting of the 27th March. At the end of the meeting 
 he asked the Commission to examine the five following questions : 
 
 (1) Sum indicated by Mr. GursUri on page 52 of his note. 
 
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 9 
 
 (1) Would it be possible by means of a canal tailing into the Lulu depres- 
 sion to utilise the Wadi Rayan for the drainage of the provinces near Beni 
 Suef on the supposition that basin irrigation were in existence ? In this case the 
 drainage water would evaporate each summer just as the drainage water of the 
 Fayum which is collected in lake Qurun is evaporated. 
 
 (2) If the basin irrigation of Middle Egypt were replaced by perennial 
 irrigation it would be an absolute necessity to find a drainage receptacle. Could 
 the Wady Rayan be utilised ? 
 
 (3) Has the Wadi Rayan any value as a means of diOiinishing the heights 
 of dangerous floods ? 
 
 (4) Could the Lulu depression be utilised as an independent reservoir or as 
 a reservoir and drainage receptacle together ? 
 
 (5) Neglecting the question of first cost (which can be calculated later or 
 when the complete project is ready) could the Wadi Rayan be utilised as a 
 storage reservoir for Nile water in order to increase perennial irrigation ? 
 
 25. — The proceedings of the meeting which Mr. Cope Whitehouse had 
 attended was forwarded to him for revision and completion at his leisure. 
 
 26. — The Commission however did not judge it convenient to acquaint 
 him with its answers to his questions. The answers were formulated in the 
 meeting of the 4th April. With respect to the two first questions Major Brown 
 (Appendix XI page 21) has recognised that the Wadi Rayan could be utilised for 
 the drainage of Middle Egypt and the part of Upper Egypt north of Suhag. The 
 Commission io accepting this opinion remarks that this is a project quite different 
 from those which have been referred to it. The study of this project is foreign 
 to its mission and it has neither the means nor the time to study and calculate 
 its cost or to estimate its value to the country. 
 
 With respect to the 3rd question it may be stated that on page 42 of 
 Mr. Garstin's note it is recorded that Col. Ross, Major Brown and Mr. Foster 
 have all studied the possibility of utilising the Wadi Rayan as a reservoir for 
 the surplus discharge of high flood, and have all come to a conclusion unfavour- 
 able to the project. Col. Ross has given it as his opinion that any discharge 
 under 60 millions of cubic metres per day for the feeder canal and 40 millions 
 of cubic metres per day for the Bahr Yusuf would be of no use and Mr. Garstin 
 on page 42 estimates that these discharges would require a canal with a capacity 
 double that of the canal studied by Mr. Willcocks. According to Mr. Foster 
 (Appendix 12) it would be necessary to diminish the discharges of the high Nile 
 floods by 185,000,000 cubic metres per day in order to insure a high flood not 
 rising above 24 pics at Cairo, and if a smaller supply were sent down the Wadi 
 Rayan canal the high floods would still be a source of danger for Lower Egypt. 
 Major Brown (Appendix XI, page 1 9) gives it as his opinion that if the Wadi Rayan 
 
10 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 
 
 were utilised as a flood moderator the benefits would not compensate the first 
 cost and the cost of maintenance. The Commission adheres to this opinion but 
 remarks that it does not possess the information necessary for calculating the 
 advantages to be gained or the expenditure to be incurred. 
 
 The fourth question again would demand new studies and a new project. 
 The expense as well as the profits would be less than those of the complete 
 project, but the Commission can formulate no opinion until the project has been 
 thoroughly studied. 
 
 With respect to the fifth question the Commission thinks that even if the cost 
 of construction were left on one side the question could not have been answered 
 without knowledge of the studies and levels which have been made by the 
 Grovernment Engineers ; but in all questions of public works it is impossible to 
 leave on one side the first cost of construction. Before undertaking a work of 
 any kind the relation between expense and returns must be calculated. 
 
 27. — The conclusion come to by the Commission is as follows : — 
 The Commission is of opinion that the project of the Wadi Rayan reservoir 
 as prepared by Mr. Willcocks for Mr. Garstin would not realise the end which 
 the Grovernment proposes, as the discharge of the proposed canal would be 
 insufficient. The Commission has indicated approximately the dimensions 
 which should be given to the canal and according to the new estimate made 
 by Mr. Willcocks on this base the Wadi Rayan reservoir and its complimentary 
 works in Lower Egypt would cost L. E. 6,242,880. This sum corresponds 
 to a price of y^ piastre per metre cube of water stored. 
 
 This figure is not too high, yet the Commission cannot advise the Grovern- 
 ment to transform the Wadi Rayan into a reservoir as it might be a source 
 of danger for the Fayum province if serious infiltrations and springs were to 
 be formed, and also because the reservoir could only supply water to Lower 
 Egypt while the estimated benefits of a r-eservoir which could serve Upper and 
 Middle Egypt are far greater than those of a reservoir serving Lower Egypt 
 alone. 
 
RKPORT OP THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. H 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 RESERVOIRS IN THE VALLEY OF THE NILE. 
 
 28. — The different projects for the construction of a dam at some point 
 of the Nile north of Wadi Haifa for the purpose of forming a storage reservoir 
 in the valley of the river itself have heen discussed by the Commission at great 
 length and with a full appreciation of the magnitude of the interests involved. 
 The members of the Commission regret that although they are in accord on 
 some important points they are at variance on others no less important and 
 are thus unable to present a unanimous report. Under these circumstances it 
 has been found convenient to [divide the Report into two sections dealing in 
 Part I, with the questions on which they are in accord, and in Part II, with 
 those on which they are at variance. 
 
 29. — The difference in opinion between the members of the Commission 
 arises chiefly in connection with the last of the 5 questions to be considered by 
 the Technical Commission as set forth in the note of the Under Secretary of 
 State, viz : — « A selection from among the different projects which have 
 « been submitted for the information of the Egyptian Grovernment » . Sir Ben- 
 jamin Baker and Mr. Torricelli find no difficulty in making the desired selection 
 if certain modifications suggested by them are introduced into the designs. 
 M. Boule is not at present prepared to make any definite recommendation, but 
 desires further studies of the whole question. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 30. — The Commission is in accord on the following important points : 
 
 (a) That the valley of the Nile itself offers many advantages over the 
 
 "Wadi Rayan as the site of a storage reservoir. 
 
 (&) That the dam should not be solid, but have openings controlled by 
 
 sluices of sufficient area to pass the heaviest floods. 
 
 (c) That there are no engineering difficulties in constructing such a dam 
 in the Nile valley and securing its permanent stability. 
 
 (d) That there are no sanitary objections to such a reservoir. 
 
12 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 
 
 31. — (a) The Commission finds itself in accord with Mr. Garstin 
 and Mr. Willcocks in considering the Nile valley in Nubia as a superior 
 storage reservoir to the Wadi Rayan. It adheres to the opinion ex- 
 pressed by Mr. Garstin (page 32 of his note) on the subject of the advan- 
 tages enjoyed by a Nile reservoir over a reservoir in the Wadi Rayan, and 
 again on page 39 on the impossibility of foretelling with exactitude the 
 effect which the discharge of the Wadi Rayan reservoir canal would have 
 on the Nile as it depended on the early or late arrival of the flood. 
 After the table on page 37 of Mr. Garstin's note the necessary discharge 
 for Lower Egypt on the 15th July would be 54 millions of metres cube per day, 
 and the Wadi Rayan Canal could discharge as a maximum 29 millions of metres 
 cube per day. If the discharge of the flood at that time happened to be less 
 than 25 millions of metres cube per day, the Lower Egypt, supply could not be 
 maintained. This diificulty would never be experienced in a reservoir 
 established in the valley of the Nile as the dam sluices \vould permit of a 
 complete control over the discharge of the river. The Commission adds these 
 further advantages : the complete renewal of the whole of the contents of the 
 reservoir every year would insure it against a gradual accumulation of salt : 
 there would be no interference with the existing drainage and irrigation systems 
 of the country downstream of the reservoir, which could not be avoided at the 
 Wadi Rayan : the whole of Egypt, and not Lower Egypt alone, would be 
 provided with perennial irrigation : a Nubian reservoir would be less expensive 
 than the Wadi Rayan : the construction of a Nubian reservoir by means of a 
 dam would place at the disposal of the Government an immense amount of water 
 power in a position , where it could be readily and economically utilised : and 
 finally, the augmentation of the summer discharge of the Nile would constitute 
 a just gain to navigation. 
 
 32. — (b) The Government proposes a dam provided with numerous and 
 very large undersluices_ which would pass the entire flood waters heavily 
 charged as they would be with deposit. The Commission recognises the 
 necessity of such a work in order that the muddy waters of the Nile flood mi«>ht 
 traverse the dam without parting with the matter held in suspension^ as it is on 
 this matter that the richness of Egypt in great part depends. The Commission 
 is of opinion that any solid dam, which closed the Nile valley and raised very 
 considerably the level of the Nile in flood would result in a silting up of the 
 reservoir and hurt severely the irrigation system of Egypt. It is clearly proved 
 in the report that the Nile in winter has abundance of water to spare for storao-e 
 and subsequent use in summer, and the table given in Rogers Pasha's report 
 shows how gradually and easily this can be done without any serious disturbance 
 of the regime of the Nile. 
 
REPORT ON THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 13 
 
 33. — (c) The Commission is of opinion that a dam pierced l\y under- 
 sluices could be constructed in the valley of the Nile and that it would present 
 no difficulty which the science of engineering could not master. The building 
 materials at hand are good and reliable, and those to be imported from Europe 
 could be easily and economically transported to the site of the work. Such a work 
 could be made so secure that its permanent stability would be assured, and it 
 would be absolutely no source of danger to the country. 
 
 34. — {d) Rogers Pasha, the Director General of the Sanitary Depart- 
 ment, has published a report on the sanitary aspect of the proposed Nubian 
 reservoirs and the Commission accepts completely the following conclusions 
 enumerated in the note of Rogers Pasha dated March 1894. 
 
 (a) The summer discharge of the Nile, downstream of the reservoir, will be 
 augmented from the 5th May to the 25th July, and this will constitute a gain 
 to the country from a sanitary point of view. 
 
 (6) The winter discharge of the river, during the iilUng of the reservoir, 
 will be diminished, but not to an extent sufficiently great to prejudice the public 
 health. 
 
 (c) The quality of the water in the Nile and in the reservoir will gradually 
 deteriorate as the summer advances, but this deterioration will be less than 
 that which takes place now that there is no reservoir. 
 
 (d) Special precautions should be taken to prevent the pollution of the 
 reservoir, and the Commission points to the removal of the cemetries as one of 
 the precautions which should be adopted (mentioned in paragraph 24 of Rogers 
 Pasha's note). 
 
 35. — Finally (paragraph 41) Rogers Pasha suggests the appointment 
 of a sanitary specialist, and the Commission leave the consideration of this 
 question to the Grovernment itself. 
 
 (Signed) : B. Baker 
 
 G. TORRICELLI 
 AUGUSTE BOULE (') 
 
 (1) With the reserve that on the invitation of my colleagues I shall forward a separate report on the 
 questions which concern the 2nd part of the report. I have already given my opinion of the different 
 questions in the meetings of the Commission, I reserve to myself the power of condensing what I have 
 said there, but I cannot do this without final copies of the proceedings approved of by the Commission. 
 When I have received such a copy I shall prepare my own report in continuation of the preceeding one. 
 
Report of Sir Benjamin Baker and of Mr. G. Torricelli on 
 question 5 of the Note of Under Secretary of State , as 
 foUo'wing' : — «■ A selection from among the different projects which 
 have been submitted for the information of the Egyptian Government » . 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 RESERVOIRS IN THE NILE VALLEY. 
 
 PART 11. 
 
 The 
 inforzuation 
 in the hands 
 
 of the 
 CommiSBion 
 
 1 . — The majority of the Commission composed of Sir Benjamin Baker 
 and Signer Torricelli is of opinion that the studies of the Nile valley and of the 
 reservoir question in general by the large staff of Government engineers employed 
 on this work during the past four years, coupled with the personal inspection is sufficient 
 of the river up to Wadi Haifa made by the Commission itself, renders it *°°"^'"® 
 
 X t/ ? It to come 
 
 possible for them to make at once a selection from the different projects t°a decision 
 submitted for their consideration . 
 
 2. — As regards the design and construction of any dam across the Nile 
 valley the majority of the Commission is of opinion that the absolute security 
 of the work must be the first consideration. The conditions to insure this are : — 
 
 (1) A solid rock foundation to support the masonry and to resist the action 
 of the water. 
 
 (2) A considerable length of dam so that the openings may not be close 
 together, that the stability of the work may approach as nearly as possible to 
 that of a solid dam, and that at the same time, the action of the water may not be 
 concentrated but be distributed over a great width of the river bed. 
 
 (3) Shallow water so that the total height of the dam above the foundation 
 may be as small as possible . 
 
 The majority of the Commission considers that there is no site in the Nile 
 valley between Cairo and Wadi Haifa, complying with the preceeding conditions, 
 except the site indicated by the Grovernment engineers at the head of the 1st 
 cataract downstream of Philse island, and it unhesitatingly recommends the 
 adoption of that site. 
 
 5 
 
 Essential 
 conditions 
 
 for a 
 
 reservoir 
 
 dam. 
 
 Assuan 
 cataract. 
 
16 
 
 REPORT OP THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 
 
 3. — Two other sites have been taken into consideration by the Govern- 
 ment. They are Silsila and Kalabsha. 
 
 Sllsila. 
 
 4. — The majority of the Commission considers the Nubian sandstone at 
 Silsila w^ith its strata of clay, which could be dissolved and removed under a 
 great head of water as unfit for a dam over 10 metres in height. For an open 
 dam, such as those proposed for the Nile, they reject the Nubian sandstone as 
 absolutely unsafe. 
 
 Kalabsha. 5. — As regards Kalabsha it is of opinion that although the rock is 
 
 all that could be desired, the great depth of the water and the narrowness of the 
 river render the construction of a dam practically impossible on account of its 
 immense cost. During the working season the depth of water would be over 
 22 metres and cofferdams as proposed by the Government would be an impossi- 
 bility. The foundations would have to be put in by compressed air, and as the 
 dam would have a final height of 49 metres and be subjected to water pressure, 
 the class of work would be enormously expensive. In addition to this, it would 
 be necessary to execute extensive tunnels and cuttings through the granite hills 
 to provide the waterway, and this again would be costly. 
 
 The best 6. -r- As rcgards the general design of the dam the maiority of the 
 
 solution is a . . i> • i ^ J J 
 
 single dam. Commissiou approves of a smgle dam as proposed by Government. It is of 
 opinion that the only means of storing, in Egyptian territory, the large 
 quantity of water needed for the perennial irrigation of Egypt is the 
 construction of a high level reservoir. 
 
 Principles ' 7. — While the majority of the Commission accepts in principle the 
 foitowelin Government project of a single dam, it proposes the following rules and 
 a^relerlX ^lodifications of some of the Government proposals in order to insure the 
 dam. absolute stability of the work : — 
 
 (1) The maximum height of the open dam to be 35 metres and never 
 greater. This is also the maximum adopted by the Government engineers. 
 
 (2) The maximum head of water to be 25 metres as proposed by Go- 
 vei'nment. 
 
 (3) The widths of the openings to be 2 metres as proposed by Government, 
 but the widths of piers to be 5 metres instead of 3 metres. 
 
 (4) The dam in plan to follow the arc of a circle between each group of 10 
 openings. 
 
 Between each pair of groups there must be a massive abutment pier. This 
 pier must be wide enongh and long enough to resist by itself the thrust of one 
 of the arches neglecting the support received from the adjacent one. 
 
REPORT OP THE TECHNICAL GOiMMISSION ON THE NILR RESERVOIRS. 17 
 
 (5) The maximum pressure on each pier of 7 metres must be everywhere 
 5 kilogrammes per square centimetre and there must be no tension anywhere. 
 The calculation of each pier must be made independently of the support received 
 from the dam between the piers when the calculations for the "full reservoir" 
 are being made. For the "empty reservoir" calculations the dam between the 
 piers will be considered. The water level must be taken as 3 metres above the 
 maximum full water level of the reservoir to allow for waves and accidental 
 rising of the water surface. 
 
 (6) Each 2 metre wide opening is to consist of 2 sluices. Each sluice to be 
 3.75 metres high with one immediately above the other. The area of waterway 
 of the two sluices, or of one opening, to be exactly 14 square metres. 
 
 (7) Each opening to be regulated by a sluice gate 8"'X2"'. 
 
 (8) In the Government designs the sluices are lined with granite ashlar, but 
 the majority of the Commission is of opinion that cast iron, 35 millimetres in 
 thickness, would be far preferable. The employment of cast iron would not 
 necessitate the importation of much skilled labour from abroad, it would permit 
 of a far more perfect joint between the sluice and the regulating apparatus ; and 
 its use would reduce the time needed to build the dam . 
 
 (9) Each cast iron pipe at its downstream end would project beyond the 
 dam and be splayed horizontally, and divided into 3 sprays, so as to break up 
 and scatter the water evenly over the rock downstream of the dam. 
 
 (10) To pass the minimum summer supply with the reservoir full there 
 would be 2 small apertures in each gate, one opposite the centre of each sluice. 
 By providing simple grooves outside, it would be possible to close these aper- 
 tures if necessary with small wooden panels. 
 
 Cast iron linings would not be more expensive than granite ashlar, while 
 the time needed to dress and build the granite ashlar would be three times that 
 needed to cast and put up the pipes. 
 
 8. — The majority of the Commission accepts as reasonable the proposal waterway 
 to pass the mean maximum discharge of 10,000 cubic metres per second with a °**®'^'"- 
 head of 2 metres. It is of opinion that a constant of.78 in the formula v=:c \y2JT1 
 should be taken to calculate the head on the dam, neglecting the velocity of 
 approach as the Government engineers have done. This would give for a head 
 of water of 2 metres on the dam, a velocity of 1.8 metres per second and a 
 submerged waterway of 2,100 square metres for a maximum flood. In addition 
 to the 2,100 square metres of waterway it admits the necessity of an additional 
 waterway of 300 square metres in high level sluices to insure the low level 
 sluices not working under a greater head than 11 metres. The total area of 
 waterway thus becomes 2,400 square metres (paragaph 32 of Mr.Willcocks' 
 report). 
 
18 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 
 
 of dam 
 necessary 
 
 Length 9. — In order to provide 2400 square metres of waterway there should be 
 
 in the dam 170 openings of 14 metres each. These would necessitate a minimum 
 length of dam of 1275 metres approximately under the conditions imposed : — 
 
 Width of openings 1 70 X 2 = 340 m. 
 
 » of piers 153 X 5 = 765 » 
 
 » of abutment piers 17 X 10 = 170 » 
 
 = 1.275 m. 
 
 Cost oi the ^Q — ^j, Willcocks has calculated approximately a dam answering 
 
 Aasuan dam. j. x 1/ o 
 
 to the conditions laid down by the majority of the Commission. The head of 
 
 water on the floor is 22 metres and the width of the base of the dam is 22 
 
 metres. He has further calculated the approximate cost of such a work at 
 
 Assuan, the only site where it could be constructed. In these calculations he 
 
 has allowed for the lock being placed on the left flank as proposed by Mr". 
 
 Garstin and accepted by the Commission : — 
 
 Cost of works L.E. 1 .505.000 
 
 Compensation » 350 . 000 
 
 Raising or removing Philse » 200 . 000 
 
 L .E. 2.055.000 
 ( For details see appendices ) . 
 
 11. — The majority of the Commission is of opinion that it will be 
 convenient first to criticize and show the groundlessness of certain objections 
 which have been made to the project of a single dam as proposed by the 
 Government and accepted by it ; and then to show that this is the only means 
 possible for storing the necessary supply of water with economy and security. 
 
 Objections 12. — It has been stated that a reservoir with a single dam has many 
 
 raised against ... „ ,, " 
 
 a single dam. great inconveniences, as follows : — 
 
 (1) « The great number of openings 2 ■". wide and 7 metres high will neces- 
 « sitate a dam longer than the one proposed by Mr. Willcocks and in conse- 
 quence more expensive. » 
 
 (2) « The precaution of lining the openings with cast iron proves that 
 « the water will be discharged at a very high velocity. This high velocity is a 
 « necessity if the enormous discharge, in certain years of 14,000 cubic metres 
 « per second, is to be taken through the dam without exaggerating the leno-th 
 « of the dam. » 
 
 (3) « It will be necessary that the water at the dam be headed up suffi- 
 « ciently to produce this velocity through the sluices, and in consequence the level 
 « of the water surface will be raised upstream of the dam, the wetted section 
 « will be increased and the velocity of the Nile diminished to a considerable 
 « distance upstream of the Barrage > ('). 
 
 (1) Proceedings of the 15lh March. 
 
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 19 
 
 13. — ' 1) The length of the dam at Assuan proposed by the ma- Refutation 
 jority of the Commission, is exactly the same as that proposed by the objection to a 
 Government. The modifications introduced by the former result in a better °'°^'* ***'"• 
 distribution of the openings, with wider piers and a greater power of scattering 
 the water as it issues from the undersluices. The length of the dam will be 
 unaltered and the cost in consequence will not be increased. The increase of cost 
 owing to the modifications of the Commission has nothing to do with the length 
 of the dam, it is owing to the fact that the maximum pressures has been lowered 
 from 6.5 kilogrammes per square centimetre to 5 kilogrammes per square 
 centimetre, and the water surface has been raised 3 metres. 
 
 14. — 2) The majority of the Commission thinks that velocities of 4 
 metres per second in mean maximum floods and of 7 metres per second in times 
 of extraordinary flood, are absolutely safe for cast iron pipes. In existing dams, 
 notably at Nira, velocities are much higher than those quoted, and they 
 traverse sluices lined, not with cast iron, but with granite. The objection to a 
 single dam on this head is groundless. 
 
 15. — 3) The majority of the Commission thinks that a head of water 
 of 1.75 metres in August, when the Nile is heavily charged with deposit, of 
 2 metres during the interval of a mean maximum flood and of 4 metres during 
 extraordinary floods which come only 2 or 3 times for a few days during a 
 period of 20 years, will not cause a silting up of the reservoir sufficiently serious 
 to modify the capacity ot the reservoir or hurt the agriculture of Egypt by 
 depriving the water of deposit. The bed of the Nile will be slightly raised, but 
 as the water in the reservoir will not be utilised below a level 4 metres above 
 the present minimum summer, the small amount of mud deposit will in no way 
 affect the capacity of the reservoir. 
 
 16. — It has been stated that if the water be not stored by means of a Regulating 
 single dam, it could be stored in any of the three following methods. — '^*'"" 
 
 (1) By means of a series of low level regulating weirs (') in the Nile 
 between Cairo and Silsila. 
 
 (2) By means of a sucession of three mean level regulating weirs, holding 
 up from 10 to 15 metres of water, at Silsila, Assuan and Kalabsha, and provided 
 with longitudinal banks along the Nile pretecting the villages and the fields f ). 
 
 (3) By means of « a succession of regulating weirs, so arranged that each 
 € of them only supports 72 > 'Aj o^' ^ven less of the whole head. By this means 
 « one might construct for example a reservoir at the 1st Cataract : the first dam 
 
 (1) These regulating weirs are supposed to have their floors at low summer level, their openings 
 perfectly open from the floor to the crest, and to be regulated by gates the whole way up. 
 
 (2) Proceedings ot 3rd April. 
 
20 
 
 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 
 
 « would be constructed downstream of the cataract, this dam could raise the 
 « water surface without inundating Philae ; a second dam would be constructed 
 « upstream of the island ; and a third ^at Kalabsha raising the water surface if 
 « necessary to R. L. 118.00, or even to a higher level so as to insure the 
 « irrigation of the whole of Egypt. 
 
 « Each of these weirs will support a moderate head of water and will be 
 « constructed easily and economically, in a manner similar to that at the head 
 « of the Delta. Since the pressures will not be serious, there will be no necessity 
 « to concern oneself about either the natuz-e of the ground or of the foundation, 
 « or the quality of the materials or the kind of regulating gate. Having « a consi- 
 « derable waterway during flood, it will be as short as possible. 
 
 « The Delta Barrage which I propose to imitate consists of piers 3 metres 
 « wide separated by openings 5 metres A^ide ( the relation of its closed to the 
 « open part is y^ = .60). It results from this that the regulating weirs which 
 « I propose, but whose details need otherwise a lengthened study, will have 
 « only a length of about 500 or 600 metres, practically the width of the Nile, 
 « of which only 200 or 210 metres will be closed with masonry. It is true that 
 « the sectional width of the foundations will be at least double that of a solid 
 « dam, and the piers will have probably double the length of the piers separa- 
 « ting the openings proposed by Mr. Willcocks or by Messrs. Torricelli and 
 « Baker in their reservoir dam » . 
 
 Refutation 17. — 1) lu the Nile vallcy Itself lo the uorth of Silsila, the Government 
 
 proposed ^^ represented by the Ministry of Public Works, would never permit the 
 regulating constructlou of dams or weirs raising the water surface to greater height than 
 5 metres at each work. A greater head that this would interfere with the subsoil 
 drainage into the trough of the Nile of the low lands far removed from the river 
 and would thus transform into a marsh a great part of Upper Egypt. In 
 addition to this, weirs holding up a greater head of water than 5 metres on the 
 finiesand of the Nile, would not be worthy of confidence. Weirs holding up 5 
 metres of water would be capable of storing individually (allowing for losses by 
 evaporation) 90 millions cubic metres and would cost L. B. 800,000 each 
 according to Mr. Willcocks' figures. This is also the cost of the Assiout weir 
 which is included in the Wadi Rayan project. In order to supply the 2,500 
 millions of cubic metres of water needed for Middle and Lower Eo-ypt, it would 
 be necessary to construct 27 of these weii^s at a cost of L. E. 22,000,000 which 
 is absurd. In addition to this the distance between Cairo and Silsila would not 
 suffice for more than 12 of these weirs which could store 1,100 millions of cubic 
 metres of water at a cost of L, E. 10,000,000. Between Cairo and Wadi Haifa 
 it would be possible to construct 20 of these weirs with a storage capacity of 
 1,800 millions of cubic metres of water and at a cost of L.E. 16,000 000 
 approximately. It may be safely concluded from all that precedes that the above 
 system of water storage is an impossibility. 
 
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 21' 
 
 18. — 2) A weir at Silsila with a head of 10 metres and longitudinal banks 
 holding up 2 metres of water ; another weir at the 1 st cataract with a head of 
 10 metres which would not submerge Philse island and a third weir at Kalabsha 
 with a head of 15 metres and longitudinal banks holding up 3 metres of water, 
 would store up between them 1,250 millions of cubic metres, while the quantity 
 of water necesssary for Middle and Upper Egypt is 2,500 millions. They would 
 consequently be insufficient, and, after the calculations of Mr. Willcocks, 
 would cost far more than a dam at Assuan which would store 2,500 millions 
 of cubic metres of water. In addition to this the majority of the Commission 
 thinks that it is impossible to construct at Silsila a weir or dam with a head of 
 10 metres, whose foundations do not go down to the living rock. The living 
 rock at Silsila is not niet with at a depth of even 20 or 25 metres below low 
 summer water level of the Nile. The majority of the Commission thinks that 
 longitudinal banks holding up 2 or 3 metres of water above the level of the 
 cultivated land would cause serious infiltrations which would thus transform 
 into a marsh the country which they were designed to protect. These conside- 
 rations suffice to reject this system of regulating weirs. 
 
 19. — (1 and 2) A combination of 12 low level regulating weirs between 
 Cairo and Silsila and of 3 mean level regulating weirs at Silsila, Assuan and 
 Kalabsha could provide 2,500 millions of cubic metres of water and would 
 cost approximately L. E. 13,000,000 according to Mr. Willcocks' calculations. 
 
 20. — 3) The system of three high level regulating weirs up and downstream 
 of Philae island and at Kalabsha has been studied by Mr. "Willcocks and 
 calculated according to the details furnished in the proceedings of 15th March 
 and 3rd April. (Mr. Willcocks, while making these calculations, does not 
 consider himself responsible for the security of a regulating weir with a total 
 height of 46 metres, of which 2Q metres at least is piers and openings, he finds 
 that the cost of the three weirs will not be under L. E. 4,950,000 and the 
 water stored will be 2,500 millions of cubic metres ) . 
 
 21 . — With respect to this project, the majority of the Commission is 
 of opinion that the essential condition of any design is the assurance that 
 there will be absolute security, and this can only be obtained by the construction 
 of a weir approaching as nearly as possible a solid dam. Should any accident 
 happen to any part of such a work, the damage would be confined to that 
 part and would consequently be insignificant. The majority of the Commission 
 cannot on principle accept regulating weirs of the proposed type for reservoir 
 dams of great height, because the failure of a single opening or of a single pier 
 25 metres in height and 3 metres in width would be followed by the destruction 
 of the whole work and the failure of one weir would carry with it the failure 
 
22 REPORT OP THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIBS. 
 
 of the other two. The failure of the regulating apparatus of a single opening 
 would allow an immense volume of water animated by very great velocity to 
 force its way through the opening and, by its shock and lateral pressure on the 
 two adjacent piers, to overthrow them. Their fall would be followed by that of 
 the other piers in their immeditate neighbourhood. In India there have been 
 examples of the destruction ( for the same reason, viz : lateral pressure and the 
 shock of water escaping at a great velocity) of regulating weirs with piers only 
 5 metres high and with a width far greater in proposition to their height than 
 those of the weirs now under consideration. 
 
 22. — The majority of the Commission does not think that there will be 
 any difficulty in providing for navigation on account of the great height of the 
 lockgates, but should there be it will be the same in the case of one or of 
 three regulating weirs. This supposed difficulty cannot therefore be in any 
 way an argument in favour of the system of three dams. An argument 
 in favour of three weirs has elsewhere been advanced that they will not raise 
 the water surfece in flood time while the single dam proposed by Government 
 will. The majority of the Commission is of opinion that a waterway of 4,000 
 square metres for each of the three weirs will produce a joint head with 75 per cent 
 of that of a single dam with a waterway of 2, 100 square metres. In consequence 
 the increased waterway does not constitute a real advantage. The majority of 
 the Commission cannot accept the fact that a regulating weir 46 metres in 
 height with 25 metres depth of water on the floor as a minimum and which may 
 be called on to support a head of water of from 7 to 10 metres, and immediately 
 downstream of it another weir 48 metres in height with 18 metres height of 
 piers as a minimum and a head of water of 8 metres, that such works can be 
 built on any kind of foundation and do not need a solid rock foundation. If such 
 works were not built on the solidest rock foundation they would be undermined 
 and swept away the instant they were subjected to water pressure. 
 
 Conclusion,. 23. — The majority of the Commission in summing up, expresses its 
 
 opinion that no project based on the principle of numerous lo^v level regulating 
 weirs to the north of Silsila, or of mean level regulating weirs at Silsila, Assuan 
 and Kalabsha, or a combination of the two systems, or on the principle of a 
 succession of high level regulating weirs can be accepted by it. It has examined 
 all these projects one by one and shown that there exists no well founded reason 
 for advising the Government to invite competitive designs from all the engineers 
 and contractors of the world. Such a decision on the part of the Government 
 would delay considerably the construction of the reservoir, and in the end 
 it would be compelled by the necessities of the case to adopt a single 
 dam at the Assuan Cataract, which is itself the result of 4 years study. The 
 Government has before it a good project, worthy of all confidence, a project, 
 
REPORT OP THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 23 
 
 which, even the member of the Commission diflfering from the majoritj considers 
 « realisable)) although he «cannotassociatehimself with any proposition for inund- 
 
 < ating or even modifying in any manner whatsoever the relics of the Temples 
 * and other buildings raised in ancient times on the island of PhilcB, because, in 
 
 < doing so, he would be certain to be despised, not only by his own countrymen, 
 « but by the public opinion of the whole of Europe » . 
 
 24. — Neglecting the question of Philse ('), a question on which the 
 Government has not asked the Commission for an opinion, the majority of the 
 Commission recommends a single dam pierced by numerous sluices lined with 
 cast iron, as the best and safest solution of the question of reservoirs. It 
 accepts also the Assuan cataract as the best site. It persists in its belief that there 
 is no necessity for it to advise the Grovernment to make further studies in order 
 to discover better projects or better sites, for it is convinced they do not exist. 
 
 25. — The majority of the Commission has laid down the general prin- The cost 
 ciples on Vhich, in its opinion, the final designs of the dam should be made. stoTa^.' 
 With full confidence, it leaves to the Government engineers, the task of fixing 
 
 the dimensions after the general lines followed by Mr. Willeocks in the 
 preparation of his preliminary project, a preliminary project which he has 
 submitted to the Commission at the meeting of the 24th March and on which 
 he has based his approximate estimate of cost of L. E. 2,055,000 (including 
 a sum of L. E. 200,000 for the raising or removing of Philae temple. 
 
 Cost of reservoir L. E. 2,055,000 
 
 Cost of the Assiout weir and other neces- 
 sary works for utilising the water » 3,001,000 
 
 Total L. E. 5,056,000 
 
 The cost of storage would then be — i '- =W. of a piastre or W/ D''m' 
 
 ^ 2,550,000,000 ^ ^ ^ 
 
 This price is very moderate and less than half that of the water stored in 
 the Wadi Rayan. 
 
 B. Baker. 
 
 G. TORRICELLI. 
 
 10th April, 1894. 
 
 (1) See the appendices which contain the opinion of Sir Benjamin Baker on the practicability of 
 raising Philse above the highest water level of the reservoir. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 RESERVOIRS IN THE NILE VALLEY. 
 
 PART II. [Continued]. 
 
 REPORT OF M. BOULfi, 
 
 ESISPEOTOB GE^fBRAL 
 
 AND MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL OF THE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT, PARIS. 
 
 [ Translated from the French. ] 
 
REPORT OF M. A. BOULE. 
 
 The Secretary General of the Public Works Ministry in Egypt, did me the objeot 
 honour of telegraphing to me on the 23rd November 1893 and asking me if I ^^ "eport 
 were prepared to be a member of a Commission about to meet at Cairo for the 
 examination of projects for reservoirs in the Nile valley. It was proposed to 
 store the water in flood and distribute it among the irrigation canals in summer, 
 in order to increase summer cultivation. 
 
 I was at once fascinated by the great importance of these projects ; it 
 seemed to me that they had for their object the undertaking of the vast project ot 
 the amelioration of the Nile which Count de la Motte had brought before the 
 geographical society of Paris in 1880. The realisation of this great idea would 
 have necessitated, it is true, a long interval of time and a considerable capital. 
 M. de la Motte, however, proposed making the works and spending the money 
 gradually and slowly in canalising the Nile progressively from the north up to 
 the great lakes of Central Africa, so that the cataracts might be rendered 
 navigable, and the Nile and its canals would be mastered at the same time. 
 The discharges of both Nile and canals would then be regulated according to 
 the requirements of agriculture and navigation. 
 
 This grand programme had been the theme ot the publications of the 
 " Societe d' etudes du Nil" at Paris, and of the papers read, at the Egyptian 
 Institute by Mr. Prompt ; it had been the cause of expeditions made to Egypt 
 by Messrs. Jacquet and Fargue, all three inspectors general and members of 
 Councils of the Public Works Department of France, and to it are attributable 
 the studies of many other French engineers, such as Mr. Leygue and Mr. Baudot 
 (see the historic note on the projects anterior to those of the Government 
 annexed to the report, and the proceedings of the meetings of the 26th and 
 28th March). 
 
 Struck, I say, by the importance of these ideas and of the difficulty of 
 realising them, I did not hesitate to accept the mission which was offered me 
 in the name of the Egyptian Government, under the sole reserve of the requisite 
 permission being obtained from the Minister of Public Works, under whom 
 I held my appointment in France. 
 
 I thought myself justified in my acceptance by my great experience on works, 
 having devoted almost the whole of my career in the French Public Works 
 Department to the execution of works for the canalisation of the Seine, and in 
 studying the works carried out or projected for the amelioration of the regime 
 
28 REPORT OP THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 
 
 of the greater number of the European rivers, having already in 1 876 been 
 authorized by my administration to travel in Russia in order to give to the 
 society of towage on the Moskva Reka, my opinion on the works there under 
 execution for the canalisation of that river between Moscow and its junction 
 with the Oka at Kolumna ; having taken an active part in five international 
 congresses on internal navigation which had been held at Brussels in 1885, in 
 Vienna 1886, at Frankfort on the Main 1888, at Manchester in 1890^ and at 
 Paris in 1892 ('), having already participated in the quality of vice-president 
 at the international congress of civil engineers at the Paris exhibition of 1878, 
 and as member of the Commission for organising an international congress for 
 the utilisation of rivers at the Paris exhibition of 1889. 
 
 Having eventually decided at the end of November 1893 to come to Cairo, 
 I collected and studied all the documents which 1 could procure upon the subject 
 of the Nile, but I thought that the Egyptian Government had given up for the 
 present all ideas of having the Commission of which I have already spoken, 
 when I received on the 26th January 1894 a telegram from Mr. Garstin the 
 Under Secretary of State for Public Works in Egypt, asking me if I could 
 come to Cairo on the 20th February. 
 
 I then obtained the permission of the Minister of Public Works of my 
 country who granted me the necessary leave ; in granting it he informed me 
 that he had appointed one of my colleagues to replace me at the General Council 
 of the Public Works and to carry on during my absence, the service of the 7th 
 Circle of which I was in charge. 
 
 Object I was then able to accept definitively on the 3rd February, the mission 
 
 the m°iB8ion. which Mr. Garstin offered me in his letter of the 27th January, a mission in 
 which he asked me to come to Cairo as soon as possible after the 20th February 
 to form one of a Commission assembled « to examine the projects for storage of 
 « the waters of the Nile, and to give my opinion to the Government on this 
 € subject ». 
 
 Mr. Garstin told me at the same time that he counted on sending me « the 
 < following week a copy of the report on the different reservoir projects, as 
 « well as the plans, designs, etc. », 
 
 As a matter of fact, I received on the 7th of February, on the eve of my 
 departure from Paris, the publication entitled « Perrenial Irrigation and flood 
 protection for Egypt (Cairo National Printing Press 1894) ». The plans, 
 however, which accompanied the text and formed a large quarto volume did not 
 reach me till the 1 0th February at Marseilles and were put in my hands (for 
 which I have to thank the Director of the Post), at the very instant that the 
 Niger, on which I had embarked for Egypt, had weighed its anchor. 
 
 (1) The sixth will be held this year at the Hague from the 22nd to the 28th July 1894 
 
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL GOMMfSSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 29 
 
 Thus it happened that it was only on board the steamer, and afterwards at 
 Cairo, that I was able to begin my studies of this complex project, studies which , 
 require a considerable length of time and a knowledge of the valley of the Nile 
 and its regime. 
 
 It was not therefore without astonishment that I found on the 8th page of 
 Mr. Garstin's report, the enumeration of the questions which he proposed to the 
 President of the Council of Ministers. 
 
 This enumeration, if it were binding, reduced to so great an extent the 
 subjects upon which the Commission was to deliberate, that it was no longer the 
 giving of a deeply studied opinion on the grand question of the extension of 
 summer irrigation in Egypt by means of reservoirs storing the surplus water of 
 the Nile in winter, but simply the making of a choice among the different 
 projects summarily treated in the publication which I had received on the eve 
 of my departure, and all equally summarily represented in the annexed plans and 
 designs. 
 
 If the object of the Commission had been thus placed before me at the 
 beginning, I could not have accepted the invitation to become a member of it. 
 By accepting the mission without knowing the projects beforehand I should 
 have committed myself to the making of a lightly considered choice among 
 different projects, without knowing that possibly all of them were beset with 
 serious difficulties, or even (as examination proved) full of grave errors and 
 dangers, incapable of execution very costly and, if realisable, depending solely 
 on chance. 
 
 Indeed this is exactly what occurred, for my colleagues on the Commis- 
 sion, in proposing complete modifications in the different projects studied 
 by the engineers of the Egyptian Grovernment, recognised as I did that they 
 were all defective (*) and that they were incapable of execution without exposing 
 the valley of the Nile to the great danger which would attend the failure of the 
 dam when subjected to water pressure. 
 
 "When I had occasion to remark to my colleagues on the Commission, that The neooasity 
 we could not be bound in our choice of a reservoir by the different projects put j,° „g °^„ 
 before us, but should examine the question in its entirety, they refused to agree dJ«erent 
 with me (see the proceedings of the meetings of the 15 th. and 24 th. March), and 
 from that moment, our methods of examining the question diverged further from 
 
 each other. 
 
 It is this which has compelled me to make the proceeding explanations, and 
 this is the reason why I have been obliged to present a report independently of my 
 colleagues. They themselves moreover invited me to do this on the 4th April 
 (see the proceedings of that date), although it was difficult at that date to foresee 
 
 (I) See the proceedings of th^ meetings of the 13th, 15th and 17th March and the 3rd April, 
 
30 REPORT OP THE TNCHNIGAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 
 
 that, it would be impossible for us to publish a common report. It appeared to 
 me that our discussions should in reality have continued for a long time yet, for 
 there still remained a great number of questions to study, questions which I 
 considered very important and of which the discussion had never been broached. 
 They were moreover contained among the restricted number of questions 
 enumerated by Mr. Garstin Under Secretary of State for the consideration of 
 the Commission (see on the last point the proceedings of the meeting of the 
 7th April). 
 
 Meetings My coUcagucs bclug however very eager to return to their respective 
 
 Commission, couutries, had already announced their departure for the 5th, and later for the. 
 lith Aprils and I cannot but express my regret that I saw them leave on the night 
 of the 10th April, without their having acquainted me with their conclusions and 
 without listening to mine. But my colleagues have possibly not yet finished the 
 report which they informed me they were making together, at the same time 
 that they invited me on the 4th April to present on my part another report 
 which I should complete without knowledge of theirs. This method of proceeding 
 should however present no inconveniences, for our different reports can only 
 be the reproductions under other forms of the opinions which we have already 
 expressed and which are to be found in the various proceedings. It is this 
 which was agreed upon at the meeting of the 26th March . I could not however 
 write my report without having before me the final copy of the proceedings 
 which we had approved of en bloc at the meeting of the 10th April. I made 
 this observation when I signed the first part of the report (which refers to the 
 questions on which the Commission had given a unanimous opinion), under the 
 reserve of presenting a report ot my own. 
 
 To await the copy of the proceedings would have delayed the departure 
 of my colleagues, for the last papers were not sent to me by the Secretary of 
 the Commission till the l7th Aprils and I am uncertain whether they are final 
 or not. Mr. Torricelh would not sign the proceedings of the last meetino- which 
 confirms all the preceeding ones , except under the reserve of himself cor- 
 recting all faults of copying and translation; these faults are certainly very 
 numerous in the copy which I have received. Will he not still further 
 modify the proceedings, which he has already changed considerably in the 
 meetings of the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th April ( see the proces-verbaux of these 
 meetings) and thus compel me to change the form of that which I had 
 already stated on the 13th, 15th and 17th March. I say the form for as 
 far as I am concerned, I have changed nothing of the substance or the sense 
 of my primitive observations. 
 
 On the other hand I much regret having obtained no answer when I pro- 
 posed on the 7th April the discussion of certain parts of Mr. Willcocks' projects 
 principally the employment of Mr. Stoney's sluice gates Avhioh are very costly. 
 
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 31 
 
 probably because they are patented) the designs of the lock, and above all the 
 estimates of cost of the works which are contained in « Perennial irrigation and 
 flood protection » . 
 
 The examination of all the designs plans and estimates prepared by the 
 Government engineers was however the object of the 3rd question enumerated 
 by the Under Secretary of State (page 8 of his report), and while I thought that 
 it was impossible to bind myself by the few subjects indicated by him, we failed 
 to discuss even the questions which were indicated. 
 
 "We devoted considerable time to hearing Mr. Cope Whitehouse explain 
 his ideas on the "Wadi Rayan and in revising the proceedings of the meeting of 
 the 27th March which was devoted entirely to him. This proceeding, revised 
 on the 29th March, was twice communicated to him to enable him to modify 
 and complete his statements. He has made numerous modifications (see the 
 proceedings of the 27th, 29th and 31st March). We finally discussed 
 the questions which Mr. Cope Whitehouse had put to us ; and by way of 
 courtesy we thought we ought to reply to them in our meeting of the 
 10th April. 
 
 Far however from showing themselves inclined to even discuss, whether 
 the propositions indicated by the ' ' Societe d'etudes du Nil " in their numerous 
 publications and by Mr. Prompt in his conferences, or the project summarily 
 indicated by Mr. Jacquet in 1882, could be better studied after the completion 
 of the preliminary operations of plans, levels and soundings, all which are 
 indispensable for the preparation of a serious project ; or whether the same 
 might be done with the projects (very summary ones it is true) of Messrs. 
 Leygue, Baudot and others ; my colleagues of the Commission did not even 
 thoroughly discuss the project and the estimates of cost contained in the printed 
 reports which served as a base for our deliberations. These last named projects 
 were moreover far too summarily treated to guarantee the Government 
 against serious losses. 
 
 This is evident even in the report of my colleagues which I signed under 
 reserve on the 10th April. It was written at first ' ' we have carefully examined 
 and discussed the designs, plans and estimates prepared by the Government 
 engineers for the different projects", but the word "discussed'' was suppressed 
 on my observing that it was incorrect, an observation I made the moment 
 I saw the first part of the report prepared by Sir Benjamin Baker for the 
 Reservoirs in the valley of the Nile. It would, moreover, have remained 
 incorrect up to the very end of our discussions and to the departure of my 
 colleagues (see the proceedings of the meeting of the 7th April ) for they 
 considered it useless to discuss the original estimates of Mr. Willcocks. 
 
 As a matter of fact they had no object in doing so, for the original projects 
 were every one of them rejected by my colleagues as well as by me ; and my 
 colleagues proposed to substitute in their place a new project for a dam 
 
The 
 dlffloulty 
 
 disoasslon 
 
 32 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 
 
 at the 1st cataract downstream of Philae, which would have put the island 
 under 10 metres of water, a project whose main lines have as yet only been laid 
 down, which has yet to be studied, and which I persist in considering as 
 presenting very serious inconveniences of different kinds ; it leaves to chance 
 the question of the stability of a dam whose failure would expose the Nile 
 valley to serious disasters; and in addition to this it is exceedingly costly. 
 
 It certainly appeared to me useful and even necessary to discuss the 
 original estimates. Was not this an answer to the third question pro- 
 posed by the Under Secretary of State (page 8 of his report) ? In addition, this 
 was the only means by which we could learn if the same rates would suffice 
 or not for the estimate of the new project recommended by my colleagues to 
 the Grovernment, or, on the contrary, if in acting thus, the Government might 
 not be exposed to the danger of undertaking the works, and afterwards 
 learning the serious and otherwise too frequent mistake of the final expen- 
 diture being considerably in excess of the original estimates, as had already 
 happened on the Corinth Canal, the Manchester ship Canal, the Forth 
 bridge, etc. 
 
 As to those parts of the project, upon which I asked for a discussion on the 
 7th of April without any success, such as the lock gates and the sluices, I 
 understand that my colleagues consider them merely as unimportant details. 
 I on the contrary, believe that these parts of the project have a primary 
 importance ; for the construction of the lock gates will, in my opinion, present 
 greater difficulties than the dam itself, and the sum of L.E. 178,000 demanded 
 hj M.Stoney for the erection of the sluice gates (see appendix IV of the reports, 
 page 6), does not appear to me a negligeable detail. 
 
 If we deliberated for a considerable length of time both on our voyage 
 o, in the Fayoum, in the Wadi Rayan in Upper Egypt and at our numerous 
 meetings in Cairo at the Ministry of Public Works, without discussing more 
 than a fraction of the countless questions raised in the important projects of 
 the Government engineers, it was principally due to the difficulty arising from 
 our not all speaking the same language with fluently. 
 
 Mr.Willcocks and Sir l^enjamin Baker are not very well acquainted with 
 French, ( the official language of Egypt ) . lam totally ignorant of English. 
 M. Torricelli cannot speak this latter language, and though he speaks French 
 very well, he, necessarily writes it with far less facility than Italian. A 
 considerable part of the meetings was devoted to translations , and occa- 
 sionally there occurred misunderstandings which were difficult to avoid. 
 Again, the presence at the meetings of Mr. Willcocks, whose self respect 
 was hurt by the criticism of his projects, and who interfered perhaps too often 
 with the deliberations of the Commission, further complicated the most purely 
 technical discussions, and even threatened to transform them into personal 
 
REPORT OP THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 33 
 
 disputes. We had a good deal of difficulty in removing the traces of this 
 from the proceedings of the meetings, without changing them completely, 
 although the proceedings of the month of March had been rewritten in April 
 in order to make them clearer and more explicit ( see the proceedings of 2nd, 
 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th April). 
 
 Mr. Torricelli, professor and author, attaches rightly a great deal of 
 importance to what he writes; he thought that the proceedings were not 
 to be published but when he understood that their publication was necessary 
 in order to make the report intelligible as well as to illustrate the difference 
 of opinion which has existed between the members of the Commission , he 
 decided on revising the proceedings of our meetings, and indeed refused even to 
 sign them except under the reserve of revising them, as I have already 
 remarked. I shared Mr. Torricelli's opinion completely on the necessity of 
 revising the proceedings, 
 
 It was thus, that a question essentially technical, which I raised at the 
 meeting of the 17th March, gave place to lengthened discussions at the meetings 
 of the 5th and 6 th April, where, as I have already said, Mr. Torricelli modified 
 and considerably lengthened with my consent the proceedings of the 17th March, 
 which did not seem to have been well understood. This obliged me to complete 
 my original observations of the 1 7th March. 
 
 In a note attached to the report, a description has been given of the journey ^^° 
 
 ■^ Journey 
 
 of the Commission in the Fayoum, the Wadi-Rayan and Nubia. In myjopinion, of the 
 we travelled far too quickly ; Mr. Willcocks, who acted as guide, could not 
 understand, in spite of frequent protests on my part, that if he knew the Nile 
 perfectly, so hurried an inspection of the proposed reservoir sites in the Nile 
 valley might lead into error the members of the Commission who were 
 travelling on the upper Nile for the first time. Sir Benjamin Baker was in a 
 hurry to get bach to his own country, and Mr. Willcocks appeared to be equally 
 anxious to return to Cairo ; he could not understand the advantages to the 
 members of the Commission of visiting in addition to the Nile banks, the vil- 
 lages and especially the ancient monuments which are to be found there. It ap- 
 peared to me, on the contrary, necessary to see everything, to examine into the 
 submersions of old temples, villages and the whole cultivated and inhabited 
 country between the river and the hills which separate the valley from the 
 desert on^ length of about 200 kilometres. Indeed we failed to visit the temple 
 of Kom Ombo, which would be submerged by a dam at Silsila if the water 
 level were raised to R. L. 101,00 metres, and also the temples of Debod, 
 Taifa, Kalabsha, Dekka and Uff el Dunia, which a dam at the 1st cataract 
 with its water level raised to R. L. 114.00 would drown almost as com- 
 pletely as the temple of Philse. I am therefore ignorant of the artistic and 
 archaeological value of these temples, but the ruins which are to be found on 
 
 CommiBeion. 
 
34 REPORT OF THB TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 
 
 Philse island, appeared to me of almost equal value to those on the Acropolis 
 of Athens ('). 
 
 I think moreover that the conservators of ancient monuments ought not to 
 permit the submersion of one of the temples at Silsila and the inclusion of the other 
 in the cutting of the proposed canal, both of which are contained in the projects 
 prepared by the Government engineers. 
 
 I was, it is true, frequently told, (my colleagues appeared to admit it, and 
 Mr. Garstin seemed to say it in his report), that the questions concerning the 
 destruction of temples were not within the competence of engineers. I absolutely 
 refused to admit this (see the proceedings of the 24th March), for its admission 
 would have lowered the position of engineers to that of masons, carpenters and 
 mechanics ; and, from this point of view, the question of hygiene, which concerns 
 the sanitary effects the reservoir would have on the country, ought still more 
 than questions of art and history to be outside the competence of engineers. 
 Mr. Garstin however included it among the questions submitted to the 
 technical Commission. 
 
 I had some difficulty in getting the Commission to go as far as the second 
 cataract, although I thought it necessary to examine into the possibility of its 
 canalisation. I was told at first that it was impossible, that we must obtain the 
 permission of the War Office, etc., and yet the Commandant of Wadi Haifa, who 
 gave us an escort rather as an act of courtesy than of necessity, clearly let me 
 know that if we had the wish and the time, he could conduct us much farther south 
 even as far as Sarras and Semneh. Mr. Willcocks however was convinced that 
 any inspection of sites not proposed hy him for reservoirs was useless and 
 foreign to the work of the mission : we had not to search for possible sites for 
 reservoirs other than his own ; we had not to make any other search whatever 
 of any other sort. 
 
 It was on this account that when on descending the Nile, we arrived at 
 Luxor, as we had nothing further to see between this town and Cairo as far as 
 reservoir projects were concerned, I separated myself from Mr. Willcocksand 
 my colleagues and returned to Girga by postal boat and from there to Cairo by 
 railway in order that I might return more quickly and with greater comfort. 
 
 A similar incident on a subsequent date compelled me to separate myself 
 again from my colleagues for a few hours. On the morning of the 30th March, 
 the Commission was taken to the Barrage to see the gate which Mr. Stoney had 
 erected there as a specimen. I have known this system of sluice ga^es for the 
 last 12 or 13 years owing to the description given by Mr. Stoney himself at the 
 meeting of the Institution of civil engineers at London on the 20th Januai'y 1880, 
 and I have also seen their application on the Manchestership canal in 1890. 
 After examining all the details of the gate I was anxious to thoi-oughly inspect 
 
 (1) It is true that on page 27 of his report Mr. Garstin proposed to rebuild stone by stone the Philee 
 temples ; and subsequently Sir Benjamin Baker proposed raising the entire island above high water level 
 of the reservoir (proceedings of the 24 th March.) 
 
BEPORT OF THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 35 
 
 the Barrage and collect information about the irrigation of the Delta from 
 Liernur Bey. Mr. Foster, who accompanied us, considered this foreign to the 
 mission, and decided on leaving for Cairo at 3 p.m. with the Government 
 steamer which had brought us to the Barrage. My colleagues went with him, 
 and I remained behind, returning later on to Cairo. 
 
 QUANTITY OF WATER TO BE STORED IN THE RESERVOIRS. 
 
 After these preliminary remarks, longer than I should have wished, but 
 which I have considered indispensable, I shall examine in their order the different 
 questions raised by the projects prepared by the engineers of the Egyptian 
 Government. 
 
 The first questions to be solved are naturally the determination of the 
 quantity of water to be stored in the reservoir and the profit which would accrue 
 from their construction. 
 
 In a footnote to page 12 of his report, Mr. Garstin states that even 
 in a year of Iom' flood, 5.000 millions of cubic metres of water could be taken 
 annually without inconvenience from the Nile during the months of November, 
 December and January, i. e. after the passage of the red waters of the flood 
 which are the most heavily charged with deposit. He also calculates (page 9 
 and following) that in order to increase the production ot the country and 
 reclaim the uncultivated lands the following quantities of water should be stored 
 in the reservoirs and distributed in summer. 
 
 1. For Upper Egypt 1.160 millions of cubic metres of water. 
 
 2. » MiddleEgypt 950 » » » » 
 
 3. » Lower Egypt 1.551 » » » » 
 
 Total... 3.661 » » » » 
 
 The proflts to be realised by the construction of reservoirs of this capacity 
 would be the following (see pages 13 and 14 of Mr. Garstin's report). estimated 
 
 profits. 
 
 I. — Direct gain to the State. 
 
 Lower Egypt L.E. 278.000 
 
 Middle Egypt » 571.750 
 
 Upper Egypt — 
 
 Total L.E. 849.750 
 
 or in round numbers L.E. 850,000 per annum. 
 
 Tha 
 
36 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 
 
 II. — Direct gain to the coimtry. 
 
 {a) Increase of the annual yield. 
 
 Upper Egypt L.E. 4,637,255 
 
 Middle Egypt » 4,685,643 
 
 Lower Egypt » 3,390,000 
 
 Total... L.E. 12,712,898 annually 
 
 (b) Increase in the value of the land. 
 
 Upper Egypt L.E. 23,049,000 
 
 Middle Egypt » 23,148,840 
 
 Lower Egypt » — 
 
 Total... L.E. 46,197,840 
 
 ( The increase in the annual yield of Lower Egypt has not been shown in 
 the reports put before the Commission). 
 
 The Commission, at the meeting of the 24th March, confined itself to 
 taking note of these figures, as it had neither the time nor the means to check 
 them. I simply remarked that from among the benefits to be reaped there had 
 been omitted the improvements to navigation of the Nile and also the water 
 power which the dams would create and which would doubtless be utilised ( see 
 proceedings of the 24th March). On the other hand I remarked on the 13th 
 March that the above figures, which Mr. Garstin himself considered as 
 only rough approximations, were contested by many people who had lived 
 in Cairo for many years and who were very competent to form an opinion of 
 the value of landed property and of the management of estates ; but I added 
 that in Egypt the value of water was so great that even greater projects might 
 be conceived, projects costing more even than those submitted to the Commis- 
 sion, provided that the cost of the reservoirs themselves, when compared to 
 their capacity resulted in a moderate price per cubic metre of water stored. 
 In expressing myself thus I did not wish to say that it was necessary to 
 immediately construct reservoirs capable of storing the whole 2,000 or 3,000 
 millions of cubic metres of water, as the Government projects anticipated. 
 It is evident that this enormous quantity of water could not immediately be 
 utilised, for it would be necessary to first modify the existing canals, construct 
 new ones, and prepare the lands themselves for the introduction of summer 
 irrigation. All this would require considerable time, and the benefits to be reaped 
 could only be realised after a long interval of time. 
 
 The above is in general] the case with all irrigation projects, and 
 I believe that, if it were possible, it would be much more rational to proceed 
 progressively as M. de la Motte had indicated from the very beginning. The 
 
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 37 
 
 expenditure would be spread over a great number of jears, and there would be' 
 an immediate realization of the profits resulting from the execution of the works 
 of which each would be utilised just as it was finished. Be this as it may, 
 the projects of the Grovernment engineers and the criticisms of the Commission 
 have been based on the quantity of storage water indicated by the Under 
 Secretary of State and already mentioned by me. 
 
 THE WADI RIYAN RESERVOIR. 
 
 The Commission having visited the province of the Fayoum and the 
 Wadi Rayan depression, which latter had been pointed out by Mr. Cope White- 
 house as capable of utilisation as a reservoir, examined at first the projects for 
 the attainment of this end, projects which had been presented by the engineers 
 of the Government. 
 
 The opinion of the Commission on these projects was unanimous. The 
 deliberations are contained in the proceedings of the 7th and 12th March and 
 were held on board the steamer which conveyed the Commission to the Upper Nile. 
 These proceedings are however only succinct epitomes of lengthy discussions and 
 they have been revised and completed on the 26th March and 2nd April ; the Com- 
 mission did not however formulate its final conclusions until it had heard 
 Mr. Cope Whitehouse on the 27th March, as I have already explained. In 
 reality, this audience ( proceedings of the 27th March and 4th April ) did not 
 modify the opinion contained in the proceedings known as the 12th March. 
 
 The Commission has unanimously given its opinion that the project prepared 
 by Mr. Willcocks could not be approved of, because it would not realise the end 
 aimed at by the Egyptian Government. In order to utilise the Wadi Rayan it 
 would be necessary, at least, to considerably augment the dimensions of the 
 canal proposed by the English engineers of the Ministry of Public Works, 
 between the Nile and the Wadi Rayan. The bottom of this depression, which 
 Mr. Cope Whitehouse claims to have been the first to discover, is found at a 
 level of 40 metres below the sea, that is to say at almost the same level as the 
 existing water surface of the Fayoum Lake, the Birket El Qurun. It would be 
 necessary to fill the depression from a level of 40 metres below the sea to a 
 height of 24 metres above sea level ; it would then be necessary to fill the 
 reservoir annually from R.L. + 24 to R.L. + 27 metres, by pouring into it 
 1 937 millions of cubic metres of water, of which 1,280 millions at most could 
 be utilised for the irrigation of Lower Egypt, if we admit that no water would 
 
38 REPORT OP THE TKCHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 
 
 be lost bj subterranean percolation in the interval between the filling and the 
 commencement of irrigation. 
 
 The Commission moreover gave its opinion that the estimate of Mr. 
 "Willcocks was insufficient and asked him to calculate the cost of the reservoir 
 under the conditions indicated by it. 
 
 Mr. Willcocks supplied this new estimate with very remarkable, and 
 perhaps excessive rapidity, for in so short a time, only exceedingly approximate 
 guesses could be made. 
 
 The result of this very summary estimate was that, instead of the 
 L. E. 2,718,420 calculated by Major Brown and Mr. Garstin, or of the 
 L.E. 3,069,750 calculated for the Commission by Mr. Willcocks with the aid 
 of recently taken levels at his original rates, it would be necessary to spend at 
 the outset for the construction of the Wadi Rayan reservoir, its canal, and 
 other necessary works, a sum of L.E. 3^707,880 
 
 We have to add to the the above sums indicated by 
 Mr. Grarstin on page 54 of his report for the Assiout Barrage 
 and for the works needed to utilise the reservoir water » 2,535,000 
 
 The total expense would then be L.E. 6,242,000 
 
 without taking count of the new drainage cut parallel to the Bahr Yusuf which 
 Major Brown pointed out at the end of his note of the 15th November 1893 
 (Appendix X of the printed reports), and which the Commission considered 
 necessary, but of which it could not estimate the cost as it possessed no 
 information on this subject. 
 
 The prime cost of the works would correspond to 
 
 L.E. 6,242,880 "l „■'■ ^. v- . ^ . 
 
 280 000 000 ~ per cubic metre of water annually stored. 
 
 This price would not be too high, but the project appeared to the Commission 
 an undesirable one as not being able to furnish water during the summer 
 to Middle and Upper Egypt, the benefits expected by Mr. Garstin being much 
 less for Lower, than for Middle and Upper Egypt. 
 
 Moreover, if a reservoir were established in the Wadi Rayan depression 
 the water might percolate from the reservoir filled to R.L. +27 into the province 
 of the Fayoum, which latter might be inundated or at least converted into a 
 marsh. In reality the level of the cultivated land of the Fayoum lies between 
 R.L. + 30 and R.L. + 7, and the distance between the reservoir and the 
 Fayoum is not great. Moreover, if the Fayoum lake, (the Birket El Qurun) is 
 further away, its water level stands at R.L. — 40. The height of the water of 
 the reservoir above that of the lake would be 67 metres, and the level of the lake 
 might be raised; in this case, the richly cultivated tracts which lie round it would 
 be destroyed, and the drainage of the Fayoum province and even of Middle Egypt 
 would become more difficult ('). 
 
 (1) In Egypt, wherever there is irrigation without drainage, salts come to the surface and Drevnnt 
 vegetation. ^ e\ent 
 
REPORT OP THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 39 
 
 Under these conditions the CommissioQ unanimously came to the conclu- 
 sion that it could not advise the Government to transform the Wadi Rayan 
 into a reservoir, and that it preferred the formation of reservoirs in the valley 
 of the Nile itself hy the construction of dams. 
 
 With respect to the other modes of utilising the Wadi Rayan depression 
 which Mr. Cope Whitehouse asked the Commission to examine, he made 
 some proposals which were exceedingly interesting but quite foreign to the 
 object for which the Commission was summoned. 
 
 The Commission nevertheless thought that it ought to reply to them, as I have 
 before said, and its answers will be found in the proceedings of the meeting of 
 the 4th April and in the report which I have signed under reserve. It gave its 
 opinion that if the Wadi Rayan were used for the purpose of diminishing the 
 heights of dangerous floods, the expenses would probably be out of pro- 
 portion to the results which might be obtained ; but it could form no opinion 
 about the other projects indicated by Mr. Cope Whitehouse, because these projects 
 would first have to be studied and then it would be necessary to compare the 
 expenses with the probable benefits. 
 
 RESERVOIRS IN THE VALLEY OF THE NILE. 
 
 The deliberations of the Commission on the subject of the proposed Principal 
 reservoirs in the valley of the Nile are contained in the so called proceedine-s of '*^*^'* 
 
 '' ^ ~ of the 
 
 the 13rh, 15th, 17th and 24th March, but- the discussion was continued no proposed 
 the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th April, on which latter dates, as I have already tar^°e8. 
 said, the original proceedings were completed and considerably niodified, 
 with a view to making them clealrer and more coherent (see especially the 
 proceedings of the 5th April). 
 
 The reservoir dam which Mr. Willcocks proposes to construct across the , , 
 
 Nile for the storage of 1 ,500 to 3,000 millions of cubic metres, and even more, ' 
 
 according to the site adopted, would be a granite masonry wall, pierced by 100 
 or 120 openings or sluices, each 2 metres wide and 10 metres high, regulatedby 
 Stoney's patent gates. The length of the dam would be as follows according to 
 the site chosen : — 
 
 At Kalabsha 800 metres with 640 metres pierced by sluices. 
 
 At Assnan 1,790 metres with 660 metres pierced by sluices. 
 
 At Silsila 600 metres, the whole of which is pierced ( see the proceedings 
 of the 17th March). 
 
40 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 
 
 The total area of openings would be from 2,000 to 2,400 square metres 
 for the passage of the maximum flood discharge of 14,000 cubic metres per 
 second, with a velocity of 7 metres per second in the openings, under a head of 
 4.25 metres (see paragraph 27 of Mr. "Willcocks" report). 
 
 When the reservoir was full, the dam would support a head of water of 
 from 15 to 22 metres above the sills of the sluices. The sluice gates would be 
 worked when subject to this enormous pressure, and as they were raised the 
 velocity of the water in the sluices would exceed 10 or 15 metres per second. 
 The reports of the English engineers of the Egyptian Government show various 
 heights of dam at each of the proposed sites ; these heights are excessive when 
 rock of sufficient resisting power can only be met with at a great depth below 
 the summer level of the Nile. 
 
 In fixing on his section of dam, Mr. Willeocks imitated the type which 
 Professor Rankine proposed in his works (see paragraph 30 of Mr. Willeocks' 
 report). This section is very similar to that which was adopted for the first time 
 in France by M. Delocre, at the present moment Inspector General in the 
 • French Public Works Department, when in 1861, he constructed the reservoir 
 dam in the GoufTre d'Bnfer on the Furens, for the water supply of St. Etienne. 
 This latter section has become classic, and has been everywhere imitated since 
 that time, with different modifi cations. 
 
 On a first glance, however, at Mr. Willeocks' designs, it seemed very 
 dangerous to weaken such a wall by so many and such large openings. The 
 piers between the sluices immediately struck one as the weak points in the design. 
 If the dam were to fail, while subjected to pressure, the sudden discharge of the 
 waters of the reservoir would cause veritable disasters in the valley of the Nile 
 downstream of the dam. 
 
 I do not therefore think that the type of dam proposed by Mr. Willeocks 
 could be adopted without great risks. 
 
 The dam 
 should 
 be open 
 
 In the meeting of the 13th March, Sir Benjamin Baker began by declaring 
 
 that the proposed heights of reservoir dams in the valley of the Nile were 
 
 Melta**' ^'^^^T^^^^! ^^^ that the dams could be constructed without danger if good founda- 
 
 ot the lath tions were assured ; and he added that the openings should be sufficiently 
 
 numerous to insure the reservoir from being obliterated with silt. 
 
 Mr. Torricelli, in the interests of security, would have proposed, he said, 
 a solid dam as short as possible, and he added that means might be found for 
 preventing Nile mud from being deposited upstrean of this dam. But he recognized 
 that this question could not be discussed, because the Government is desirous 
 that the flood waters should be allowed to flow freely, and does not wish to fill 
 the reservoir except in winter when the red waters of the flood have passed. 
 
 On my part I gave my opinion, that in the existing conditions of science 
 and engineering, there is nothing impossible except works whose cost is out of 
 
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 41 
 
 proportion to the benefits to be obtained ; but that a solid dam would be very 
 difficult to construct across the Nile and moreover the reservoir created by it, 
 would become filled with deposits, whose removal would be too costly. I 
 concluded that it was necessary to construct, not a solid wall weakened by sluices 
 as Mr. Willcocks proposed, but a regulating weir similar to that at the, head of 
 the Delta, that is to say, a bridge whose piers would not offer a sufficiently 
 serious obstacle to the passage ol floods to cause any great heading up, and whose 
 openings would be regulated by apparatus of a type to be yet invented . It is evident 
 that the piers and floor of such a work could be constructed without any serious 
 difficulty, and that it would only be necessary to provide a sufficient length to 
 the floor and to the piers to enable them to resist the pressure of the water 
 whatever might be its head. I then stated that a work of this kind could 
 certainly be constructed of as great a height as was desired, that it would be 
 perfectly safe, and would not be liable to any serious accident. 
 
 At the meeting of the 15th March, Mr. Torricelli recounted the condi- ^J^^ 
 tions which should be fulfilled by a reservoir dam in order to insure its stability, of stawuty 
 It is well known that these conditions were first discovered in France by M. °* **"«*="■ 
 
 »' Meeting 
 
 Delocre, ( at the present time president of one of the sections of the general °* *^^ ^^^^ 
 council of Public Works), when he was studying the Furens dam ; and that this 
 question is to day quite hackneyed, so well is it known from the publications 
 of the different engineers who have made the same studies . 
 
 Mr. Torricelli formulated the following conditions of stability, which were 
 necessary, in his opinion, for a reservoir dam pierced by sluices, to be built in 
 the Nile valley. 
 
 The total height of the dam from foundation to crest should not exceed 
 35 metres, and the head of water should not exceed 25 metres, admitting 
 however that the water level might be raised accidentally by wind and waves 
 to a height of 3 metres above normal level. The height of the 2 metres wide 
 sluices should not exceed 5 metres. The width of the piers betwern the sluices 
 should be 5 metres at least and these piers should be calculated as though each 
 one was independent of the others ; in the calculations, the weight of that por- 
 tion of the dam which was above the sluices should alone be taken into account, 
 but for water pressure the whole dam should be considered. Indeed all the 
 unfavourable and none of the favourable circumstances should be admitted 
 when making the calculations. 
 
 In plan the dam should follow the arc of a circle for each group of 10 sluices, 
 and between two groups of this kind (each 75 metres long) there should, be 
 constructed a stout abutment pier capable of resisting by itself the thrust of 
 the dam, even when the adjoining arc did not exist. The section of the piers, 
 normal to the curve, should be so designed that at no point would the pressure 
 exceed 5 kilograms per square centimetre on the upstream face when the 
 
42 REPORT OP THB TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NItE RESERVOIRS. 
 
 reservoir is empty and on the downstream face when the reservoir is full. 
 There must be no tension anywhere. Finally the dam should be constructed 
 on a granite foundation or any other compact rock of equal powers of resistance, 
 the masonry should be random rubble, composed of blocks of granite, of 
 ordinary dimensions, laid in eminently hydraulic mortar. 
 
 It appeared to me prudent and necessary to insist on nearly all the 
 conditions laid down by Mr.Torricelli ; indeed I did not consider them sufficient, 
 as will be seen later on. But this will considerably complicate the construction, 
 and make it cost very much more than what Mr. "Willcocks estimated ; it is then 
 no longer a question of the project of this engineer, which fulfils none of the 
 conditions laid down by Mr. Torricelli. A new project must be studied which will 
 demand complicated calculations and a considerable length of time in preparation* 
 The abutment piers notably should be calculated as for an arched bridge: 
 their dimensions will probably be very considerable, because they will not 
 be aided by the thrust of natural soil or earth filling like the abutments of 
 bridges, and they will have to resist the thrust of two adjacent arches by their 
 weight alone. 
 
 Sir Benjamin Baker, while accepting the conditions laid down by Mr. Tor- 
 ricelli, was not satisfied. He remarked very justly that the water would 
 be discharged through the sluices with so severe a velocity that the granite 
 linings could not resist it, and he proposed to line the sluices with cast 
 iron 85 millimetres in thickness. Each sluice should consist of 2 cast iron 
 pipes of 2 metres width and 3.50 metres height each, one above the other. 
 These pipes would be prolonged beyond the downstream face of the dam, and to 
 better distribute the issuing water, each pipe at its downstream end would be 
 divided into three distinct sprays. A single sluice gate 8 metres high and 
 two metres wide, placed upstream of the 2 pipes one below the other, would 
 regulate their discharge. In front of the centre of each sluice a permanent 
 opening would be made in the gate, and small grooves would permit of 
 these openings being closed by wooden boards if necessary. 
 
 I accepted the fact that a dam of the type proposed by Messrs. Baker 
 and Torricelli was realisable, because as I have already said everything is 
 realisable if no account is taken of expense. I added however that this type 
 of work presented serious inconveniences. 
 
 (1) The length and thickness of the dam would be much greater than 
 what Mr. Willcocks had imagined, and that consequently the cost of con- 
 struction would be much greater than what the English engineers of the 
 Egyptian Government had indicated in their reports. 
 
 (2) The precaution of lining the sluices of the dam with cast iron proves 
 that the velocity of the water will be excessive. 
 
 I may add that this velocity of discharge, which may exceed 12 or 15 
 metres per second, would eat away the hardest rock downstream of the dam, 
 
aEPORT OF THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION OWTHE NIEE RESERVOIRS. 43 
 
 and.be a source of great danger. Moreover, as there is a great difference between 
 the night and day temperature of Egypt, the iron pipes would expand in the day, 
 epsecially if their ends projected beyond the dam, and even if they did not, 
 they would contract during the night. The daily lengthening and contracting of 
 these pipes with a telescopic movement, would very rapidly dislocate the masonry 
 in their neighbourhood and would destroy it more quickly than if the water 
 alone were discharged through them at a velocity which Sir Benjamin Baker 
 considered excessive. 
 
 (3) In order that a flood of 14,000 cubic metres per second may be dis- 
 charged through the sluices with a velocity of 7 metres per second, or an 
 ordinary flood of- 10,000 cubic metres per second may be discharged with a 
 velocity of 4.25 metres per second, there will of necessity be a considerable 
 heading up of water at the dam, the height of the flood upstream of the dam will 
 be increased, the wetted perimeter will be increased, and the velocity of the 
 river for a considerable distance upstream will be diminished, because a head 
 of 4 metres will produce an afflux on a length of 50 kilometres, for the slope of 
 the Nile here is only .08 metres per kilometre. Under these conditions a por- 
 tion of the solids contained in the red waters of the Nile will be deposited, 
 on the bed of the Nile for a considerable number of kilometres upstream of 
 the dam. 
 
 The new project for a dam proposed by my colleagues on the lines just 
 indicated, and which certainly is not, as has been said, a modification of 
 Mr. Willcocks' proposals, but a project altogether new, whose details have 
 yet to be studied, because the plan, the length of the dam, (') its thickness, its 
 section, and its arrangement of sluices and gates will be altogether different, 
 does not appear to me worthy of recommendation any more than that of 
 Mr. Willcocks for a regulating work across a river like the Nile. 
 
 I had already said in the preceding meeting that any height one desired 
 could be given to a regulating weir of the type of the Delta Barrage, but with 
 modifications which have yet to be invented for suiting this type of work to a 
 great head of water. 
 
 My colleagues from this time appeared to admit that their type of dam 
 necessitated a particular rock for its foundation, and the only possible site for a 
 reservoir would be the cataract at Assuan, and, in consequence, the island of Philae 
 would be submerged in the reservoir; but as a simple indication and example 
 of what might be done, or at least studied, I said that the construction of a 
 dam of even greater height on the Nile might be much simplified by dividing 
 the head. 
 
 A. first weir I said, might be put up downstream of the cataract which 
 would raise the water level as high as possible without inundating the island of 
 
 (1) The length of the dam would be 1275 metres ( proceedings of March I7lh, ) 
 
44 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 
 
 Philae, then a second upstream of Philae, and, if necessary, a third at Kalabsha. 
 This latter would raise the water surface to R.L. 118, as contemplated by the 
 Government engineers ; the capacity of the reservoir would be all that could 
 be wished, and as each weir would have only a moderate head on it, it could be 
 constructed easily and at a moderate cost ; consequently there would no longer 
 be any necessity to be preoccupied with the kind of rock met with for the 
 foundations. As the weirs would be as completely open in tlood time as the 
 Delta Barrage, their lengths would be as short as possible, and many of them 
 would cost no more than the single dam proposed by Mr. Willcocks, or by 
 Messrs. Torricelli and Baker. As each of them would have a lock attached to it the 
 navigation of the 1st cataract would be assured throughout the year ; in fine, 
 it certainly seemed to me that they would be free from the inconveniences which 
 were attached to the projects of Mr. "Willcocks or of my colleagues. 
 
 I insisted moreover on my preceding statements, that as high a dam as 
 one wished could be constructed elsewhere than at the cataract but on a plan 
 different from that of Mr. "Willcocks and my colleagues. 
 
 Proceeding At the meeting of the 17th March Sir Benjamin Baker proposed to continue 
 
 oi the 17th j^YiQ criticisms which the Commission had already made of the projects presented 
 to it by the Egyptian Government, and he asked if I had any suggestion to make 
 to further insure the solidity of the dam of which he had already indicated the 
 main lines in concert with Mr, Torricelli. I then made at the meeting a very 
 simple calculation which is given in the proceedings; it proves that in 
 Mr. Willcocks' project for a dam, at the base of the piers which divide the 
 sluices, the vertical pressure due to the weight of the masonry is 3.50 kilograms 
 per square centimetre and the horizontal pressure due to the water pressure is 
 2.45 kilograms per square centimetre, in supposing the water of the reservoir 
 at its normal level, which might however be accidentally exceeded. It results 
 from this that the coefficient of friction of the bottom course of the pier 
 isl±» = 0.70. 
 
 3.50 
 
 Estimating that, under these conditions, the dam would not have the 
 necessary stability, I asked my colleagues " if they admitted that the mortar 
 under the piers could support a tension of 2.45 kilograms per square 
 centimetre and if they allowed a coefficient of friction of 0.70 ". 
 
 This phrase taken literally from the original proceedings of the meeting of 
 the 17th March, and perhaps expressed too laconically , gave birth to misunders- 
 tandings and lengthened discussions. I was told that my calculation was wrong 
 andthatit wasnot in conformity to the rules of engineering, but this last observa- 
 tion, which I would not accept, was not inserted in the proceedings. Later on the 
 5th and 6th April this technical discussion was continued; I am compelled to write 
 at length concerning it because it has to do with the weak point of a reservoir dam 
 pierced by openings of too great a size. I was told that the courses of masonry 
 
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 45 
 
 were not horizontal, but that the blocks of rubble would be serrated in the 
 masonry, and moreover that the mortar would not have to support a tension 
 of 2.45 kilograms per square centimetre. In order to make myself understood 
 I had to change the phrase literally quoted above into the following sentence, 
 which says the same thing in clearer language : — 
 
 « Mr. Boule asks Messrs. Torricelli and Baker if they admit that the 
 (( power of resistance of the mortar under the piers will suffice to resist a 
 « horizontal thrust of 2 . 45 kilograms per square centimetre at the base of the 
 « piers which separate the sluices, and if they allow, for the coefficient of friction 
 « of the masonry at the foundation of the piers, the figure 0.70 ». 
 
 Messrs. Baker and Torricelli replied at length, and their observations, 
 prepared by them beforehand, were inserted in the proceedings of the meeting 
 of the 17th March. The discussion would have been too confused had it been 
 prolonged through numerous meetings. 
 
 Mr. Toricelli said, among other things, that he neither understood the 
 necessity nor the utility of my question, that in a solid dam the coefficient of 
 
 0.70C) although a little high, might be admitted for any horizontal section , 
 
 but that in fact, it was not acceptable, and that one ought to be more prudent. 
 He added that I was laying stress on a condition of stability which was perhaps 
 
 the least important of all for, if necessary precautions were taken, there 
 
 were means available for resisting any tendency to slide, such as building in 
 
 random rubble, etc., etc and that he was convinced that if the pressures 
 
 on the two faces were not excessive, the coefficient of friction would also not 
 
 be excessive. 
 
 Sir Benjamin Baker also made a lengthy reply, and Mr. "Willcooks answered 
 for himself, so that I had to reply (see the proceedings called the meeting of 
 the 17th March) that in accord with my colleagues I considered that the inclined 
 courses and especially those on a curve as drawn by Mr. Willcocks on his 
 
 design of the dam (plate 3) were more harmful than useful , and to the 
 
 conditions of stability indicated by Mr. Torricelli, there should be added the 
 condition that the resultant of the forces shall not make too great an angle 
 with the normal at every section of the dam. I persisted that an angle of 70" 
 was too great, and that it would be expedient as a matter of fact to insure 
 the piers between the sluices from having to support too great a shearing 
 
 After hearing my explanations Mr. Torricelli declared that he agreed 
 with me on this essential point. 
 
 Another technical discussion is contained in the same proceedings of the 
 17th March on the subject of the velocity which will be generated in the 
 water as it traverses the sluices of Mr. Willcocks or the iron pipes of Sir 
 
 (1) In other words an angle of 35° with a vertical line. 
 
46 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILT? RESERVOIRS. 
 
 Benjamin Baker. Mr, Willcocks used the formula v= .SOVWT^ , I was of 
 opinion that the coefficient .80 was too high; Sir Benjamin Baker proposed 
 .78 and this figure was accepted bj Mr. Torricelli on condition that the ends 
 of the pipes were splayed. 
 
 I made every reserve with respect to this coefficient which is, according 
 to me, absolutely unknown, for lack of experiments under similar conditions. 
 I elsewhere added, with Mr. Torricelli's consent, that for the calculation of 
 velocities of water traversing pipes about 20 metres long, the formula dis- 
 covered by Torricelli in the 16th century should not be accepted, but that the 
 calculation should be made on much more complicated lines, this question 
 being in fact one of only secondary interest. 
 
 It sufficed in reality to show that the velocity would be too great and 
 would necessitate too great a heading up in flood ; and, that in summer, on 
 the emptying of the reservoir, the velocity would be altogether excessive it 
 the gates were opened from thebotton as Stoneys' patent gates always are. 
 
 Sites rpjjg discussion on the choosing of a reservoir site is contained in the 
 
 proposed ° 
 
 for proceedings of the so called meeting of the 24th March. 
 '^inThl" My colleagues stated, that in spite of the excellent quality of the rock 
 
 Nile valley, throuffh which the Nile had cut its way at Kalabsha, this site could not be 
 
 Meeting ° "^ 
 
 of the 24th accepted for a dam of the type they proposed, because it would [be necessary 
 to take down the foundations to a great depth at an excessive cost. 
 
 They gave the same opinion about the Silsila site, where the bed and 
 the sides of the river are formed of strata of sandstone between which are 
 interposed, at least on the sides, layers of clay and sand and thin laminae 
 of soft sjjndstone. It is true that nothing was known of the rock below water 
 level, for here as elsewhere the borings were made with sand pumps in the 
 sand, and were stopped when soft rock was reached, for the tools could not 
 penetrate it. 
 
 Messrs. Baker and Torricelli definitely concluded that there was no more 
 suitable site for the construction of a dam than the Assuan cataract where 
 there existed, as Sir Benjamin Baker said, « a sound rock, numerous islands, 
 « a wide section and a shallow depth of water in which to work » . 
 
 Preoccupied however wfth Philae Temple, « which he would regret to see 
 removed and erected on another site » as Mr. Garstin had suggested, Sir 
 Benjamin Baker gave it as his opinion that it would be « quite possible to raise 
 « this Temple above the level of the water in the reservoir without deranging a 
 « single stone, and it would even be possible to raise the level of the island 
 « at the same time » . 
 
 He added that this Temple would become still more interesting than 
 it was to-day as tourists would admire the skill by which it had been 
 raised. And he knew « by experience that it was cheaper under all oondi- 
 
 March. 
 
REPORT OP THE .TKCHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 
 
 47 
 
 « tions to raise a building by elevating it on its own base than to displace it and 
 « rebuild it. In his opinion the sum of L.E. 200,000 included in the report was 
 « more than sufficient for this work » . 
 
 « The preservation of antiquities is not an engineering question ; but he 
 « thinks he ought to express his opinion as an engineer than there is neither 
 « any necessity to submerge the temple nor to remove it to another site ; it is a 
 « question of expense, and that not relatively great ». 
 
 Mr. Torricelli made the following statement : <( seeing that Mr. Garstin, 
 « on pages 28 and 52 of his note, says that it is for the Government to decide the 
 « question of Philee, he considers it his duty to keep aloof from it. He thinks 
 « that the Commission would be assuming too great a responsibility (a respon- 
 « sibility which he personally would never assume) if it had to give its 
 « opinion on this point. He only observes that the Assuan site answers exactly 
 « to the conditions required for a foundation, conditions which have been laid 
 « down in the preceding meetings, and which he considers necessary if an open 
 « dam is to be built ». 
 
 Thus my two colleagues state that there is no other site possible for the 
 establishment of a reservoir in the valley of the Nile except the Assuan Cataract. 
 This is going further even than Mr. Garstin who placed the projects in the 
 following order (see page 52 of his report). 
 
 1st A reservoir dam at Assuan with R.L. of water at 114. 
 
 2nd A reservoir dam at Kalabsha with R.L. of water at 118. 
 
 3rd A reservoir dam at Silsila with R.L. of water at 101 . 
 
 4th The Wadi Ray an project. 
 
 He added : « I am quite aware that the difficulty regarding Philae Temple 
 u is a very serious one, one that will very possibly, / might almost say 
 « probably involve the rejection of the project ». 
 
 Mr. Garstin prepared the following table of the different projects : — 
 
 NAME OF THE RESERVOIR 
 
 I. Assnan 
 
 II. Kalabsha. . . . 
 
 III. Silsila 
 
 IV. Wady Rayan 
 
 COST 
 OP THE RESERVOIR 
 
 L.E 1,600,000 
 
 » 1,600,000 
 
 » 1,650,000 
 
 » 2,727,000 
 
 COST 
 
 OF THE WORKS 
 
 FOR THE UTILISATION 
 
 OF THE WATER 
 
 L.E. 
 
 3,001,000 
 3,001,000 
 3,001,000 
 2,535,000 
 
 TOTAL COST 
 
 L.E. 4,601,000 
 » 4,601,000 
 » 4,651,000 
 » 5,262,000 
 
 We have already seen that the above figures must be modified. The dam 
 proposed by my colleagues at Assuan would cost much more than L.E. 1,600,000 
 at least 50 per cent more and perhaps double. 
 
 I said at the meeting of the 27th March (see this very important pro- 
 ceeding) that I could not, any more than my colleagues, advise the Govern- 
 ment to construct at Kalabsha, still less at Silsila, a dam holding up 25 metres 
 
48 REPORT OP THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 
 
 of water, if the dam were either of the type proposed hy the engineers of the 
 Egyptian Government or of the type recommended hy my colleagues. 
 
 I added that a water level of R.L. 118.00 at Kalabsha would completely 
 submerge the cultivated lands on the banks of the Nile, as well as the temples 
 of Kalabsha, Dekka, Uff el Dunya and all the villages (notably Korosko, the 
 most important village in Nubia after Assuan) up to a great distance upstream 
 of the dam, and also the cemeteries of these villages. I thought that a searching 
 examination should be made of the inconveniences of a work of this kind, which 
 would necessitate the expropriation and removal of the villages, and depopulate 
 the country along 200 kilometres of the river, until such time as vegetation 
 could be reestablished and the villages rebuilt at a higher level. I further 
 observed that Rogers Pasha, Director General of Sanitation, had given his 
 opinion that in submerging the cemeteries by the reservoir, the health of the 
 country might be gravely compromised. 
 
 I insisted moreover that engineers familiar with the progress made in the 
 construction of regulating weirs and hydraulic foundations, could easily build 
 at Kalabsha or elsewhere, hy other means than those indicated hy the English 
 engineers of the Egyptian Government, or hy my colleagues, a regulating 
 weir of any height considered necessary; or, as I should prefer it, many weirs 
 of moderate height, which would realise the objects in view, without damao'ing 
 the country upstream of the barrages, and give water to the inhabitants 
 of Nubia, rather than drive them out of the country, and make a desert of a 
 length of 200 kilometres between Assuan and Wadi Haifa. This would 
 result perhaps in bringing the frontier nearer to Assuan instead of carrying 
 it to the south of Wadi Haifa. 
 
 In reply to Mr. Torricelli, Mr. Willcocks stated, at the meeting of the 
 26th March, that three dams or weirs raising the water level to that of the 
 cultivated land, downstream of Assuan, at the cataract, and upstream of it, would 
 store 1,280,000,000 cubic metres of water ; this would be a great deal , and less 
 expensive that the proposal of my colleagues, and certainly it would not present 
 the same inconveniences and dangers. 
 
 As far as the Silsila site is concerned I remarked that a reservoir with its 
 water surface at R.L. 101.00 metres would submerge the town of Assuan 
 whose main street facing the Nile is at R.L. 94.00, and also the temple of Kom 
 Ombos and the small temple of Silsila, and, in any case, it would be unnecessary 
 and would never be permitted, as contemplated in Mr. Willcocks' project, to 
 include in the canal excavation the large temple at Silsila, which is so remarkable 
 and which could not be removed as it is cut in the living rock. 
 
 With respect to the Assuan Barrage, I refused to dissociate myself from 
 any side of the question, even if it were foreign to the engineer's profession for 
 in works of such magnitude one ought to examine every point of view :' the 
 interests of the population, of navigation, of commerce and of industry, and evea 
 
REPORT OP THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 49 
 
 questions of art and archaeology, as well as the others. Adopting the opinion 
 of Colonel Ross and Sir Colin Scott Monci'ieff, I insisted that I would not 
 associate myself with any proposal for submerging or even for modifying in any 
 manner whatever, the ancient buildings which are to be found on the island 
 of Philse, for they seemed to me to be nearly equal in value to those of the 
 Acropolis of Athens. 
 
 I added that if I acted thus I was certain to be held in contempt not only by 
 my countrymen, but by the public opinion of the whole of Europe. Moreover 
 there would be submerged the temples of Debod, Gertassa, Kalabsha, Dekka, 
 Off El Dunya (which I could not visit), and the town of Korosko. I then cited the 
 example of the Delta barrage, of which the method of getting in the foundations 
 is known, a method rendered altogether defective by circumstances foreign to the 
 ideas of Mougel Bey('), the builder, and the example of weirs on the Moscowa, in 
 order to prove that it was not impossible to construct a regulating weir of great 
 height on even bad foundations, especially when they could be carried out in a 
 more perfect manner than what was possible at the Delta or on the Moscowa; 
 and I concluded that for the preparation of a serious project, where the inventions 
 of new methods would play a great part, there would be needed much time and 
 even the competition of numerous engineers and experienced contractors. 
 
 It is thus that the preparation of special works is often conducted in 
 France, especially if the conditions are novel, as I explained at the meeting of 
 24th March when I quoted a striking example of a competition of this kind 
 (see the proceedings of the meeting of the 24th March), and I believe they 
 proceed in much the same way in Egypt, for when the Railway or some other 
 public administration wishes to undertake important works, such as bridges, 
 tramways, sewers, etc., the contractors of Europe are invited to send in tenders 
 with their designs and estimates, according to a programme fixed by the 
 Government. 
 
 In this case, to insure a complete study of the question and the se?lection 
 of the best project, I think the whole of Europe should be invited to compete 
 
 publicly. 
 
 In order to encourage responsible engineers to enter this competition after 
 making the necessary studies, (which would be very costly, in spite of the 
 information collected by Mr. Willcocks and his staff), it would be necessary to 
 provide solid guarantees that those entering in the competition would be fairly 
 judged and rewarded. 
 
 I think the competition should be made on the following lines : — 
 (1) At the time of announcing the competition, the composition of the jury 
 should be made known. 
 
 (1) A portion of ths Delta barrage is built on 10 metres in vertical height of pitcliing. On the Moscowa 
 no masonry has been employed in the foundation, but only wood and clay. 
 
50 REPORT OP THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON! THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 
 
 (2) In my opinion, the jury should be composed of engineers of different 
 nationalities appointed by their respective Governments, just as the Commis^ 
 sioners of the Public Debt are appointed ; it is understood that these last must 
 have a voice in the payments. 
 
 (3) The competitors should know beforehand if the tenderer of the best 
 project would have adjudicated to him the works at his estimated rates (this 
 would be the best means of obtaining an exact estimate of the cost ) , or if 
 he were to receive a prize the amount of which would be made known at the 
 beginning of the competition. (It might be advantageous to promise a second 
 prize for the project put in the 2nd place by the jury ) . 
 
 (4) In case the engineer who tendered the best project had the work adju- 
 dicated to him, it would perhaps be convenient to charge the same jury to take 
 over the works on completion and arrange the final settlement of accounts. 
 
 Sanitary The Under Secretary of State asked the Commission to examine what 
 
 influence the reservoirs could have on the hygiene and on the salubrity of 
 the country. This question was discussed at the meeting of the 28ih March 
 and the Commission gave its opinion that the reservoirs could only have a 
 happy effect on the salubrity of the country. The Commission adopted in their 
 entirety the conclusions of the report of Rogers Pasha, Director General of 
 Sanitation, leaving to the Government the decision of the question whether it 
 should take the opinion of any other specialist. 
 
 c™" At the end of the meeting of the 2nd April Mr Torricelli asked Mr. Will- 
 
 of 
 
 regulating cocks to prepare a preliminary project on the lines indicated by me and to 
 ^°'"' calculate the cost. I instantly replied that appeared impossible to me, and as 
 the meeting was at an end I completed what I had to say on the 3rd April ( see 
 the proceedings of this meeting). 
 
 As Mr. Willcocks having stated that he was ready to make the preliminary 
 project and estimate called for by Mr. Torricelli, I remarked that I had indicated 
 several schemes and that it would first of all be necessary to invent new types 
 of regulating weirs of such great height, while Mr. Willcocks engaged himself 
 to invent not only the new system, but the best system. I also expressed a 
 fear that he might make an estimate of a dam similar to those he had already 
 designed, which presented many faults and were too costly, while I proposed 
 to adopt designs absolutely different, more safe and lest costly. It is as though 
 Mr. Willcocks set himself to estimate the cost of a pyramid, when an obelisk 
 was under consideration. 
 
 I then explained to Mr. Torricelli that in the dam proposed by him, the 
 proportion closed to that open was as 2.75 to 1, whilst in the Delta barrage, 
 which I proposed imitating, with necessary modifications, the proportion is .60, 
 so that a regulating weir similar to the Delta barrage would have a length of 500 
 
REPORT OP THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 51 
 
 or 600 metres instead of 1275 metres, and that even in doubling the length of the 
 piers and the width of the foundations the cost of a regulating weir would be 
 much less than that of a dam pierced by sluices as proposed by Messrs. Tor- 
 ricelli and Baker. 
 
 This latter would have its cost considerably increased by the inconvenient 
 conditions laid down by Mr. Torricelli that in plan each 75 metres length of 
 dam shall be a circular arc, and between each pair of arcs there is to be an 
 abutment pier. 
 
 The arcs can have only a slight rise in proportion to their length of 
 75 metres, and will be differently strained according as the reservoir Is full 
 or empty. 
 
 Just as in the arches of bridges, the extrados at the key stone will be subjected 
 to considerable compression when the reservoir is full, and, at the same time, the 
 intrados will be in tension ; when, on the contrary, the reservoir is empty, the 
 variations of temperature, which are enormous at Assuan, will produce 
 compression in the intrados and tension in the extrados. Mr. Torricelli, 
 however, stated that for reservoir dams tension ought never to be allowed in 
 either the upstream or downstream face. On the other hand, when the 
 reservoir will be full, the pressure of the two arches on the abutment pier 
 between them will result in a horizontal force normal to the general direction 
 of the barrage, and in order that the abutment pier should resist by its weight 
 alone, its mass and length will have to be considerable. The pier ought more- 
 over to be very wide in order to resist the thrust of one of the arches under the 
 supposition that the other does not exist, as Mr. Torricelli demanded. Here 
 there are many reasons which will make the calculation of the dam a matter of 
 great difficulty, and its cost enormous ; however by the 24th March Mr.Willcocks 
 handed in his estimate of the dam of Messrs. Torricelli and Baker, without 
 assuredly having made any of these calculations. He engaged himself on the 
 3rd April to calculate equally quickly the cost of a regulating weir, without 
 even asking how it was to be done. And it was on this account that I expressed 
 my astonishment that Mr. Torricelli could attach any importance to such 
 calculations, and Mr. Torricelli replied (see the proceedings). « I have the 
 
 « greatest confidence in Mr. Willcocks' ability , I am of opinion that he 
 
 « can calculate this preliminary project in a short time, while others who do 
 « not possess soprofovrnd an experience as he does, would take a considerable 
 « time before they could come to a solution » . 
 
 I could make no reply to such a peremptory argument as the above. 
 
 At the meeting of the 7th April, I remarked that the Commission had not BBtunates 
 
 yet thoroughly discussed the 3rd question proposed by Mr. Garstin on the 8th ^^^^ 
 
 nage of his report, the question which has to do with the examination of all the projeots. 
 designs, plan and estimates. I obtained no answer. It would however have 
 
52 REPORT OP THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 
 
 been useful to examine the estimates of the original projects in order to know if 
 the new project proposed by my colleagues was going to be calculated in the 
 same summary manner and on the same basis. For my part, I had many 
 criticisms to make on the estimates attached to the reports handed over to the 
 Commission. 
 
 More than this, on the l7th March Sir Benjamin Baker asked Mr. Will- 
 cocks to calculate the cost of the Assuan dam project on the lines which 
 he had indicated in concert with Mr. Torricelli. On the 24th March 
 Mr. Willcocks handed me over a sketch of this dam, and the result of his 
 calculations and asked me if I had any remarks to offer. I asked that I might 
 examine these projects at my leisure ; I returned them some days afterwards to 
 the secretary of the Commission and the matter dropped. In reality, it 
 would have been useless to discuss a new project or rather sketch, that had been 
 made so rapidly, 
 
 stoney'e Wc.wcrc taken to the Delta barrage to examine Stoney's gates, but we did 
 
 gaJs. Jiot discuss whcther it was necessary to employ this patented and heavy type of 
 gate. The model gate, which we examined, was 4 metres wide and 7 metres 
 high, and weighed, they told me, 1 1 tons, or under 400 kilograms per square 
 metre, but we have to reckon also the grooves, winches and other accessories, 
 weighing as much, and then the counterpoise laden with old iron and stones, 
 and weighing also 11 tons. The total weight would be under 1,200 kilograms 
 per square metre and the estimated price of L.E. 75 or about 1,950 francs per 
 square metre, makes the price of steel 1.60 francs per kilogram, or rather 
 0.20 francs for the counterweight, and 1.87 francs for the steel. That is 
 assuredly an excessive price. And at the meeting of the 3rd April, I remarked 
 that it would be very easy to choose some other type of gate, among those which 
 have worked successfully elsewhere, and that in any case it seemed to me 
 absolutely wrong to work the gates under a head of 22 metres of water, when 
 one could easily dispense with this necessity by means of some very simple 
 artifice. 
 
 I.OCkB, 
 
 I also remarked at the meetings of the 3rd and 7th April that the locks had 
 not been studied sufficiently, and that the locks gates had not been studied at all. 
 I received no answer. My colleagues seemed to consider all these matters as 
 details of minor importance, I had however directed on the Seine the construction 
 of numerous weirs and locks, and the locks had often cost more than the weirs. 
 
 I was told that these weirs were comparatively small works, but the locks 
 were proportional to the weirs. With a dam and lock holding up 22 metres of 
 water and with the necessity existing of passing boats when the reservoir was 
 empty and when the head of water could be very low, the up and downstream 
 floors would have to be at nearly the same level. 
 
REPORT OP THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. Od 
 
 The upper gates would be over 20 metres high and under these conditions 
 it would be as difficult to construct the locks with their gates as the dam with 
 its sluices. Certainly the cost of the locks will be considerably over the figures 
 given by Mr. Willcocks. 
 
 Before closing, I ought to examine a large number of very important 
 questions, but I could not do so without extending beyond measure this report, 
 which is already too long. 
 
 It is thus that the Under Secretary of State on page 8 of his report, indica- 
 ted the questions, whose examination the Ministry of Public Works reserved to 
 itself. They were: 
 
 1st The means of utilising the surplus water stored in the reservoirs. 
 
 2nd The works rendered necessary in Upper, Middle and Lower Egypt, 
 for the purpose of utilising this water. 
 
 3rd The effect on Upper Egypt of a complete or partial abolition of basin 
 irrigation, and the substitution of perennial irrigation. 
 
 4th The effect on the Nile in Lower Egypt of the abolition of the basins in 
 Upper Egypt. 
 
 Here are very complicated questions which demand lengthened studies, and 
 which the Commission could not evidently have examined during its short stay 
 in Egypt. 
 
 In his report of 1891, Sir Colin Scott Moncrieff proposed the nomination 
 of a Commission consisting of a French, a German, an English and even an 
 American engineer, which would have come to Egypt in November 1891 and 
 examined the Upper Nile, so that, as he says, the Government could have 
 received their conclusions in February or March 1892. Less time would 
 certainly not have sufficed for a study of all the questions raised by the English 
 engineers employed by the Egyptian Government. Even this length of time 
 would perhaps have been too short. 
 
 It is on this account that the Commission has done no more than glance at 
 a certain number of the questions to be studied. My colleagues wished to 
 confine themselves to the questions indicated by Mr. Gars tin, as being alone 
 within their competency. I have already explained why, under these ra^ifricted 
 conditions, I ought not to have accepted the invitation to form one of the 
 Commission . 
 
 1 cannot however conclude without expressing my regret that my 
 colleagues did not consent to discuss even these questions indicated by 
 Mr. Garstin as being within the feompetency of the Commission. 
 
 Different 
 questions. 
 
54 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NIIiE RESERVOIRS. 
 
 Summing up and Conclusions. 
 
 The Commission^ after having examined all the projects which had been 
 submitted to it by the engineers of the Egyptian Government, recognised that 
 none of them could be approved of. It unanimously r^ected them all. 
 
 wadi Hayan. The proposed canals for leading the excess waters of the Nile into the 
 Wadi Rayan depression, and then distributing them with a view to increasing 
 the irrigated areas, would have been too small to realise the end aimed at by the 
 Government. It would be necessary to increase them considerably, and they 
 would perhaps even then be in sufficient were abundant subterranean springs, 
 coming from the reservoir to burst out in the Fayoum or in the unexplored parts 
 of the deserts to the south and west of the Wadi Rayan. 
 
 If the infiltrations established themselves in the direction of the Fayoum, 
 they might cause serious injury to that province. 
 
 The Commission, otherwise, could not give a decided opinion on the 
 extent to which the infiltrations should be dreaded. To have been enabled to give 
 it, it should have had before it the results of a sufficient number of borings. 
 Those which have been made up to the present have only pierced the surface sand 
 which overlies the strata of rock surrounding the Wadi Rayan. These borings 
 should have been taken through the rock to the level of the bed of the projected 
 canals and even to the level of the bottom of the depression to give an idea of the 
 extent ot the permeability of the layers of sand or clay between the strata of solid 
 and compact rock. 
 
 On the other side, the estimates of cost of the project submitted to the 
 Commission were calculated at prices which were too low. Mr. Willcocks 
 presented to the Commission, with extraordinary rapidity, a new estimate of the 
 cost of constructing the Wadi Rayan reservoir with larger canals and at higher 
 rates as the Commission had indicated. 
 
 The cost would be too great in proportion to the returns to be realised when 
 it is considered that this reservoir would benefit Lower Egypt alone, whilst the 
 benefits for Middle and Upper Egypt would be far more considerable. 
 
 Moreover, the new estimate was made in so short a time that, in my opinion, 
 it carries with it no guarantee that the actual cost will not greatly exceed the 
 estimated one. As to the other projects pointed out by Mr. Cope Whitehouse to 
 the Commission, it could give no decided opinion about them, as it had not at its 
 disposal the necessary data for calculating either the prime cost or the returns 
 to be realised. 
 
 The Commission definitely decided that it considered it preferable to make 
 reservoirs in the valley of the Nile rather than in the Wadi Rayan depression. 
 
REPORT QP THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 55 
 
 The projects for reservoir dams in the Nile valley prepared by the engineers Reservoirs 
 of the Egyptian Government appeared to the Commission as defective as the i„ the 
 project for the Wadi Rayan canals. ""^ vaiiey. 
 
 The Commission was unanimous in- its opinion that the design for the dam 
 across the river lid not possess sufficient stability. This dam, whose height was 
 over 20 metres above the ordinary water level of the Nile, and which formed a 
 reservoir containing from 2,000 to 3,000 millions of cubic metres of water and 
 even more, might have yielded under this head of water and produced the most 
 serious disasters in the valley on its downstream side. In spite of my request that 
 it should do so the Commission refused to discuss the estimates of this unsound 
 reservoir dam. 
 
 This should however have been done before concluding that the estimate of the 
 cost of another project could be made on the same lines. These estimates do not 
 appear to me to possess sufficient guarantee against grave errors in the estimate of 
 cost. If certain parts of the project appeared to me too costly, like Stoney's sluice 
 gates which are estimated to cost 1 .50 francs per kilogram for steel girders very 
 simply put together^ other parts of the project like the locks and the lock gates 
 had not been sufficiently studied ; their construction appeared to me at least as 
 difficult as that of the dam, and the estimates of the locks very low and very 
 arbitrarily fixed without sufficient study. The arrangement of the locks is 
 not even shown on the plans. First of all the question of their dimensions 
 should be thoroughly studied by considering on the one hand the boats which 
 traverse the Nile and its cataracts and on the other those which enter the 
 Delta canals. 
 
 My colleagues laid down the programme of a new dam in substitution of 
 that of Mr. Willcocks. Its study will demand much time and laborious 
 calculations in order to reahse the conditions laid down by Mr. Torrieelli, 
 nearly all of which are necessary, but it appears to me not yet quite sufficient. 
 The dam will differ from that of Mr. Willcocks, in plan, in length, in width and 
 even in height above high water level. AU the details of masonry, of the sluices 
 (which will now be. lined with cast iron), and of the sluice gates will be different 
 in the two projects. I have already stated that the locks should be thoroughly 
 
 studied. 
 
 It is evident that this project is an absolutely new one M'hich remains to be 
 studied, and is not, as has been said, a simple modification of some of the details. 
 Mr. Willcocks presented on the 24th March a sketch and an estimate of this new 
 project which had been indicated to him on the 1 7th, his new estimate was 50 per 
 cent in excess of his original estimate. This estimate was not discussed, although 
 on the 24th March I was asked if I accepted this new project, and I showed 
 m-yself disposed to discuss it some days later. It appeared lo me moreover impos- 
 sible to attach any importance to an estimate thus prepared, without any of the 
 calculations of stability required by Mr. Torrieelli being made. 
 
 10 
 
56 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 
 
 The programme indicated bj my colleagues appeared tome, moreover, to 
 possess very serious faults which I have described in the report, and which suffice 
 in my opinion to cause the absolute rejection of this type of dam. 
 
 I cannot assume the responsibility of advising the Grovernment to undertake 
 the construction of a dam of this type, as everything would be left to chance, and 
 the Government itself would be exposed to great risks trom serious miscalculations 
 both as to the stability of the work and also the estimate of its cost. 
 
 Finally my colleagues find that there is only one site where a dam of the 
 proposed type could be built, and indeed, in their own opinion, it could not be 
 built with any security except on absolutely compact rock ; and the cost would be 
 excessive even on this solid rock foundation. Unfortunately such rock has not 
 been met with except at the Assuan Cataract, and the island of Philae would be 
 put under 10 metres of water. 
 
 It is true that Mr. Garstin proposes removing the Philae temple, stone 
 by stone and rebuilding it and that Sir Benjamin Baker proposes raising 
 the entire island without deranging the constructions and the ruins which are 
 strewn over it. 
 
 Mr. Torricelli refused to accept any responsibility with respect to Philse 
 temple. The reservoir however would submerge many other temples and all the 
 cultivated and inhabited valley of the Nile on a length of about 200 kilometres. 
 
 I said, and I insist upon saying that I refuse absolutely to associate myself 
 with a proposition ofj this kind. I repeat that if I did so I should be condemned 
 by the public opinion of the whole of Europe. 
 
 It appeares to me, moreover, most unfortunate to have to submerge a 
 great part of Nubia, for that would almost amount to making the frontier 
 approach the 1st Cataract, while it would be more expedient to carry the frontier 
 further to the south of the 2nd Cataract by canalising it. 
 
 I should prefer to impi'ove the cultivation of Nubia rather than to submerge 
 it for a length of 200 kilometres. I should prefer to give water to the inhabitants, 
 whose number would increase at the same time as the area of their cultivated 
 land, rather than drive them from their country by indemnifying them for the 
 loss of their lands and their villages. 
 
 As far as the construction of a reservoir dam is concerned, I am 
 persuaded that engineers familiar with the progress realised up to the present 
 in the construction of regulating weirs and foundations with compressed air, 
 could construct anywhere and not only on the 1st cataract, but on apian 
 absolutely different from that of Mr. Willcocks or my colleagues, a regulating 
 weir of any height one pleased, and which would cost much less than the one 
 of which my colleagues have indicated the programme. 
 
 But I should prefer for my part to build numerous regulating weirs ot 
 moderate height provided with locks, just as Mr. AVilloocks himself indicated 
 in his report of 1891 when he compared one reservoir with a series of 
 
REPORT OP THE TEGHNICAli COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 57 
 
 reservoirs. The height of the weu^s would be fahiy high, because the Nile 
 banks rise to a height of about 10 metres above low water level of the river. 
 
 The first weir would be constructed on the first cataract which would 
 be made navigable ; later on, another might be built on the 2nd as had been 
 already pointed out by Count de la Motte and subsequently by Messrs. 
 Ross and Scott Moncrieff and Mr. Willcocks himself in their reports of 1891. 
 Each weir would store at least 300,000,000 cubic metres of water, or even 
 more, if it was decided to submerge a certain proportion of the valley. 
 
 They would be constructed in succession without expending at one 
 stroke a considerable sum of money ; experience gained in the first would 
 much facilitate the construction of the others ; each reserve of water stored 
 could be immediately utilised while another weir was being built; whilst 
 a considerable time would elapse before 3,000 millions of cubic metres 
 could be used. 
 
 The whole length of the Nile would thus be canalised, not only in 
 the interests of navigation but also in that of irrigation and drainage as 
 was pointed out in 1891 by Messrs. Ross and Moncrieff and Mr. "Willcocks 
 himself. Col. Ross then proposed the establishment of three weirs, one at Assiout 
 and two others between Assiout and Silsila, Sir Colin Moncrieff proposed a weir 
 at Assiout which Mr. Garstin to-day considers indispensable, and Mr. Will- 
 cocks proposed three weirs at Esna, Disna and Assiout. 
 
 In his report of 1891 Mr. Willcocks proposed for his dam openings 
 of 5 metres in width, and Sir Colin Scott Moncrieff added as a note : « I should -^ 
 « prefer increasing the number of the openings in flood in order to produce 
 « a greater velocity through the reservoir » . This was assuredly said in order 
 to diminish the heading up at the dam and the consequent silting up of the 
 reservoir. 
 
 I go farther, piers should be constructed which would not produce more 
 heading up than an ordinary bridge. The only difiiculty would lie in the design- 
 ing of the sluice gates which should be able to work easily, but this would be 
 but a bagatelle in the hands of constructors of iron works and hydraulic presses. 
 
 The piers and the foundations would have a much greater length than those 
 in the project of my colleagues, but the length of the weir would be more than 
 halved, and the proportion of closed to open would be 60 Vo instead of 250 V ; 
 a regulating weir would cost then for the same height much less, probably less 
 than half the price of a dam of the type proposed by my colleagues, and for 
 the same price it would be possible to construct two or three of a height which 
 would be moderate when compared to that of my colleagues. 
 
 There are numerous programmes to be studied ; I think that all should be conoiusion. 
 studied before a proper comparison can be made, and in order to insure this, 
 competitive designs should be invited from all the engineers and contractors of 
 
58 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION ON THE NILE RESERVOIRS. 
 
 Europe. This will necessitate laborious and costly studies, in which much 
 will be left to the discovery of new methods of working, especially in the 
 direction of sluice gates. 
 
 A complete study and an estimate certified., to by a contractor, who will 
 engage himself to carry out the works., a;re absolutely necessary to protect the 
 Government against serious tuiscalculation. 
 
 To encourage competent engineers and contractors, however, to make 
 these difficult studies and to compete, it would be necessary to take assurances 
 from them and at the same time give them the necessary guarantees which I 
 indicated at the meeting of the 24th March, and have also quoted in this report. 
 It would be necessary to let them know if the author of the best project 
 would have the contract adjudicated to him, or if he would receive a prize 
 proportional to the worth of his project in case he were not called upon to 
 execute the work himself. 
 
 Signed .:, , :\uguste Boule . 
 
 Cairo, 18th April, 1894. 
 
Cornell University Library 
 
 3 1924 032 177 390 
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