Egyptian Sudan 132 (2) - Sennar Dam on the Blue Nile This work is currently under construction at the expense of the Sudan government. Its purpose is to provide irrigation water comfortably for an area of ... 30 feddans of the Gezira land in Sudan, near Wad Madani. This work combines the functions of a balancing weir and a dam. In its capacity as a balancing weir, it performs the same function as the weirs in Egypt. In its capacity as a dam, it forms a reservoir that can hold about 5,000 cubic meters, noting that the capacity of the Aswan Dam is about two thousand four hundred million cubic meters. The conditions of the Gezira in Sudan, in terms of soil, climate, and water availability, only allow for winter cultivation. Furthermore, the land must remain fallow for at least one year in every three years. Accordingly, cultivation is only possible for 100,000 feddans per year out of the three hundred thousand feddans designated for improvement. From the first portion, cotton can only be cultivated on one hundred thousand feddans, not because the land is incapable of producing cotton more than once every three years, as opposed to a system of two years in every five, which is the recommended system to follow in the Egyptian Delta. Other crops besides cotton are harvested in mid-January, so they do not need water after that. As for cotton, its harvest continues after that date, and it is usually deprived of water around March 31st. Although in some instances the need for it continues until mid-April. Thus, cotton requires water in February and March, while Egypt cannot forgo its irrigation in the month of April. The government of Sudan is undertaking... storing the floodwaters, which occur around the end of the flood season when water is always available. The stored water will be sufficient to irrigate Sudan's cotton in the spring, thus avoiding drawing water from the rivers when they are low and expenses are high.