Cairo, April 1910.

To His Excellency the Minister of Public Works, The question of how to ensure a sufficient supply of Nile water throughout all seasons of the year to meet the increasing demands of agriculture has been, and continues to be, a matter of great concern to the irrigation engineers in Egypt.

Agriculture has progressed significantly during the past century. That century witnessed the transformation of the Delta region from the old basin irrigation system, with its single annual flood, to the modern system of perennial irrigation, which allows the land to produce, on average, two crops a year, including the main cotton crop. The same century also saw the realization of the brilliant idea of the Delta Barrages and their subsequent improvement to make them usable for irrigation.

In the current century, the progress in reclaiming Egyptian land has greatly increased. Within the short period that has passed, the Aswan Reservoir, the Assiut Barrage, the Zifta Barrage, the Esna Barrage, and the dams at the Delta Barrages and Aswan have been constructed, or the first reservoir has been raised.

Since Egypt is a predominantly agricultural country, and the population has been growing continuously since the last decades of the past century, the existing irrigation facilities are barely sufficient to meet the country's demands.

Consequently, shortly after the aforementioned great works were completed, the need arose to immediately commence a series of new projects to further increase the country's yields by providing a greater water supply than the current one.

This book includes an explanation of the projects prepared during the tenure of your predecessor, His Excellency Sir Ismail Sirry Pasha, some of which are ready for implementation, while others have not yet progressed beyond the preliminary research stage. The purpose of all these projects is to expand the scope of agriculture in Egypt to its utmost limit by increasing the utilization of Nile water, and at the same time, to reclaim land in Sudan to the greatest extent possible without harming Egypt's interests.

The selection of the projects currently under consideration is based on a report submitted by Sir William Garstin years ago. He was entrusted with examining the Gezira irrigation project and the Blue Nile Dam project and its reservoirs. He also considered the possibility of utilizing Lake Albert and constructing a canal in the Sudd region. Based on his recommendations, Mr. Dupuy prepared the basic plans for the project and undertook several other investigations in the Upper Nile. He initiated preliminary investigations for the construction of a dam in the Upper Blue Nile and the White Nile. Then, Mr. Tottenham advanced the Gezira project further, prepared the detailed designs for the White Nile Dam, and continued investigations related to the Upper Nile.

Each of the proposed works has been examined from various aspects concerning location and scope. It became necessary to make changes to the designs to reconcile them with the selected sites and to achieve the desired scope. Sir William Garstin has approved all the results in their current form. It is hoped that the arrangement of these works will lead to the desired goal of meeting the water needs while avoiding the construction of works that are not permanently beneficial.

A considerable amount of material has been published on this subject among the public. The first pages of this book, which form the first chapter, have been published and include a brief explanation of the present and future conditions and the proposed works to meet all of Egypt's demands while allowing for land reclamation in Sudan. It also contains an explanation of the proposed sequence for the execution of the works.

This chapter does not contain extensive data but clarifies the basic plans for future development to the public.

Chapter Two deals with areas, population, and the quantities of water required, and outlines the conditions that the projects are intended to fulfill.

The remainder of the chapters (from Chapter Three to Chapter Seven) include detailed proposals that meet the demands outlined in Chapter Two.

The text of the chapters includes the basic data, and its appendix compiles all the necessary data for estimating the proposals.

Conclusion.

Signed, McDonald Advisor to the Ministry of Public Works