There is no doubt that the reduction of the White Nile's flow during the flood season has a serious impact on the Nile's suitability for filling basins in Upper Egypt. If one of the proposed projects is the construction of a barrage at Nag Hammadi, its functions would be to raise the water level in the Nile and enable, firstly, the filling of basins in any flood, and secondly, the possibility of diverting water for summer irrigation.

It will be clear that the flood was not sufficient and will not be in the future. It appears that the diversion works in Upper Egypt must precede land reclamation in Lower Egypt, because diversion provides flood water and makes it available for use in summer. Land reclamation, on the other hand, requires an additional amount of water, both during the flood and summer. Chapter three of the second part (Water Requirements) provides a statement of the year-round summer agricultural needs in various parts of the country, as well as the needs for basin agriculture. Basins are filled if they can receive 1.5 meters of water for forty days, starting from August 10th. From this amount, about 0.5 meters of water returns to the river at a time when agriculture does not need it. Thus, 1 cubic meter per feddan is required. The total requirement in Upper Egypt per feddan is 1.5 cubic meters. The total water used is 1.5 cubic meters. The total required for summer agriculture is only 0.5 cubic meters. Therefore, each feddan converted requires only 1000 cubic meters per year in addition to what it needed during the flood. Each feddan reclaimed requires all that it needs for the entire year (at least 2.5 cubic meters in Lower Egypt) from any source. Therefore, the first step towards agricultural expansion is any work that provides flood water and makes it available for storage and use in the following summer. From the perspective of irrigation affairs, it must be completed before land reclamation works, which require an increase in flood water and an increase in summer water.

Considerations have been taken into account in determining the level at which water is stored in the White Nile reservoir. This is because some lands located on the banks of the river are cultivated. These cultivated lands will be submerged by the reservoir. In this case, the inhabitants must be compensated. If the level is not always raised to a very high level, it is possible to give each meter of land another meter of land as compensation for what has been lost. Chapter one of the second part provides a statement of the area cultivated during the last six years in the White Nile province. The figures in this statement are provided by the Sudan Agricultural Department.

From these figures, it is seen that the average cultivated area is about 100,000 feddans per year, ranging between about 80,000 and 120,000 feddans. This variation will disappear after the construction of the reservoir, which will begin to operate to perform agricultural tasks.

Although the level at which water should be stored to supply the province with the required amount is 1.50 meters, instead of raising the reservoir to this level, it will be raised to a level of 1.75 meters, and this level will be maintained for a week or two, which is sufficient time to saturate the lands covered by water at the higher level. After the lands are fully irrigated, the level will be lowered again to 1.50 meters. At that point, the exposed lands will be ready for cultivation.

This is the method of operation in normal years. In years of high flood, the reservoir must perform the function of flood drainage. In this case, the level will be raised to 1.75 meters and cannot be lowered until the levels in Egypt have reached 1.50 meters on the Aswan gauge, which is the safe level for the country. The Egyptian gauge is 1.50 meters.

However, it is preferable to release water until the levels drop below this if full benefit is to be obtained. This is in relation to the drainage on the Lower Egypt gauge. The following table shows the levels reached at Aswan during high floods and also the Aswan level on October 10th in these high years.