Qattara Depression Project

Last updated
Map of the Qattara Depression with waterway routes.
All proposed routes for a tunnel and/or canal route from the Mediterranean Sea towards the Qattara Depression All proposed routes.PNG
Map of the Qattara Depression with waterway routes.
All proposed routes for a tunnel and/or canal route from the Mediterranean Sea towards the Qattara Depression

The Qattara Depression Project, or Qattara Project for short, is a macro-engineering project concept in Egypt. Rivalling the Aswan High Dam in scope, the intention is to develop the hydroelectric potential of the Qattara Depression by creating an artificial lake. [1]

Contents

The Qattara depression is a region that lies 60 m (200 ft) below sea level on average and is currently a vast, uninhabited desert. Water could be let into the area by connecting it to the Mediterranean Sea with tunnels and/or canals. The inflowing water would then evaporate quickly because of the desert climate. A controlled balance of inflow and evaporation would produce a continuous flow to generate hydroelectricity. Eventually, the depression would become a hypersaline lake or a salt pan as the evaporating seawater leaves the salt it contains behind. This would return the Qattara Depression to its current state but with its sabkha soils tens of meters higher, allowing for salt mining.

The concept calls for excavating a large canal or tunnel of about 55 to 100 kilometres (34 to 62 mi), depending on the route chosen to the Mediterranean Sea, to bring seawater into the area. [2] An alternative would be a 320 kilometre (200 mile) pipeline north-east to the freshwater Nile River south of Rosetta. [3] [4] In comparison, Egypt's Suez Canal is currently 193 kilometres in length. [5] By balancing the inflow and evaporation, the lake's water level can be held constant. Several proposed lake levels are 70, 60 and 50 meters below sea level.

Proposals

Roudaire

The first documented suggestion for flooding large parts of the Sahara desert was by French geographer François Élie Roudaire whose proposal inspired the writer Jules Verne's final book Invasion of the Sea . Plans to use the Qattara Depression for the generation of electricity reportedly date back to 1912 from Berlin geographer Albrecht Penck. [6]

Ball

The subject was first discussed in more detail by John Ball in 1927. [7] Ball also made the first preliminary calculations on the achievable filling rate, inflow rate, electricity production and salinity.

Qattara's nature as a depression seems to have been unknown until after the First World War. The credit for its discovery goes to John Ball, English director of the Survey of Egypt, who oversaw the mapping of the depression in 1927 and who first suggested using it to generate hydroelectricity. [8] [9] In 1957 the American Central Intelligence Agency proposed to President Dwight Eisenhower that peace in the Middle East could be achieved by flooding the Qattara Depression. The resulting lagoon, according to the CIA, would have four benefits: [10]

Bassler

From 1964 onward Prof. Friedrich Bassler led the international "Board of Advisers" which was responsible for planning and financing activities of the project. He also advised the Egyptian government on the matter from 1975 onward. He was appointed to make a first preliminary feasibility study by the German Federal Ministry of Economics in Bonn. [11]

Bassler was the driving force behind the Qattara Project for nearly a decade. Half way through the seventies a team of eight mostly German scientists and technicians was working on the planning of the first hydro-solar depression power station in the world. The first "Bassler study" of 1973 laid the basis for the Egyptian government to commission a study of its own. It decided in 1975 that Bassler and a group of companies known as "Joint Venture Qattara" should conduct a feasibility study of the project.

The project concept was: Mediterranean water should be channeled through a canal or tunnel towards the Qattara Depression, which lies below sea level. This water would then fall into the depression through penstocks for electricity generation. The water would evaporate quickly because of the very dry and hot weather once in the depression. This would allow for more water to enter the depression and would create a continuous source of electricity.

A canal 60 meters deep would connect the Mediterranean with the depression's edge at this narrow isthmus. This canal would deliver water to the depression as well as being a shipping route towards the Qattara lake with a harbor and fishing grounds in the depression. The depression was to be filled to a height of 60 m below sea level. It would take a total of 10 years to fill to that level. After that the incoming flow would balance out against the outgoing evaporation and would cause the lake level to stop changing.

In the first phase of the project the Qattara 1 station was to generate 670 megawatts. The second phase was to generate an additional 1,200 megawatts. A pumped-storage hydroelectricity facility would increase the peak production capacity with another 4,000 megawatts, totaling about 5,800 megawatts.

The core problem of the project was the cost and technical difficulty of diverting seawater to the depression. Calculations showed that digging a canal or tunnel would be too expensive. Demining would be needed to remove some of the millions of unexploded ordnance left from World War II in Northern Egypt. Consequently, use of nuclear explosives to excavate the canal was another proposal by Bassler. This plan called for the detonation in boreholes of 213 nuclear devices, each yielding 1.5 megatons (i.e. 100 times that of the atomic bomb used against Hiroshima). This fit within the Atoms for Peace program proposed by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1953. Evacuation plans cited numbers of at least 25,000 evacuees. The shock waves from the explosion might also affect the tectonically unstable Red Sea Rift located just 450 km away from the blast site. Another danger was increased coast erosion because sea currents could change in such a way that even very remote coastal areas would erode. Because of the concerns about using a nuclear solution the Egyptian government turned down the plan, [12] and the project's stakeholders gave up on the project.

Continued interest

Since then, scientists and engineers still occasionally explore the viability of such a project, as a key to resolving economic, population, and ecological stresses in the area, but the project has yet to be undertaken. [13] [14] [15]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of Egypt</span> Geographical features of Egypt

The geography of Egypt relates to two regions: North Africa and West Asia.

The Qattara Depression is a depression in northwestern Egypt, specifically in the Matruh Governorate. The depression is part of the Western Desert of Egypt. The Qattara Depression lies below sea level, and its bottom is covered with salt pans, sand dunes, and salt marshes. The depression extends between the latitudes of 28°35' and 30°25' north and the longitudes of 26°20' and 29°02' east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aswan Dam</span> Dam in Aswan, Egypt

The Aswan Dam, or more specifically since the 1980s, the Aswan High Dam, is one of the world's largest embankment dams, which was built across the Nile in Aswan, Egypt, between 1960 and 1970. When it was completed, it was the tallest earthen dam in the world, eclipsing the United States' Chatuge Dam. Its significance largely upstaged the previous Aswan Low Dam initially completed in 1902 downstream. Based on the success of the Low Dam, then at its maximum utilization, construction of the High Dam became a key objective of the new regime the Free Officers movement of 1952; with its ability to better control flooding, provide increased water storage for irrigation and generate hydroelectricity, the dam was seen as pivotal to Egypt's planned industrialization. Like the earlier implementation, the High Dam has had a significant effect on the economy and culture of Egypt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pumped-storage hydroelectricity</span> Electric energy storage system

Pumped-storage hydroelectricity (PSH), or pumped hydroelectric energy storage (PHES), is a type of hydroelectric energy storage used by electric power systems for load balancing. The method stores energy in the form of gravitational potential energy of water, pumped from a lower elevation reservoir to a higher elevation. Low-cost surplus off-peak electric power is typically used to run the pumps. During periods of high electrical demand, the stored water is released through turbines to produce electric power. Although the losses of the pumping process make the plant a net consumer of energy overall, the system increases revenue by selling more electricity during periods of peak demand, when electricity prices are highest. If the upper lake collects significant rainfall or is fed by a river then the plant may be a net energy producer in the manner of a traditional hydroelectric plant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Endorheic basin</span> Closed drainage basin that allows no outflow

An endorheic basin is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other, external bodies of water ; instead, the water drainage flows into permanent and seasonal lakes and swamps that equilibrate through evaporation. Endorheic basins also are called closed basins, terminal basins, and internal drainage systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nalubaale Hydroelectric Power Station</span> Dam in Jinja

Nalubaale Power Station, formerly known as Owen Falls Dam, is a hydroelectric power station across the White Nile near its source at Lake Victoria in Uganda. Nalubaale is the Luganda name for Lake Victoria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red Sea–Dead Sea Water Conveyance</span> Planned water pipeline in Jordan

The Red Sea–Dead Sea Conveyance (RSDSC), sometimes called the Two Seas Canal, was a planned pipeline to run from the coastal city of Aqaba by the Red Sea to the Lisan area in the Dead Sea. Its abandonment was reported in June 2021.

In engineering, macro-engineering is the implementation of large-scale design projects. It can be seen as a branch of civil engineering or structural engineering applied on a large landmass. In particular, macro-engineering is the process of marshaling and managing of resources and technology on a large scale to carry out complex tasks that last over a long period. In contrast to conventional engineering projects, macro-engineering projects are multidisciplinary, involving collaboration from all fields of study. Because of the size of macro-projects they are usually international.

The Mediterranean–Dead Sea Canal (MDSC) is a proposed project to dig a canal from the Mediterranean Sea to the Dead Sea, taking advantage of the 400-metre difference in water level between the seas. The project could correct the drop in the level of the Dead Sea observed in recent years. The canal could also be used to generate hydroelectric power because of surface difference and maybe by salinity gradient power, and desalinate water by reverse osmosis.

The Shoalhaven Scheme is a dual-purpose water supply and Pumped-storage Hydroelectricity scheme located on the South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Srisailam Dam</span> Dam in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, India

The Srisailam Dam is constructed across the Krishna River in Nandyal district, Andhra Pradesh and Nagarkurnool district, Telangana near Srisailam temple town and is the 2nd largest capacity working hydroelectric station in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tunisian salt lakes</span> Salted depressions between Gulf of Gabès and Algerian border

The Tunisian salt lakes are a series of lakes in central Tunisia, lying south of the Atlas Mountains at the northern edge of the Sahara. The lakes include, from east to west, the Chott el Fedjedj, Chott el Djerid, and Chott el Gharsa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red Sea Dam</span> Speculative macro-engineering proposal

The Red Sea Dam is a speculative macro-engineering proposal put forward in 2007 by a group of scientists and engineers. Although the authors' intentions are to explore "the ethical and environmental dilemmas and some of the political implications of macro-engineering", the proposal has attracted both criticism and ridicule.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atlantropa</span> Proposed engineering project to create new land within the Mediterranean Sea

Atlantropa, also referred to as Panropa, was a gigantic engineering and colonisation idea that German architect Herman Sörgel devised in the 1920s, and promoted until his death in 1952. The project was devised to contain several hydroelectric dams in key points of the Mediterranean Sea, such as the Strait of Gibraltar and the Bosporus, to cause a sea level drop and create new land to settle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Energy in Egypt</span>

This article describes the energy and electricity production, consumption and import in Egypt.

Water resources management in modern Egypt, is a complex process that involves multiple stakeholders who use water for irrigation, municipal and industrial water supply, hydropower generation and navigation. In addition, the waters of the Nile support aquatic ecosystems that are threatened by abstraction and pollution. Egypt also has substantial fossil groundwater resources in the Western Desert.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Friedrich Bassler</span> German engineer

Friedrich Bassler was a German hydraulic engineer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sahara Sea</span> Engineering project to flood parts of the Sahara Desert with sea water

The Sahara Sea was the name of a hypothetical macro-engineering project which proposed flooding endorheic basins in the Sahara Desert with waters from the Atlantic Ocean or Mediterranean Sea. The goal of this unrealised project was to create an inland sea that would cover the substantial areas of the Sahara Desert which lie below sea level, bringing humid air, rain, and agriculture deep into the desert.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coastal reservoir</span> Place to store freshwater near seas

A Coastal reservoir is a type of reservoir to store fresh water on sea coast area near a river delta. Saemanguem in South Korea, Marina Barrage in Singapore, Qingcaosha in China, Plover Cove in Hong Kong, Delta Works in Netherlands, and Thanneermukkom Bund in India are a few existing coastal reservoirs.

John Ball was an English geologist born in Derby in 1872. He completed his technical education at Freiberg University of Mining and Technology and got a Doctor's degree from the University of Zurich. Ball traveled to the Saharan Desert in 1897. During his life, he explored and surveyed the deserts of Egypt and Sudan, up until his death in 1941 in Port Said.

References

  1. "Flooding the Qattara Depression – The Basement Geographer". Archived from the original on 2015-11-23.
  2. Ragheb, M. 2010. Pumped Storage Qattara Depression Solar Hydroelectric Power Generation.pdf. Published on 28 October 2010.
  3. Mahmoud, Mohamed. The River Nile – Qattara Depression Pipeline, June 2009
  4. User:TGCP Great Circle Mapper – Rosetta to Qattara, 2011
  5. "Suez Canal Authority". Archived from the original on June 3, 2010. Retrieved April 14, 2010.
  6. Murakami M. Managing water for peace in the Middle East United Nations University Press. p.64-66
  7. Ball, John (1927). "Problems of the Libyan Desert". The Geographical Journal. 70 (1): 21–38. doi:10.2307/1781881. JSTOR   1781881.
  8. Ball, John (1933). "The Qattara Depression of the Libyan Desert and the Possibility of Its Utilization for Power-Production". The Geographical Journal. 82 (4): 289–314. doi:10.2307/1785898. ISSN   0016-7398. JSTOR   1785898.
  9. Koger, Grove. 1999. "The Great Sahara Sea: An Idea Whose Time Has Come." Mercator's World. Volume 4 (2). March/April 1999. Page 23.
  10. MI: Gale. 2009. Farmington Hills, CIA Suggestions, Document Number CK3100127026. Reproduced in "Declassified Documents Reference System"
  11. "Historie des Instituts und der Versuchsanstalt für Wasserbau". Technische Universität Darmstadt. Archived from the original on 2015-12-28. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
  12. Badescu, Viorel; Cathcart, Richard B., eds. (2011). Macro-engineering Seawater in Unique Environments. Environmental Science and Engineering. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-14779-1. ISBN   9783642147784.
  13. Hafiez, Ragab A. 2011. Mapping of the Qattara Depression, Egypt, using SRTM Elevation Data for Possible Hydropower and Climate Change Macro-Projects. 2011, Macro-engineering Seawater in Unique Environments, pp. 519-531. Springer
  14. Baghdadi, A.H.A. & Mobarak A. 1989. A Feasibility Study for Power Generation from the Qattara Depression using a Hydro-Solar Scheme. 1989, 11, pp. 39-52. Taylor and Francis.
  15. Kelada, Maher. Global Hyper Saline Power Generation Qattara Depression Potential MIK Technology

29°30′00″N27°30′00″E / 29.5000°N 27.5000°E / 29.5000; 27.5000