The Nile · Aswan
Aswan Low Dam
The historic masonry dam on the Nile at Aswan, the largest of its kind in the world when it was completed at the start of the 20th century.
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The story
The Aswan Low Dam, or Old Aswan Dam, is a masonry buttress dam on the Nile at the first cataract, built by the British from 1899, and when it was finished in the early 1900s it was the largest masonry dam in the world. It was designed to store the annual flood and support irrigation in the lower Nile, but its capacity proved inadequate and it was raised twice, in 1907 to 1912 and again in 1929 to 1933. Its limits led to the study and construction of the Aswan High Dam about 6 km upstream. The dam is about 2 km long with 180 gates, is built of local granite, and carries a road linking the two banks of the Nile.
Good to know
- On completion it was the largest masonry dam in the world.
- It is about 2 km long and has 180 gates.
- It was raised twice before the High Dam was built about 6 km upstream.