Friday, January 26, 2007

Esna - infrastructure and archaeology

An article looking at the problems created by the construction of a new dam, and some of the solutions being carried out and proposed to address those problems, which include sewerage and the need to protect Esna antiquities:
"The project does not simply aim to introduce a sewerage system and protect the antiquities, however. It should also introduce environmental opportunities for Esna's residents. The ACC is installing pipes into streets that could be six to seven metres higher than the level of the ancient city. Once the project is complete, the sewerage will be piped from homes into progressively wider pipes, until it reaches a pumping station that propels it into clarification tanks. Once in the tanks, the sewerage will be 80 per cent purified and fit for recycling as irrigation water. An area of 1,800 acres will be eventually irrigated by it. . . . Abdel-Sattar Ahmed, head of the Esna and Armant antiquities, says that the Supreme Council of Antiquities has drawn up a plan to protect the Esna Temple from the rising water table. The plan involves the removal of all the buildings situated on top. "The part we see from the temple is only one half of its real size," he reiterates. Since much of the inhabitants' income depends on tourism, many are ready to relocate from their current homes, notes Abdel-Sattar. But only a real evacuation plan can prove him right.
The work will become more critical, the closer it gets to the temple.
See the above page for the full story.

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