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The Aswan Dam For thousands of years the Nile River overflowed its banks every spring as the snow in Since 1970, the Aswan Dam has controlled the annual flood. By holding back water, the Aswan Dam created the world’s largest man-made lake: Lake Nassar. The water from Lake Nassar provided new fishing areas and provides much needed water for agriculture. The Aswan Dam also makes it possible to grow an extra crop each year by holding back the summer flood that covers the banks of the Nile River. Critics charge that building the Aswan Dam was unwise. The project was far more expensive than expected. Further, the annual floods carried silt, which created the topsoil needed for plants. Since the creation of the Aswan Dam, the farms on the formerly flooded banks have had to use expensive fertilizers in place of the silt. Formerly, fish have fed on the silt, and the people downstream depended on fishing from the river. |
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the mountains transformed into a torrent of water. The annual floods carried dead and decaying plants in its muddy solution. The muddy water is called silt, and silt creates excellent farmland.