Note 15 — 3. The Possibility of Utilization of Depressions in the Libyan Desert for Irrigation, Drainage, or Hydraulic Power.

It may be remarked that even if a channel were to be cut from Lake Mariut to the Wadi Natrun it would still be necessary to continue pumping on a large scale from Lake Mariut to maintain the present-day drainage. According to returns communicated to me by the Irrigation Service, the quantity of water removed from Lake Mariut by pumping during the last nine years has averaged nearly 650 million cubic metres a year; and even on the most optimistic estimate of evaporation and seepage the Wadi Natrun could not be expected to dispose of half this quantity after the lapse of the few years which would be occupied in filling it to a permanent level.