The Equatorial Nile Project: Its Effects and the Remedies- Volume II

Abstract

As early as 1904 a map was printed, in a report by Sir William Garstin on the basin of the Upper Nile, on which was shown a line from Bor to the White Nile representing a canal to by-pass the Sudd region of the Bahr el Jebel. Garstin's report laid the foundations of a hydrological service which covers the Nile and all its important tributaries today, and whose records in some instances are continuous for nearly 50 years. By the 1930's sufficient knowledge of the hydrology of the swamps had been gained for three alternative projects to be proposed whose purpose was to prevent some of the enormous losses of water which occur there. These three projects are known as the Veveno-Pibor Scheme, the Jonglei Canal Scheme, and the Jebel Banking Scheme. In the first scheme water was to be carried from the Bahr el Jebel to the Veveno in a cut, and thence to the White Nile via the Pibor and the Sobat; in the second there was to be a by-pass canal starting at Jonglei; and in the third losses were to be prevented by building banks alongside the river. The three schemes were examined in detail and in 1938 the Minister of Public Works in Egypt directed that the Jonglei Canal Scheme was to be accepted in its general form as the officially approved scheme.