Aswān High Dam

Aswān High Dam, dam across the River Nile in Egypt, which impounds one of the largest reservoirs in the world. It is located in southern Egypt, near the city of Aswān. Construction on the mammoth dam began in 1960, and the total cost was estimated at more than $1 billion. One-third of the cost was underwritten by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and 400 Soviet technicians were employed. By mid-1968 construction was completed. The last of the 12 Soviet-built turbines was installed in 1970. The High Dam has an embankment 111 m (365 ft) high that extends almost 1,000 m (3,280 ft) across the river. Called Lake Nasser in honour of the Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, the artificial lake created by the dam covers an area more than 480 km (300 mi) long and 16 km (10 mi) wide. The project has a generating capacity of 2,100 megawatts of electricity. The formation of Lake Nasser inundated many villages along the Nile.

The Aswān High Dam is about 6 km (4 mi) upstream from the Aswān Dam, which was completed in 1902. Hydroelectric installations were added in 1960 to the Aswān Dam.