In 1843 it was decided to build a series of diversion dams (barrages or weirs) across the Nile at the head of the delta about 12 miles downstream from Cairo, so as to raise the level of water upstream to supply the irrigation canals and to regulate navigation. This delta barrage scheme was not fully completed until 1861, after which it was extended and improved; it may be regarded as marking the beginning of modern irrigation in the Nile valley. The Zifta Barrage, nearly halfway along the Damietta branch of the deltaic Nile, was added to this system in 1901. In 1902 the Asyūṭ Barrage, more than 200 miles upstream from Cairo, was completed. This was followed in 1909 by the barrage at Isnā (Esna), about 160 miles above Asyūṭ, and in 1930 by the barrage at Najʿ Hammādī, 150 miles above Asyūṭ.

The first dam at Aswān was constructed between 1899 and 1902; it has a series of four locks to allow navigation. The dam has twice been enlarged—first between 1908 and 1911 and again between 1929 and 1934—thus raising the water level and increasing the dam’s capacity. It is also equipped with a hydroelectric plant with an installed power of more than 345 megawatts.

The Aswan High Dam is located about 600 miles upstream from Cairo and 4 miles upstream from the first Aswān dam. It is built at a place where the river is 1,800 feet wide and has steep banks of granite. The dam is designed to control the Nile water for the expansion of cultivation and for the generation of hydroelectric power and to provide protection downstream for both crops and population against unusually high floods. The work began in 1959 and was completed in 1970. The Aswan High Dam is 12,562 feet long at crest level and 3,280 feet wide at the base, with a height of 364 feet above the riverbed. It has a hydroelectric plant with an installed capacity of 2,100 megawatts. Lake Nasser stretches some 310 miles upstream from the dam site, extending 125 miles into Sudan.

The principal objective behind the construction of the Aswan High Dam is to store sufficient water in the reservoir in order to protect Egypt from the dangers of a series of years when the Nile flood is above or below the long-term average and thus to guarantee a steady flow of water from the Nile for both Egypt and Sudan. An agreement concluded in 1959 between the two countries sets a maximum amount that can be drawn per year and apportions it in a ratio of three to one, with Egypt receiving the larger share. The quantities of water maintained and apportioned are based on the estimated worst possible sequence of flood and drought events over a period of 100 years; and generally, one-fourth of the total capacity of Lake Nasser is reserved as relief storage for the highest anticipated flood during such a period (called “century storage”).

The Aswan High Dam was a source of considerable controversy during its construction, and since it began operation it has continued to have its critics. Opponents have charged that silt-free water flowing below the dam has caused erosion of the downstream barrages and bridge foundations; that the loss of silt downstream has caused coastal erosion in the delta; that the overall reduction in the flow of the Nile resulting from the construction of the dam has caused the inundation of the lower reaches of the river by saltwater from the Mediterranean Sea, with resulting deposition of salt in the delta soils; and that the creation of Lake Nasser has caused the water table along the river to rise, resulting in waterlogging and an increase in soil salinity in some areas. Already the fish population offshore of the delta has been reduced dramatically by the loss of the nutrient-laden silt. Proponents of the dam have maintained that these harmful effects are worth the security of dependable water and power supplies, and, indeed, Egypt would have suffered a severe water shortage in 1984–88 without the dam.

In Sudan the Sennar Dam on the Blue Nile provides water for the Al-Jazīrah plain at the time of year when the water level of the Blue Nile is low. It also produces hydroelectric power. Another dam, at Jabal al-Awliyāʾ on the White Nile, was completed in 1937; it was built to increase the water available to Egypt during the period of low water (January to June) and was not intended to provide irrigation water for Sudan. Other dams—including one on the Atbara at Khashm al-Qirbah (completed in 1964) and the Al-Ruṣayriṣ Dam on the Blue Nile (1966)—have enabled Sudan to take maximum advantage of its allocation of waters from Lake Nasser.

In 2011 Ethiopia began construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile River. Located in the western part of the country, near the border with Sudan, the dam was expected to be about 5,840 feet long and 475 feet high. A hydroelectric plant with an installed capacity of 6,000 megawatts was planned. Notably, in 2013 the flow of the Blue Nile was diverted so construction of the dam could proceed in earnest. The dam was the subject of much controversy, in part because of fears that it would negatively impact the water supply farther downstream in Sudan and, especially, in Egypt.

In Uganda, Lake Victoria was made into a reservoir by the completion in 1954 of the Owen Falls Dam (now the Nalubaale Dam); the dam is situated on the Victoria Nile just below the point where the lake waters flow into the river. This permits the storage of surplus water in high-flood years to meet the deficit in years when the waters are low. The fall from the lake is harnessed by a hydroelectric plant that provides power for industries in Uganda and Kenya.

Navigation

As already mentioned, the Nile River is still a vital waterway for the transportation of people and goods, especially in the flood season when motor transport is not feasible; river steamers still provide the only means of transport facilities in most of the area, especially in South Sudan and Sudan south of latitude 15° N, where motor transport is not usually possible from May to November. Most of the towns in Egypt, Sudan, and South Sudan are situated on or near riverbanks.

In Sudan and South Sudan, steamer service on the Nile and its tributaries extends for about 2,400 miles. Until 1962 the only link between the northern and southern parts of Sudan (the present-day countries of Sudan and South Sudan, respectively) was by stern-wheel river steamers of shallow draft. The main service is from Kūstī to Juba. There are also seasonal and subsidiary services on the Dongola reaches of the main Nile, on the Blue Nile, up the Sobat to Gambela in Ethiopia, and up the Al-Ghazāl River in the high-water season. The Blue Nile is navigable only during the high-water season and then only as far as Al-Ruṣayriṣ.

Because of the presence of the cataracts north of Khartoum, the river is navigable in Sudan only in three stretches. The first of these is from the Egyptian border to the south end of Lake Nasser. The second is the stretch between the third and the fourth cataract. The third and most important stretch extends from Khartoum southward to Juba in South Sudan.

In Egypt the Nile is navigable by sailing vessels and shallow-draft river steamers as far south as Aswān; thousands of small boats ply the Nile and delta waterways.