# Has Lake Nasser Increased Rainfall in the Middle East? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 22, 2015, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lake-nasser-increased-rainfall-in-the-middle-east/738276 "2015-11-22T14:05:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![botsgotme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@botsgotme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/botsgotme)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lake-nasser-increased-rainfall-in-the-middle-east/738276/1 "2015-11-22T14:05:27Z")
When Egypt built the Aswan Dam, the lake created flooded hundreds of square miles. this lake must have a huge amount of evaporation from it-has this increased the local rainfall? Also, the diversion of the Nile waters from the Mediterranean Sea must have increased the salinity of the sea-has this had any bad effects? Years ago, there was a proposal to build a canal from lake Nasser to the Quattara Depression. the idea was to flood the depression, creating another vast lake. This would make the area around the lake habitable-has this idea been shelved? ---
**Author:** ![JerrySTL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@JerrySTL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerrySTL)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lake-nasser-increased-rainfall-in-the-middle-east/738276/2 "2015-11-22T14:26:19Z")
Here’s a good article about the salinity problem. Drop down to the Environmental impact paragraphs. In a nutshell, invasive species from the Red Sea are a problem. > **[Suez Canal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Canal)** > > The Suez Canal (Egyptian Arabic: قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, Qanāt el Sewes) is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The 193.30 km (120.11 mi) long canal is a popular trade route between Europe and Asia. > In 1858, Ferdinand de Lesseps formed the Suez Canal Company for the express purpose of building the canal. Construction of the canal lasted from 1859 to 1869. The canal officially opened o... ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lake-nasser-increased-rainfall-in-the-middle-east/738276/3 "2015-11-22T14:43:12Z")
The Suez Canal =/= the dam on the Nile… The Red Sea invasive species are relative to mediterranean sea… ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lake-nasser-increased-rainfall-in-the-middle-east/738276/4 "2015-11-22T16:51:57Z")
Before the Aswan High Dam was built, atlases showed 6 cataracts along the course of the Nile. Two of them no longer appear. Were they covered over when Lake Nasser was created? ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lake-nasser-increased-rainfall-in-the-middle-east/738276/5 "2015-11-22T18:40:24Z")
The first cataract is now the site of the Aswan Low Dam. Lake Nasser covers the Second Cataract, ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lake-nasser-increased-rainfall-in-the-middle-east/738276/6 "2015-11-22T18:53:05Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > The first cataract is now the site of the Aswan Low Dam. > Lake Nasser covers the Second Cataract, Thanx 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lake-nasser-increased-rainfall-in-the-middle-east/738276/7 "2015-11-23T05:23:37Z")
There is still a plan to create a second Nile out of Lake Nasser. Use google maps to locate the Toska Lakes, northwest of Lake Nasser. With satellite view you can follow the canal that’s been dug. It’s a grand plan, that like most Egyptian government projects, plods along in fits and starts depending on funding. Unfortunately, at this point the flow is too small, it evaporates or sinks into the sand. Plus there’s that pesky problem of the Blue Nile dam that Ethiopia is building - the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Concern is that as THAT fills, it will steal much of the surplus water available to Egypt for a decade or more, and it too will lose water to evaporation. Another problem they found after building the dam and stopping the regular flooding of farmland. All water has some small amount of salt. By watering just enough to wet the crops, farmers in the Nile valley were adding salt to the soil in small increments. They had to change their procedures to over-water to ensure the salt was washed out (back into the Nile via groundwater) rather than building up. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lake-nasser-increased-rainfall-in-the-middle-east/738276/8 "2015-11-23T12:00:11Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > The first cataract is now the site of the Aswan Low Dam. > Lake Nasser covers the Second Cataract, Ah, I see — Cataract Surgery. And it removed two cataracts, as you’d expect. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-lake-nasser-increased-rainfall-in-the-middle-east/738276/9 "2015-11-23T13:18:18Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Ah, I see — Cataract Surgery. > > And it removed two cataracts, as you’d expect. It was the exact opposite of a rapid recovery, however…