# Egypt is Building a New Nile ![[images/Egypt-is-Building-a-New-Nile.webp]] **Creator:** The B1M · **Published:** 2026-06-24 · **Length:** 15:20 · [Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnND5qkf0Xs) > Caption source: YouTube English (en-GB) manual captions via yt-dlp (default client) on the first try; an auto-translated track hit HTTP 429 but was not needed. The video has no YouTube chapters, so the section headings below are editorial and follow the narrative. Screenshots were grabbed from the 360p mp4 (format 18, android client). Host **Fred Mills** is named in The B1M companion article [Egypt Is Building a New Nile](https://theb1m.com/video/egypt-is-building-a-new-nile) by Ian Parkin (24 June 2026). The video gives Egypt's population as about 120 million today, while the article says "more than 100 million"; the video's figure is kept as stated. Contains paid promotion for Brilliant. Extra footage and images credited to Elsewdy Electric, Aucom Applied Motor Controls, Wilo Group, China State Construction and WeBuild. ## Outline ### 0:00 Intro: a delta in the desert - **0:00** Tunnels under the desert are the first traces of "an infrastructure project of pharaonic ambition", meant to turn barren sand into farmland. ![[images/Egypt-is-Building-a-New-Nile-t0008.webp]] - **0:11** The **Nile Delta** has kept Egypt fed for millennia, but after decades of interventions it's on the verge of collapse. - **0:19** Using canals and cleaning facilities, Egypt is taking the wastewater from one of the world's densest urban areas and trying to build a **new delta** in the desert. - **0:31** It looks like it might be working: satellite images show hundreds of new fields and "crop circles blooming". ![[images/Egypt-is-Building-a-New-Nile-t0038.webp]] - **0:43** But not everything is as it seems: the mega-canal isn't finished, and the water creating this miracle is gradually running out. - **1:04** This isn't plan A, B or even C. There's a long history of grand ideas taking root in the desert only to wither. Will this megaproject be the one that saves Egypt? ### 1:33 The river that made Egypt - **1:34** From space, thousands of kilometres of desert across North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula are broken only by a thin sliver of green trickling down to the Mediterranean. - **2:06** About **95%** of Egypt's population lives along the Nile's banks and in its delta, and nearly **half of everyone in North Africa** lives in this fertile strip created by one river. ### 2:28 The Aswan High Dam stops the flood - **2:30** The first major change was the **Aswan High Dam**. Opened in **1970**, it was a high point in modern Egyptian engineering, providing hydroelectric power and consistent irrigation downstream. ![[images/Egypt-is-Building-a-New-Nile-t0235.webp]] - **2:52** It also had an unintended consequence that quietly destabilised Egypt's agriculture. - **3:02** Before the dam, the Nile flooded every year, fed by the rainy season in the **Ethiopian highlands**, carrying nutrient-rich **silt** that renewed the soil. This enabled Egypt to become one of the great early civilisations. - **3:25** The **pyramids** are modelled on the mounds of land that were the first visible sign that the floodwaters were receding. ![[images/Egypt-is-Building-a-New-Nile-t0325.webp]] - **3:32** When the dam opened, "that ancient metronome came to a standstill": floodwater and sediment were trapped behind it, starving farmland downstream. - **3:47** Fred launches into a deliberately dense explanation of Nile sediment transport under non-stationary flow regimes, then stops himself. #### 4:12 Sponsor: Brilliant - **4:17** Brilliant's new AI tutor **Koji** gives reminders, hints and encouragement rather than just the answer, using a course on coordinate transformations as an example. - **4:56** It covers maths and coding from grade five to university level and was designed by people from places like **MIT** and **Harvard**; B1M viewers get 20% off an annual Premium subscription. ### 5:27 Fertiliser, a new dam upstream and a growing population - **5:31** Egypt now uses about **a million tons of artificial fertiliser** a year, a poor substitute for the silt the Nile once delivered for free. - **5:54** Upstream, the **Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam** opened in **2025**. It is the largest dam in Africa, supplying Ethiopia with **5.15 GW** of electricity, more than two and a half times the **Hoover Dam**. ![[images/Egypt-is-Building-a-New-Nile-t0600.webp]] - **6:14** For power-starved Ethiopia it's a symbol of national pride; for Egypt, which depends on the Nile for **97%** of its water, it's a threat. - **6:29** Egypt is expected to lose **3 billion cubic metres** of water a year (about **5%** of its supply) by **2055**, and over the next century up to **85%** of its water could be cut off. **President Sisi** has called the dam "an existential threat". - **6:53** Egypt's population has grown from about **60 million in 1990 to 120 million** today, and most of them have to live on the fertile land along the Nile. - **7:12** The result is a triple threat: less water for food production, farmland lost to urbanisation, and ever more mouths to feed. - **7:25** Once the breadbasket of the world, Egypt is now the **world's largest importer of wheat**, buying **12 to 13 million tons** a year. - **7:36** When Russia invaded Ukraine in **February 2022**, the fragility was laid bare: **82%** of Egypt's imported wheat came from Russia and Ukraine, and bread prices skyrocketed. - **7:51** Since the delta had shaped Egypt for thousands of years, the answer seemed obvious: build another one. ### 8:04 The New Delta plan - **8:04** In **2018**, President Sisi announced the **New Delta project**: turning about **9,200 km²** of desert (roughly the size of Hawaii) into farmland, increasing Egypt's cultivated land by more than a third. ![[images/Egypt-is-Building-a-New-Nile-t0810.webp]] - **8:26** There are two obvious obstacles, the first being how to get water into the desert. - **8:39** The plan relies on two canal systems. The **Al-Hammam system** runs **170 km**, diverting agricultural wastewater that would otherwise flow into the Mediterranean south into a network of irrigation pipes. ![[images/Egypt-is-Building-a-New-Nile-t0845.webp]] - **9:00** A second, smaller **42 km channel** draws water from the Nile itself and feeds about **600,000 acres**. - **9:24** Al-Hammam's water starts at sea level, but the desert plateau is about **100 m** higher, so **13 pumping stations** literally push it uphill. ### 9:41 Beating the sun - **9:45** Water can cross a desert in open canals (efficient and cheap, but prone to evaporation) or tunnels (no evaporation, but enormously expensive at this scale). - **10:07** The solution is a **hybrid**: most of Al-Hammam is an open **concrete-lined canal**, but the sections most vulnerable to evaporation and seepage run through **ten underground pipes, each 3 m wide**, for **22 km**. - **10:32** Before use, the water must be treated. The **New Delta Irrigation Water Treatment Plant** covers over **320,000 m²** and can produce **7.5 million m³** of treated water a day, making it the **world's largest water treatment facility**. ![[images/Egypt-is-Building-a-New-Nile-t1045.webp]] ### 10:59 Egypt's track record in the desert - **11:03** The engineering is enormous, but will it work? This is far from Egypt's first attempt to transform the desert. - **11:13** The **Toshka project** (late 1990s) was meant to divert Nile water through canals into the Western Desert to farm the **New Valley**. Dubbed the "Project of the Century", it consumed billions, yet its canals carry a fraction of their planned capacity. - **11:42** New cities such as the **New Administrative Capital**, **New Cairo**, **10th of Ramadan City** and **6th of October City** were meant to move people off the Nile's fertile land. ![[images/Egypt-is-Building-a-New-Nile-t1145.webp]] - **12:00** In practice they weren't built at the right density or with enough affordable housing; they offer luxury developments and investment-grade real estate instead. - **12:13** It's a track record of megabuilds that deliver on scale but fail to bring transformational change. ### 12:24 Is the New Delta working? - **12:30** Satellite images show hundreds of new fields using **radial (centre-pivot) irrigation**, with rotating sprinklers over circular plots up to **1 km** across. As of **2024**, over **3,300 km²** had been reclaimed. ![[images/Egypt-is-Building-a-New-Nile-t1235.webp]] - **12:49** But part of the success is "a clever sleight of hand": much of the water irrigating the new farms comes not from the treatment plant but from **non-renewable groundwater**. - **13:07** Satellite-based research has found the rate of groundwater depletion under the **Western Desert** has **doubled in the last twelve years**. That water built up in aquifers over thousands of years, and once it's gone, it's gone. ![[images/Egypt-is-Building-a-New-Nile-t1320.webp]] - **13:26** The farms grow **export cash crops** such as tomatoes, fruit and nuts rather than the wheat Egypt needs. The government says higher-value exports earn the foreign currency needed to buy imported food. - **13:50** Recycling agricultural wastewater rather than relying on the Nile is smart, but with a fast-growing population and dwindling water there's very little margin for error. ### 14:09 Conclusion - **14:09** The New Delta's engineering is real and in places extraordinary, but there's a long way to go before calling it a success. - **14:21** Egyptian civilisation has always understood water and managed the Nile better than almost anyone has managed a river. - **14:32** Whether it's the start of a green revolution or another ambitious plan that falls short, the New Nile Delta could define Egypt's future for decades. ## Things Mentioned ### Projects & infrastructure - **New Delta project** (Egypt): announced 2018 by President Sisi; about 9,200 km² of Western Desert (roughly the size of Hawaii) to be reclaimed, raising Egypt's cultivated land by more than a third; over 3,300 km² reclaimed as of 2024. - **Al-Hammam canal system**: 170 km; carries agricultural drainage water from the delta that would otherwise reach the Mediterranean; lifted about 100 m by 13 pumping stations; mostly open concrete-lined canal with 22 km of underground pipes (ten pipes, each 3 m wide). - **Second Nile channel**: 42 km, drawing directly from the Nile and feeding about 600,000 acres. - **New Delta Irrigation Water Treatment Plant**: over 320,000 m², 7.5 million m³ per day, described as the world's largest water treatment facility. - **Aswan High Dam**: opened 1970; hydroelectric power and year-round irrigation, but ended the annual flood and trapped the Nile's silt. - **Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam** (GERD): opened 2025; largest dam in Africa; 5.15 GW, more than 2.5 times the **Hoover Dam**. - **Toshka project** (late 1990s): diversion of Nile water into the Western Desert's New Valley, dubbed the "Project of the Century", which never delivered its planned agricultural revolution. - Egypt's new desert cities: **New Administrative Capital**, **New Cairo**, **10th of Ramadan City**, **6th of October City**. ### Places - **Nile River** and **Nile Delta**; **Ethiopian highlands**; **Western Desert**; **New Valley**; the Mediterranean Sea; North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. ### Key figures - About 95% of Egyptians live along the Nile or in its delta; nearly half of North Africa's population lives in the Nile strip. - Egypt relies on the Nile for 97% of its water; expected loss of 3 billion m³ a year (about 5%) by 2055, and up to 85% at risk over the next century. - Population about 60 million (1990) to 120 million today (per the video). - About 1 million tons of artificial fertiliser used per year. - World's largest wheat importer at 12 to 13 million tons a year; 82% came from Russia and Ukraine before the February 2022 invasion. - Groundwater depletion under the Western Desert has doubled in the last 12 years (satellite-based research). ### Concepts - Annual Nile flood and silt deposition; pyramids modelled on the mounds that appeared as floodwaters receded. - Open canals versus tunnels in hot climates (evaporation and seepage); the hybrid canal-and-pipe solution. - Centre-pivot (radial) irrigation and its circular fields. - Non-renewable fossil groundwater in desert aquifers. - Export cash crops (tomatoes, fruit, nuts) versus staple wheat, and the foreign-currency argument. ### Products & sponsors - **Brilliant**: online maths and coding courses; AI tutor **Koji**; example course on coordinate transformations; 20% off annual Premium at Brilliant.org/theB1M. - Fred Mills's book ***MEGA BUILDS*** (linked in the description). ### Credits - Companion article on theb1m.com by Ian Parkin; Get Construction Talking; The World's Best Construction Podcast. - Footage/images: Elsewdy Electric, Aucom Applied Motor Controls, Wilo Group, China State Construction, WeBuild. ## Biographies - **Fred Mills**: Presenter and co-founder of The B1M; hosts this episode (named in the companion article) and is the author of *MEGA BUILDS*. - **Ian Parkin**: Author of The B1M companion article *Egypt Is Building a New Nile* (theb1m.com, 24 June 2026). - **Abdel Fattah el-Sisi**: President of Egypt, who announced the New Delta project in 2018 and has called the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam "an existential threat" to Egypt. (The video calls him "President Sisi".) - **Brilliant**: Online learning platform for maths, science and coding, sponsoring the video with its AI tutor Koji. - **The B1M**: UK-based construction and infrastructure video channel.