Qattara Depression: Can We Fill It?

[@muhammadessam6438]

The harsh reality: the Qattara depression is connected to the Sand Stone Nubian Aquifer which is the largest source of drinkable underground water in the Sahara. By filling the depression up, you just turned all that fresh water into brackish water. By filling the depression up, you put millions of acres of farm land out of course due to increased salinity of the soil. And by the way, if you fill it up you're not going to fill just the Qattara depression with water, you're going to fill all the oases of the Western Desert with salty water.

[@Atanjeo1]

I think that’s not right. The size and connection of the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System is more myth than a proven reality. Most research made on this ancient water reservoir is very old, based more on rather inaccurate calculations than real-life measurements. Some years ago I did some research but didn’t found modern reliable sources in science papers. Some also are claiming, that Ghaddafi already pumped out a lot of the more edible water of the upper water layer with the Great Man-made River Project (GMMR) in Libya. The groundwater type varies from fresh to slightly brackish (salinity ranges from 240 (upper layer) to 1300 ppm (lower layer). Although I know from a recent SEKEM drilling project near the El-Bawiti Oasis (near Quattara Sink), that the deep water they found there already had a salinity around 2000 ppm. This water has to be desalinated for long-term use in agriculture & drinking. In modern days with seawater desalination costs around 40 cent/m³ for medium size systems it can be cheaper to desalinate seawater than drilling 1500m deep into the floor to find brackish water that still has to be pumped a very long way up. Second: The Million years old Nubian Aquifer is protected by a 400m thick stone & clay layer. Maybe more than thick enough to be protected even against the “Quattara Sea”, which in newer times had been filled up with a connection to Mediterranean salty sea. Was there an brackish inflow? Don't think so. Did someone made research with modern but expensive instruments in the last years about the real situation? I believe not. According to a recent ARTE (German/France television) documentation a lot of Egypt oasis already have a big salinity problem and are running slowly out of potable water. One Google Earth you can see, that a lot of former date palm plantages seem to be already given up. Maybe a seawater desalination near the filled up Quattara sink is exactly the right thing to save a lot of the oasis through a pipe system?

[@ahmedelnabawy2999]

True If the transaqua project will be done to restore lake Chad by connecting it to Congo basin the Qattara depression might be filled with fresh water through the sand stone Nubian aquifer.

[@gj1234567899999]

Wouldn’t the loss of water from underground water be offset by more rain? The cooler temperatures will also make farming easier. Also the salt from the sea can be extracted. Lithium is in the ocean which has gone up due to electric battery cost. Magnesium is also plentiful in the ocean and this is a valuable metal. Perhaps mangroves can be planted on the coast of the lake to also help filter salt. Also you will get more fish in the lake for food. The benefits will outweigh the negatives.

[@muchmore777]

Yes that is right

[@muchmore777]

@@ahmedelnabawy2999 need 2000 year

[@senecasenior9574]

2 thoughts apart from the salt problem: 1) dimension: This is a miniature version of the Mediterranian. The Med evaporates more water than it receives by rivers. It constantly needs an influx from the Atlantic at Gibraltar. Hence the higher salt content and the significally lower sea level. Fun fact: I recently learned that Germany measures Sea level at the North Sea, while Switzerland measures at the Adriatic coast. Therefore the height numbers they put on maps are different, which already lead to problems in binational projects. But if the Med doesn't have a real impact on sea level rising, how would this Qattara project? 2) thermodynamics: The mentioned cooling effect of the tunnel is a one time event. The ground stays at constant temperature because ground is a pretty bad heat conductor. So pretty soon the hot water will heat up the tunnel, and this heat will have nowhere to go. So you enter a new equilibrium, and that's it. Just like the London Tube, where they unfortunatelly forgot ventilation. So when the Tube was opened, it was advertised as a cool place in the summer heat. Today it's a hot sweaty mess, and you're glad when you're out.

[@NicholBrummer]

the London Tube should be a great heat source for heat pumps

[@lotfyhassan2035]

I'm egyptian, we know about that we had many ideas, we just need to go forward qattara WAS a sea before,, the ground is salty, it has a layer of 400 m compacted soil and few meters of salt below the sand it would increase rain massively specially in sinai , because of wind blowing east, no mountains except in south sinai, and there is a basin of an ancient river that does exist there called al arish valley, it has flash floods. sinai was once a forest, the pharoahs used to get wood from there. qattara can solve huge problems and become a major source of direct and indirect income we need it

[@alexwestisbest]

I didn’t know the south Sinai was called the Al Arish valley or that the pharaohs used that area to gather wood. Thank you for teaching me that!

[@chat-gpt-bot]

I wish you success. A few large diameter tunnel boring machines can make this project a reality, generate massive amounts of green energy and transform the climate of north Africa.

[@henricomonterosa4534]

In my opinion it would be a huge project and would be something forth North Africa and the EU. I suspect we need somewhat in the order of 100 bn € to get proper results, but energy, food, water, ressources should more than make up for it. And to be honest, if we dont start some level of Terra forming now or very soon, we will have problems.

[@max30888]

اول مصرى بيفهم أقابله 💯

[@r.guerreiro140]

The regions on Sinai where the rains would fall are covered by soil, even sandy?

[@UncleFester84]

Question: how will it not turn into a giant salt flat? Evaporation in the area would be much more than the gained rain, therefore to maintain its lever water would constantly need to be replenished from the Mediterranean sea, increasing in salinity until the salt itself will begin to precipitate towards the bottom, filling it up until we get possibly the biggest salt flat in the world.

[@ZvonimirFras]

It _would_ be constantly replenished from the Mediterranean sea. That replenishment can produce electricity as well (because of the level difference). And the salt can be captured and sold (like on Dead Sea) for additional profit.

[@mrbonanza2606]

@@ZvonimirFras only a percentage of the salt would have commercial use. And the energy needed to desalinate the water would likely be more then that generated by the pipes. We would need better desalination technology for this to work.

[@peterwarner553]

Exactly, it would need an outflow to make any real sense.

[@thor.halsli]

@@peterwarner553 An outflow is the only way i see this project being viable as well

[@rolandscales9380]

It already is a giant salt flat.

[@niccoloricardi4827]

What about the massive build up of salt in the Qattara? If the flow from the sea is only in one direction, you are effectively moving large quantities of salt that, unless removed, will keep increasing the salinity. Above a certain salinity, any organism in it will die. This is pretty much what happened with the Salton Sea/Lake

[@rolandscales9380]

What is the Qattara but a massive salt pan anyway? It's like the Salar de Atacama but hotter and dryer.

[@niccoloricardi4827]

@@rolandscales9380 well, then he shouldn't say "it will be beautiful with beaches and stuff", he should say "for a little bit, it will be beautiful, with beaches and stuff, then all fish will die and rot, and then it'll be very salty and with no fish but ok"

[@ryanbell6672]

@@niccoloricardi4827 there are fish in the place where there was desert?

[@niccoloricardi4827]

@@ryanbell6672 they'll get into the Qattara with the water from the Mediterranean

[@eduarddvorecky3731]

It would turn into dead sea, but active XD But tbh if you want to extract fresh water from sea, you'll always have salt as waste. Maybe you can sell it dirt-cheap, or Maybe you can just leave it to accumulate as kind of storage.

[@michaelcourtney2754]

Two questions and a very minor quibble: 1. Why aren't the tunnels farther east, where the distance between the sea and the depression is narrower? 2. Why not pipelines? I'd think they'd be much easier to construct, and once you got them filled with water (using pumps, I imagine) they'd siphone water out of the Mediterranean. Quibble: If it's been 6000 years since there's been rain, I doubt there are many viable seeds for the predicted superbloom.

[@uazuazu]

A siphon can only lift water about 10m, equal to air pressure.

[@freemason4979]

Greatest threat to civ is the growth of state power at the expence of individual freedom and thus to innovation. Only through innovation can we solve problems such as Climate or sea lvl rise

[@mobimaks]

> I doubt there are many viable seeds Winds from the Sahara (Sirocco) send tons of sand to Europe. So I think there might be some seeds that have been brought from other places

[@Tyrisalthan]

There have been some rain more recently than 6000 years. The rains are just so infrequent and the amount is so little that it can't fill rivers or upkeep lush ecosystems.

[@marcoswoortmann]

Why not fill the Qattara Depression up with water from the River Nile? This same water would enter the ocean in the end, so if it is diverted, the same math concerning lowering the sea levels would still stand, you just catch the water before it turns salty, and that’s the catch. This way you can fill in the lake AND the underground aquifers not with salty water, but with freshwater, therefore replenishing all the oasis systems, probably allowing a few more oases to appear and many new freshwater springs to be born, thus securing an invaluable source of drinking and irrigation water for the local population and ecosystem.

[@rikcloesen7714]

Dunno if you've noticed but the Egyptians are not big on diminishing the flow of the Nile.

[@ianscott3697]

The Nile would not be able to keep it filled, as country to the south pull water out for use in towns, cities and farming. And if you sent all thats left to the Lake, the cities to the coast would die off, the ship Canal to the Red Sea would dry up. Its far easier to remove the salt from the sea than to use a river that can be blocked in another country. Last thing is..... people live in the bottom of this new yet to be lake.

[@senecasenior9574]

Unfortunately you only delay the inevitable. Freshwater still contains salt, that's how it gets into the oceans. In fact a certein amount of salt is needed to make freshwater drinkable. So as a result you create a 2nd Dead Sea. All the salt there was washed in by the Jordan river, a freshwater source. It will take time, granted, but it will happen.

[@ianscott3697]

@@senecasenior9574 makes you wonder why lakes aren't salty, but I guess that's to do with having an outlet

[@SherifRok-cw8kx]

Yeah.. the Nile is tapped out.. no one wants to increase evaporation of nile water 😅

[@logoschristianacademy6044]

If you built a giant dam along the middle of the Qattara Depression 'lake' about 60 km (doable but not cheap or easy) long, then you could have a northern end that remained only as saline as the water from the Mediterranean and it could flow into the south end which would over time become more and more salty, but eventually would be useful for evaporatively extracting salts from the water, like on the south end of the Dead Sea. This would create a whole new permanent 'sea' ecosystem on the north end, and it would generally remain a place that people would want to keep living on the shores of. You could also generate hydroelectricity and desalinate the sea water using the water flowing into the basin. While the Qattara Depression is definitely the largest such basin, there are other opportunities to do something similar, including with a tunnel from the Mediterranean Sea to the Dead Sea, and some other smaller depressions in North Africa.

[@Aabergm]

TLDR: Good idea but needs work. - What is you solution for evaporation induced hyper salinity? Salty water flowing in, water evaporates off leaving the saline behind. Dead Sea 2.0. Best option would be to generate a proper tidal channel that where sea level and salinity can be passively managed by changes in the tide same as the Med, which despite having major freshwater rivers feeding it (Danube, Nile, Po, Rhone etc) is still 5ppt saltier than the Atlantic and has a constant current where "normal" sea water comes in on the surface and saltier water passes via counter current directly underneath. Pulling saltier water into the depression and making it evaporate is problematic and would need massive deeply pumped outflows to mitigate hyper-salinity. -Your thermal extraction concept is flawed/incomplete If the rocks heat up (which they will already be, subterranean environs are not generally cool) then they have to dissipate it somewhere, heat doesn't just cease to exist, it will likely transfer back into the surrounding water. For true cooling you need a way of directionally radiating it into space and there are currently existing technologies that can do this. Additionally the sun will heat the water in the depression anyway, probably more than the ocean because it is shallower. So there will no thermal benefit beyond humidifying the surrounding air. -Carbon sequestration is a non-sequitur. -As to the environment, this will not be a boon it will be a cataclysm for the local ecosystem as any species that has adapted to survive a desert will fail in more temperate conditions. The local ecosystem will be replaced with other neighbouring ones that outcompete in humid conditions, there will be no restoration. Also you keep saying lake, it will not be a lake but an inland sea. Lakes are by definition freshwater bodies. Otherwise a good presentation of concept with a significant amount of potential but there is a lot more work around feasibility and issue mitigation that would needs to be done.

[@patrickklocek3332]

Glad to see this idea being revived. The Turfan Depression could be filled by diverting water from the Yenisei River but that's far, far less economical than Qattara.

[@alexwestisbest]

Thanks Patrick!

[@ViriatoII]

My favourite alternative is in ethiopia, the Danakil depression!

[@nicholastreat6720]

I really do like this idea, however there is one major problem that you don't account for that being the problem of salt. As sea water flows in its going to bring salt, the water will evaporate but leave the salt behind. Over time it will become increasingly salty until it appears more like the Aral, or dead seas, wrecking the area.

[@BamBamGT1]

Wrecking what exactly? There's nothing there.

[@userspylife]

guess in a few 1k years it will be a new "salt-mine"

[@ebaab9913]

If you read some of the other comments from locals, they mention that the depression is already very salty from it's past history. So yes this is going to one very salty sea. Aside from lowering rich countries ocean levels, the most likely gain would be rain down wind from the salt lake. The wind blows to the West, it normally feeds dust to the Eastern Amazon rain forest. But they do need to be sure they do not contaminate the ground water.

[@BamBamGT1]

@@ebaab9913 Why not make it even saltier. Install water desalination plants at the end of the tunnels, desalinate the incoming water for freshwater, and let the brine water flow into the depression. Egypt's dead sea can be a tourist attraction, like the dead sea in Jordan/Israel.

[@SherifRok-cw8kx]

Also the qattara depression is connected to the largest groundwater aquifer in egypt (several oasis in it). Poisoning that aquifer would decimate desert wildlife and agricultural water supply in many parts of egypt, which is why this project was rejected many times in the past. If there is a way to desalinate the water first, this project would be alot less risky.

[@NickB1967]

Effectively, this would, over time, create a vast salt mine in the area. Still, it would offset the sea level rise everyone is afraid of, it would create new rainy areas like you describe, and it would moderate the severe climate of that part of the Sahara. See also the Afar/Danakil depression of Ethiopia and Eritrea.

[@alexwestisbest]

Yup! You’re right. It would create a buildup of salt in a few hundred years. One of the things I’m looking into is the funding from selling new “beachfront” property and from “seawater mining”. Obviously it would be used to pay off the investment and handle maintenance, but I think there will be enough to construct a larger sea connection next century to allow water to flow both directions, making the lake forever sustainable.

[@NickB1967]

@@alexwestisbest Ultimately, you would have to have a sea-level canal to do that, which would be even more costly.

[@alexwestisbest]

@@NickB1967 yup. The tunnels make the initial project affordable,, the great ROI over time allows us to afford the big investments needed to make the project permanently sustainable 😁

[@Atanjeo1]

@@alexwestisbest Maybe it is possible to pump out the colder, higher concentrated heavy “deep-level” saltwater taken out by a horizontal convection tunnel at ground level (-120m Sea Level). At Mediteranean Sea the water will be pumped out of a big well linked with the “Quattara Sea”. With a maximum heavy pressure of ~12bar a small pipe can press a lot of water, ending in a big well at the Mediteranean shore. The outflow back to Mediteranean only has to be the size of the evaporation. At some point the inflow - outflow scales to a balanced salt concentration level. If this salination level stays under 10%, maritime life is still low enough for a great variety of animals and plants capable of living in this sea. Fishing industry, Seawater based agriculture, tourism, all this would create endless new jobs. Hope you understand what i mean - my english could be better.

[@Atanjeo1]

@@alexwestisbest This leads to a solution for a big egyptian fiasko: The Nile Delta has a huge problem with land sinking (10mm/Year) and saltwater intrusion due to lack of enough fresh water and sediments (holded back by Assuan Dam). By end of this century most of the delta is below sea-level. So there is a MUST to find a solution. The excavation material of the hypothetical sea-level quattara canal could be used to form a big dam around parts of the Nil delta like the dutch did with the Ijsselmeer. Back in the 50's they stopped the saltwater instrusion and created thousands square miles of new land called Flevoland. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bprVYomgZqlsaZI&ab_channel=HistoryScope

[@wernerrietveld]

This idea of creating a sea by digging a tunnel is fascinating, and the opportunities are inspiring to think about. One of the opportunities you mention though I am a bit sceptical about. You mention that the evaporation will lead to more rain, giving necessary life to arid regions. I am sure there will be some impact, but when the mediteranian sea has been just around the corner from this relatively minor sea, I am not sure that this body of water will bring "rain to places witch haven't seen rain in hundreds of years". Do you have sources which support this claim? Having said that, the other opportunities, each on their own sketchy as they may be, combined are very promising.

[@alexwestisbest]

Wind patterns. The wind in the Mediterranean doesn’t blow much moisture south into the Sahara (generally). There’s also the issue of elevation: the Sahara doesn’t have much elevation along the Mediterranean coast, and mountains are great cloud generators (moisture goes UP over them, and becomes cool in that higher altitude, leading to clouds/rain). However, while the Mediterranean wind doesn’t blow towards places like the Sinai, wind from the Qattara region does. So if we add moisture upwind from a mountainous place like the Sinai, we can restart the water cycle there. I won’t claim lush rainforests, but I can promise greenery. Enough for streams and rivers to form in the region, and enough for agriculture

[@mrbonanza2606]

@@alexwestisbest What about the salt? Do you propose desalinating prior to sending the water down tunnel? would the energy generated from the filling be enough to run that desalination?

[@soal159]

So when is Egypt going to approve the construction of the tunnels and relocation efforts? Looks like a good idea to bring moisture to that new administrative capital they are building.

[@amirtarek6140]

I just know Egypt has proven 5 possible options for Qattara project

[@NecromanSir]

I think Elon Musk is on the project.

[@andrew1samoel]

@@NecromanSir from where did you knew that?

[@NecromanSir]

@@andrew1samoel It was an interview with him, I think you can find it here on KZbin.

[@apostolosvranas4499]

Give the Egyptian Government (and the Army that controls it) time ... They've been considering the project for 'only' 90-100 years ... By the next millennium ...

[@balinttoth1054]

Although it seems very promising, there is one HUGE thing that I think is overlooked. If we are constantly filling the depression up with salty sea water and H2O is evaporating, leaving the salt and all the unfiltered ions, particles behind, over time the salinity of that man-made lake or "sea" will rise to the extreme levels, until it becomes basically just a big salty pond. The Mediterranean Sea already has a prominent salinity gradient, despite the fact it has the Nile -a huge fresh water source- diluting on its eastern end. Now imagine a one way, dead end of the salty water flow, from where the salt can never leave. I higly doubt there would be any feasable way to get the salt back to the oceans. Anybody else wondering about this? or perhaps has a solution?

[@FLORATOSOTHON]

Sorry to say, but you come second. I have made this proposal with a letter to the Egyptian president back in the '90s, with the title "Terraforming Earth", as a way to cause rainfall in the desert. I have also sent a copy of this proposal to the Secretary General of the UN, at the same time. The Qattara depression is about 145 meters below sea level at it's deepest point. The idea was to have a deep canal or much better two tunnels, one near the surface and one as deep as the deepest point in the depression. The tunnel near the surface would allow water from the Mediterranean to flood the Qattara depression, while the deep tunnel would allow, the slightly heavier, high salinity water to seep back out to the Mediterranean. This was for preventing the accumulation of salt to create another Dead Sea in the Qattara. All of this as I pointed out back then, should be subject to detailed environmental studies in order to assess the environmental impact in the greater region. A similar proposal was published (not by me) a long time ago, regarding the Caspian Sea. The idea there was to connect it with the sea, in order to have large hydroelectric plants taking advantage of the height difference relative to sea level. The problem I could see on this idea was how to prevent the high salinity, water created from evaporation, from eventually turning the Caspian sea in to another Dead Sea. There are some very informative comments in your video, revealing environmental poblems with such a proposal.

[@andremarques3317]

your idea for the second tunnel is amazing. Did any authority got notice of it?

[@FLORATOSOTHON]

@@andremarques3317 No they did not, although I submitted the Idea to the Egyptian President back in the 90's.

[@jeffgkrehmer1095]

This idea has been around a lot longer than the 90s. In the 1960s Nasser asked the German government to conduct a study about developing the hydroelectric potential of the project. I read about the project in Willy Ley's book "Engineers' Dreams."

[@FLORATOSOTHON]

@@jeffgkrehmer1095 My proposal titled “Terraforming Earth" was in the '90s and was concentrated about local climate change, by initiating a water cycle. Ideas about using depressions for hydroelectric power plants are a lot older and also involved the Caspian Sea. The problem was that the depressions would fill with sea water relatively quickly; to make the project worth while, while evaporation would turn the sea water into brine, turning these areas into Dead Seas.

[@MrMichiel1983]

The height difference can be used to desalinate the sea water. I had this idea too as a kid, but it was too costly to desalinate all the water back then (people told me). Can't allow the salt down, that would ruin the ecosystem.

[@ClayinSWVA]

How about hydro power to remove the salt via desalination?

[@artyatsko]

Though some of the marshes there are already salty, it shouldn't be added to.

[@SherifRok-cw8kx]

Reverse osmosis is still too expensive.

[@EatSuck]

Gravity desalination is always a great idea. Would it be able to fill the lake fast enough?

[@EatSuck]

@@SherifRok-cw8kx gravity desalinization is not reverse osmosis

[@michaelcourtney2754]

A similar-ish thing I've been wondering about: The Don, which flows into the Black Sea, comes very close at one point to the Volga, which flows into the Caspian. On Google Maps it appears to be about fifty kilometers from Vertyachii on the Don to Volgagrad on the Volga. I wonder how hard it would be to divert some of the water from the Don into the Caspian to start refilling it, or at least help slow its drying.

[@paulmentzer7658]

A canal has connected the Volga with the Don since 1952. Since the Don is higher then the Volga, all of the water in the canal comes from the Don, but the Don has less water volume then the Volga and even less where the present canal exists. Worse, water from the Don has to RISE 44 Meters to the highest point on the canal, then down 88 Meters to the Volga, The much longer route from the Sea of Azov to the Caspian sea is viewed as the better option for the high point is only 27 meters above the Don when it enters the Sea of Azov AND that route would be downstream of the Donets, the Don Rivers main tributary (thus more fresh water for the Caspian sea). The propose canal would only take fresh water from the Don just before the Don flows into the Sea of Azov, which connects directly with the Black Sea. A canal already exists on that route, but it is shallow and used mostly to supply fresh water between the Sea of Azov and the Caspian Sea. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasia_Canal en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuma%E2%80%93Manych_Canal en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasia_Canal

[@greasher926]

There are also many sizable cities on the shores of the Caspian Sea/that are below sea level. Baku, Azerbaijan: 2,236,000 Rasht, Iran: 679,995 Makhachkala, Russia: 587,876 Astrakhan, Russia: 475,629 Atyrau, Kazakstan: 290,700 So although there is still a lot of water that the Caspian basin can hold (surface level is 92 feet below sea level) , it is probably one of the most populated basins, so there isn’t as much benefit.

[@louiscrasher]

@@paulmentzer7658 was going to respond the same but you did it perfectly, I'm obssessed with this idea of reffiling the Caspian via this lower route, seems so feasible, and the Caspian actually needs it since its going down each year

[@A.Meymandi]

🔶There was a much larger option that the speaker missed! Central deserts of Iran. The Iran River project investigates the filling of deserts surrounded by mountains with sea water to create fresh water in the mountains (natural fresh water production) to transform the region.

[@kingmaybus8409]

I feel the only way you would get multiple countries to do this for the world's sake is to have multiple desalination plants pumping fresh water there. That way it doesn't contaminate aquifers.

[@omariko2165]

Hey, I'm Egyptian. We're lowkey doing something like this right now, but the water goes through a filtration process to make the salty water fresh(I'm not an expert). You could check it. It's called the New Delta project.

[@MrWaalkman]

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but... 1) Adding several meters of seawater will force a "backflow" of water underground to who knows where. This could put the fertile Nile delta at risk. You might want to ask the Egyptians first... 2) Ground cooling will become greatly reduced at some point, but it will still be better than nothing. 3) Power generation has some major caveats such as what it could generate while filling as opposed to what the steady-state generation would be (the steady-state would be about 60% of the fill rate from what I've read). 4) The land to the SE is an ancient delta which would support a great deal of framing (about the same area as the existing delta). It would be a shame to poison it with saltwater. 5) Beware the mines left behind after WWII. Pulling water out of the Nile at Rosetta has been suggested (Rosetta is just off of the coast), but it would probably suffer from many of the same problems as does the Mississippi delta river water. And you don't want anything to do with that water. Google "Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone" for more info. And now with the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) doing its' own evaporation, bigly, there won't be nearly as much water to go around. Sounds like you are asking Egypt to take a really big one for the team.

[@sahilsharma4406]

Man I just loved your presentation. I recently came accross this information that their is some kind of depression in Egypt and I was thinking to myself how on earth can we use it to lower the sea level rise. Your presentation is everything that I wanted to know. From here I can only wish EU or USA starts to fund this ASAP

[@alexwestisbest]

One day I’d love to see this built! 🤞🏻Thanks for the comment.

[@andrew1samoel]

Actually guys this project was first discussed in th 70's by the Egyptian government to use it for all the reasons that alex said but not the sea level changing because at this time it was not an issue And by the way the Germany and Egypt discussed this project with all the possible ways to do it plus pros and cons in the mid of the 70's Now the project is coming to the surface again to use it to produce rain so we can use it in Egypt since we are now have less water than before, so i really hope it happens and Egypt can afford 1.5 billion dollars to do it , no need for EU or USA to funde it, but anyone are welcome to help Again i really want to see it in my lifetime since our government said it gonna take 40 to 60 years to fill it because filling it too fast probably going to make some earthquakes and affect the mineral water restored under ground. Thanks alex for the video

[@tbitm]

@@andrew1samoel It was actually first discussed in the 1800's by some french guy when the British ruled Egypt. Been talked about, but now we have the resources and hopefully the will to actually do it.

[@borivojetravica569]

​@@alexwestisbest Hydropower plants in the end of tubes?

[@wernerspaltenstein7724]

Great idea try to do it as soon as possible

[@nikpat6006]

If you keep the water level 30 meters below sea level and add hydro you could generate close to 100 million a year in power. As for the aquafer nearby, it is at a higher elevation and the ground water flows to this depression not away so there shouldn't be any harm to it. A great idea that needs more though and real evaluation.

[@johnself6435]

Is this going to be a salt water lake? If so it's going to get saltier and saltier. So how well do these filters work? That's the key. I think there is almost half a cup of salts in a gallon of water. What do you do with the unwanted salts? This is as problem for desalination in urban area use.

[@mdegli]

one issue : the mediteranian sea is an inland sea , all your precious elements , you are going to filter out , are there only in a slight amount. the concentrations are much higher in the oceans. don't forget , the mediteranias sea is mostly filled by the rivers and not by the oceans.

[@apostolosvranas4499]

Wow! And not a paragraph of thoughts about the energy generation by the altitude difference! Actually, I really liked the idea of the seawater mining taking place at the entry part of the canal/tunnel, rather than inside this future inland lake. Well done!

[@garyfasso6223]

He does mention mining uranium from the sea, for no particular reason... Gravity hydroelectric seems obvious, till the thing (lake, lagoon, reservoir?) fills anyway. Would the inland sea be subject to tides? That energy could be harnessed, too.

[@Deontjie]

Obviously the biggest thread to mankind is the fast and vast proliferating of stupid people. This fancy chart here shows a sea level rise of average 3 mm a year. I hope he did not miscalculate external influences like water temperature, saline levels, sun position, wind direction, etcetera in his calculations. All of which can individually skew his measurements by more than 3 mm per year.

[@johnmo1111]

Loved the video. Regardless of the practical issues its something we should be talking about and thinking about. Solving the salt problem is a billion dollar prize.

[@the_retag]

That's easy. Make it a solar pumped storage plant. At night fill it with water, by day pump it back out from the saltiest (furthest from inlet) part and up in to deset basins as a salt factory. Doesn't waste more energy than any other pumped hydro storage and not only removes salt but massively increases the energy harvesting potential (remember its basically in the worlds best solar power region) making it able to power large parts of north africa, and possibly exporting green hydrogen to europe on top

[@MonkeyForNothing]

For those who are not aware, this is not a new idea, its been discussed several times since the 19th century, at one point someone (Freidrich Bassler) even proposed the use of 200+ nukes to dig a canal to the Qattara Depression. For some strange 😉reason the idea was rejected. (Bassler probably should have read up on radiation) Anyhoo, this particular presentation, nice as it was, should have focused a bit more on the potential issues such as possible effects on nearby underground fresh water sources and also the simple fact that the amount of salt in the new lake /sea will rise continuously as water evaporates and leaves the salt behind. Desalinating the water before releasing it into the depression probably isn't feasible however.

[@Coillcara]

Exactly. I was waiting for the presenter to reference the existing work. The whole presentation sounds dishonest without mentioning the previous attempts to do this, and why this idea failed originally.

[@bobloblaw10001]

With regard to cooling the water as it flows through the tunnel.. yeah for a few months or years maybe, but the ground around the tunnel will become heat saturated eventually.

[@NoVisionGuy]

This was actually a great presentation, this needs more views man

[@alexwestisbest]

Thank you! I appreciate the compliment. I refined this presentation over 6 months before giving it. You should have seen version 1! It was AWFUL

[@NoVisionGuy]

@@alexwestisbest I am also interested on how the fishing industry would be like in the would be Qattara lake since Egypt is the only exclusive territory it's in, would there be a variety of fishes living in that lake? I think it would produce tons of fishes on a yearly basis.

[@alexwestisbest]

@@NoVisionGuy unfortunately, the salt content would be too high for fish. It would take about 200 years for us to balance the lake, after which we could introduce fish and plants just like the ocean. So… eventually yes!

[@apostolosvranas4499]

@@NoVisionGuy, fisheries would only be possible and, yes, profitable, near the exit of the canal/tunnel where the seawater would first pool; further away the evaporation would create the extreme saltiness.

[@gregoshmielianiec2791]

What a great way to waste a year and a half of your life on something knows for a century and left abandoned for multiple reasons. I don't want to waste time to explain in details as I'm finding your depth of research very shallow. Simply you a lost cause.

[@lonesail]

Caspian Sea's surface lies 30m below sea level, so plenty of room to fill in. As well as refilling Aral Sea.

[@yabbadabbadoo8225]

I've been swimming at the same beach in Seria for over 70 years, no sea rise there yet.

[@bingo737]

Maybe northern Africa is lifting as well, so you wont notice any difference.

[@vdjKryptosRock]

The initial filling would have to be done by the ocean. The maintaining of the water would have to be done by either fresh water or massive desalination projects. Very cool though, I hope we figure out how to do this safely.

[@alexgehales]

Interesting presentation, but how would it affect the existing water stored under the sand used for the local population.

[@akmalmahmoud5918]

The misfortunes of a people for a people are benefits, from the repercussions of Ethiopia’s construction of the Renaissance Dam with a storage capacity of 72 billion cubic meters. Egypt has planned to expand and deepen the Toshka depression next to the Aswan Dam at south to absorb as much fresh water as possible in the event of the collapse of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. As a result, a new river course will be formed to the west, parallel to the Nile River, descending in the direction of the Qattara Depression, and thus there will be a high possibility of filling the depression with fresh water. And this: 1) Preserves the freshness of the water of all water wells for the benefit of the oases of all Egypt in the Western Desert. 2) limits the increase in salinization of agricultural and desert lands near the Qattara depression. It remains to innovate renewable energy sources in the depression, such as hydroelectric or photovoltaic, to create new attractions and communities on the banks of the Qattara Depression.

[@ernie5229]

The heat sequestration proposal is outrageous. Physics happens whether you want it to or not.

[@StephenB-c9b]

How do you deal with the ever increasing saline levels, as you say you need to keep adding sea water to maintain the new sea level as the newly imported sea water evaporates it leaves the salts behind so over time this will have a huge accumulative effect…. So what’s the plan for that? I do like the idea but I’d be worried of long term unintended (and undesirable) consequences.

[@emameyer]

what is the hydroelectric potential ?

[@knsubramanian9837]

Instead of filling with salt water they can divert Nile river during annual flood season and gradually fill it over a long time!.Now most of the Nile river ends up in the Mediterranean Sea!

[@osamasayed4110]

There is no more annual flooding That ended decades ago

[@ericweijters2350]

This would 'pollute' the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System with salt water, and the reduction of sealevel rise is only marginal. Even recreating Megalake Chad (storing water before it flows into the ocean) and via this NSAS, filling Qattara with sweet water will get you just a 25+ cm reduction in sealevel rise. But for this you need the Grand Inga Dam project (improved design) to also pump water from the Congo and to plug the hole in the former megalake known as Mayo Kebbi. But retaining this much water would massively increase Africa's food production and reverse desertification and huge areas where again trees can grow.

[@johnbarryheath8962]

Alex, Excellent work. Some extra info: With a drop of a few meters in water level it's possible to also generate electricity for the new lake region. With the heat of the Mediterranean Sea water mixed with desert heat it is possible to turn steam turbines for electricity. Salt can also be extracted from the water for export and partly desalinated water can then be exported for agriculture. (Agriculture doesn't need 100% pure water) The lake doesn't have to be pure water, it can be slightly salty allowing for a broad spectrum of aqua and even rice, prawns etc to be farmed. Near the lakeside towns proper desalination plants can be built for drinking water and other agriculture. Aquaculture can be introduced for fresh water fish, oysters, crayfish etc. Tree-planting organisations and climate activists can plant millions of fruit trees, shrubs, grasses around the coastline areas producing tons of food and savannah to tropical areas. In your next presentation you could also comment on how many kilometres of new land for sale in the region and profits if they only sell land at eg $1 per square meter etc. New cities with different climates, targeting different markets and uses of wind and solar for export. Also agriculture can draw water from the lake by several billions of litres per year meaning that the seawater mining can continue everyday, also meaning that the sea-level is continually being dropped. All the best Regards John

[@pauleohl]

The lake water will be saltier than the Med, because as the lake water evaporates, the salt remains. Think Dead Sea. No practical turbine can extract useful energy when operating at temperature difference as small as between sea water and desert heat.

[@tommysimon9353]

Best comment to this chain of hot air bubbles 😂

[@EcclesiastesLiker-py5ts]

This is so insane it might just work.

[@mohamedb737]

Can you please do the same presentation on Chott El Jerid Tunisia? Also why didn't you include hydroelectric generation in the pros for qattara? isn't that possible not to fill all the way and maintain a steady flow from only one tunnel? I think that would be biggest selling point for this project. Also what about the nubian fresh water aquifer? isn't there a risk to elevate salinity? thanks in advance

[@yasserfuad8775]

It's possible to generate electric of what you say

[@tempeman101]

With continuous evaporation the salinity levels will climb unless you have some type of circulation with the Mediterranean Sea. Not sure how useful that would be. Pity there isn't a good source of fresh water that could be used instead.

[@calitaliarepublic6753]

The impact on sea level is negligible and I think sea water mining could be done on a much larger scale using the tides in certain coastal areas. There is also the problem of how to prevent salination of the aquifers under the depression. It seems to me that rather than using sea water, it would be better to use fresh water from the Nile. Just extend the New Valley Project from the Toshka Lakes so that canals and water filled depressions link oases together and finally reach the Qatarra Depression. While the soil is being desalinated and the depression is filling up with fresh water, build more pumping stations and canals so that the new lake empties into the sea. This artificial western branch of the Nile would create a much longer stretch of arable land in the desert and provide a sustainable solution to the salinity problem. It would require a lot of digging and pumping, but irrigation projects in California and Libya have proven works of that scale to be feasible.

[@Atanjeo1]

Great idea, but: The evaporation in the quattara sink is at least ~8 liter water per m² and day (2.9 m³/year). By flooding the sink to the max (~ 18.500 sq km) you’re losing an extreme amount of water to the sun. You need an inflow of at least 1700m³/s JUST to equal the evaporation in the sink. Through the Nile Water Agreement, a stable 55.5 billion m³ /year was allocated to Egypt (once, before GERD). That's about 1760m³/ second on average - so there will never be enough water left to fill even a big enough 1000km long canal from the Toshka Lakes to the sink. Prove me wrong.

[@calitaliarepublic6753]

@@Atanjeo1 I didn’t even think about evaporation. Maybe the solution would be to make a wetland suitable for agriculture instead of just a regular lake. For example they could make an inland version of the existing Nile Delta, or something like the chinampas farms on the remnants of Lake Texcoco in Mexico.

[@MrToradragon]

​@@Atanjeo1 Most suitable solution would be to create new lake between Rosetta and Abu Quir and then dig Canal to Alexandria and down south to Quattara Depression. But the problem would be pollution of the water from Agriculture and settlements. On the other hand if it would be possible to supply those with desalinated water and treat wastewater, then amount of water and it's quality could be enhanced.

[@normanmfakierjr2387]

I worked in Egypt in the late 1970's. I was told that a German engineering firm had done a detailed feasibility study of this for the Egyptian government. That work is probably still sitting in a file cabinet in Cairo.

Out of all the megaprojects of the World this one is the cheapest and its impacts is huge. Can a foreigner buy land in Egypt?

[@koenth2359]

I searched for Alex Westerlund and came across this message from last year: " *Washington County: Man found dead in Mississippi River was reported missing in March* The man whose body was pulled from the Mississippi River in Denmark Township last week died in a suicide by drowning, according to the Ramsey County Medical Examiner. Alexander Westerlund, 29, lived in Vadnais Heights. He was reported missing just after midnight on March 10, but it wasn’t until April 18 that his body was found. ". Please please respond if that wasn't you!

[@Aurelleah]

It wasn't; I just searched for and found the obituary; it has a photo. The deceased alex has blonde hair, lighter eyes, waaaay different eyubrows, the hairline is significantly different too. Sleep soundly tonight c:

[@koenth2359]

@@Aurelleah Thanks, big relief!

[@gunterbreite7145]

Another question (geological development time frames in mind): There is Salt deposits located below the Alps (still mined today) and how did they get there ?? If an Asteroid strikes that area and "creates" this connection FOC, it's merely an event to accept / done. So sure the "salt-water-lake" is a valid option to take into consideration. It can't be much more harmful than burning down the Amazonas.

[@michaelsimpson4099]

What about the weight of the water, and new seismic events?

[@Omar_Dorrah]

The Idea is so old that even the French thought about it when they occupied Egypt about 300 years ago, but the way you have studied it taking in consideration all these factors is amazing. As an Egyptian, I wasn't really interested in this idea, but after this presentation I can't wait to see it done in real life. I hope you can find a way to bring this project to existence.

[@alangknowles]

Might be better to get dubai to finance this. Or Musk's boring company.

[@parwindersinghwaraich2365]

But main issue is saline water . Saline water will destroy drinking water, soil, agriculture

[@Omar_Dorrah]

@@parwindersinghwaraich2365 They are currently researching this. The main concern is that the the soil below that area may not be isolated from ground water in surrounding areas but some geologists say there's a hard rocky layer below it, which might prevent sea water from mixing with fresh water reservoir in the western desert

[@parwindersinghwaraich2365]

Good. I am also working on it to make ocean water usable for agriculture and getting good results of my trials

[@Omar_Dorrah]

@@parwindersinghwaraich2365 That's awesome, good luck with your research.

[@claude_k]

The heat sequestration capacity seems largely over-estimated... especially if it is just one large tunnel that carries the water, without any structure of small-to-tiny tubes that would enhance heat exchange. Still love the idea, certainly a project that seems worth considering as one of many "last-minute" solutions to help lower the impact of climate change.

[@thomasmaughan4798]

Not quite the "horse latitudes" and not quite the ITCZ (intertropical convergence zone); winds here are light and somewhat unpredictable except for dry. It is unclear that evaporation from this location would be any more beneficial than it already isn't from the nearby Red Sea.

[@QuitworkBehappy]

The scale on that graph is millimeters...so about the width of one of the letters in this sentence. It is a tiny increase in sea level...but way to expand that y-axis to make it look big

[@mateuszwiackiewicz]

Considering myself a dreamer I can see how I can improve technical and still very high cost boring tunnels solutions. I would suggest above ground communicating vessels system. It would be like crude oil pump line only for water. A matter of few valves will be enough to flood the vessels / air release. The gravity would do the work. Starting with small diameter would be great advertisement for the project and testing the system for additional bigger and bigger diameter pipes until efficiency would beat evaporation process.

[@apostolosvranas4499]

Is this like the thing we see in the movies desperate people do when they suck gasoline from a car tank? Are you proposing the same suction principle?

[@galadorzgakharg]

@@apostolosvranas4499 Exactly. Pure phisics.

[@beeble2003]

@@galadorzgakharg Actually, physics tells you that a syphon can't lift water more than ten metres. The ridge you need to get the water over is 25 times that height.

[@gregorysmull8068]

The difference in elevation would allow these tunnels to be used for hydroelectric power if engineered correctly. Three problems: one that freshwater aquifers will be flooded with salt water, two that ecosystems using these oases are out of luck, and three evaporating water will gradually increase the salinity of this lake causing future problems.

[@GenJeFT]

You also forget the hydropower potential from that. You could generate insane amounts of electrical power.

[@l0hasrisl0ha70]

Elevation: -86 m Area: 3,000 square miles (7,800 km2) Coordinates: 36°14′49″N 116°49′01″W / 36.24694°N 116.81694°W Floor elevation: −282 ft (−86 m)

[@jamesgibbs6970]

I have had this idea for 10 years and have found that it has been proposed many times in the past. I learned some new ideas fro your talk like the sea mining part, but you are also missing at least 3 key points. (1) Pumping sea water into that hole over decades will result in a supersaline lake due to evaporation and more and more salt going in year after year followed by evaporation. Then there will be problems like with the Salton Sea and the limited fresh water in the ground in that area (which people are using) will be contaminated, (2) so fresh water should be used, which can be done in two ways. First you dig a canal and diver some Nile River water into the hole and second you build huge desalination plants either near the coast with the brine pumped back out into the sea and or near the drop off in either case with large salt pans to pump the brine into for evaporation and recovery of the dry sea salt, (3) There should be a hydro electric function at the drop off to harvest the energy produced by gravity pulling the water down. That electricity can then be used for the desalination plants as well as large arrays of solar panels nearby. Maybe some desalination would be done at the coast with nearby salt pans, and some done near the drop off with sea mining done in the tunnels. If enough water can be sent into the hole, at the far end you build pipelines to send water further our for desert greening as well as hope for new rainfall too.

[@glennmitchell9107]

The temperature of the Earth underground is not the same all the way down. Is the ground temperature at the depth of the tunnel, more or less than the temperature of the seawater flowing through the tunnel? If it is cooler, then how long before the temperature of the earth near the tunnel matches the temperature of the seawater flowing through?

[@mjnyc8655]

No mention here about cost/benefit -- big omission.

[@davidmicheletti6292]

over the years ive seen many proposals to fill this depression with water. I don't accept all these conclusions presented here for many reasons but I do believe such a project would be a great benefit for people living in this area,

[@ahmadramzy2716]

I'm from egypt and given how corrupt my government are i have little hope that this project would see fruition however for the sake of humanity i hope i'm wrong and the dipshits in charge should see the benefits from this on economical and enviromental levels.

[@Deontjie]

Don't feel bad. Egypt is only the second most corrupt country in the world.

[@Walgriff]

Super interesting. Also: what about the electricity generated by the downhill flow of water from the Mediterranean Sea to the potential Qattara Sea? Egypt already has the Aswan Dam, and a similar concept could be applied here, generating more electricity. Issues: With evaporation, the potential Qattarra Sea could be very salty, almost like the Dead Sea. How to make sure it isn’t too salty, and besides building massive desalination plants, how to protect the nearby oases like Siwa Oasis?

[@ginojaco]

Interesting to see this examined again, and the fellow clearly knows his stuff. But... his presentational style can tend to the nauseatingly oleaginous, especially at the very start. That aside, not bad; what about using solar-powered pumps to get even more water to the other Saharan basins? Don't forget syphons...

[@Politik-mit-Kopf]

One thought I had about evaporating water leading to rain that’s nurturing the area: the Mediterranean is just close to it and still there is this vast desert. Evaporation doesn’t seem to be doing much.

[@Bobrogers99]

The most common compound that would have to be removed is salt. Presently, desalinization of water requires lots of energy.

[@Itsallmeagain]

With the difference in height the water would flow and reduce the cost associated with the pumps. Reducing the cost of desalination

[@ZDoko602]

My obvious question is whether or not we can desalinate the water as it's flowing in to the quattara depression. If you can find a way to do it with just the energy of gravity then Egypt will have a giant new source of fresh water to use for agriculture in the desert.

[@glike2]

The Hudson Bay is the best long term option for this problem because 3mm is only a small percentage of the fast moving target

[@cjryan88]

i would like to know were this water is rising i havent seen it anywere

[@henricomonterosa4534]

There is a lot more to consider and you should have an expert of water Treatment look into this. First of all the height difference is a power source for turbines which will be really profitable. Next you propose filling up the lake with water, but this should be done with fresh water of course. However before doing that there has to be done some research into possible deposites of heavy metals present in the dried lake bed, or else you will just have a new aral sea... As for the filtration part, that is a big one. First of, you need to get rid of a lot of stuff via multiple stages, but that can be done at the large entrance. First stage should be something catching everything containing organics and such, certain plants, sea weed, shells etc are quite good at that. Next stage is particle filtration, probably a giant sand bed would be good here, otherwise geological features nearby could also work. Next would be some kind of RO membrane, you would need a lot of them, but using them on a large scale could be done, given your pressure difference, however you would need crossflow (requires pumps) but that water would be a brine. Given that you are planning on mining anyway this could be partially led into smaller fields where it can be dried and collected and then processed. Again wind his to be considered here in order not to cause hazardeous sand storms, see aral sea. Behind those ROs I would add large scale electro dialysis or even an EDI. That way you can get seriously high loads of minerals out of the water. The permeate will then be very low salinity fresh water filling up the lake. The region west of your project could be used to create all kinds of metalls using solar and thermal energy creation. The two brine streams would be much more profitable than a simple adsorber membrane, as they would see a ton of organics blocking them. The brine behind the RO is pratically free of them, so membranes and everything last waaaay longer. Another thing I would like to add is that Africa probably has a huge underground reservoir of water, not as one cave, but several parts as well as the general ground material. However, this is probably used up quite a lot by evaporation and general human consumption through drilling, pumping etc. At least around your lake that would fill up to a certain degree so actually you reduce sea level rise even further. Once the sea is beginning to fill up and IF the water Treatment is set up properly, drinking water could be sold to egypt. They will have a huge problem in the future given Ethiopias dam is built now. In all this could be implemented into the EUs climate change appropriate industry developement, alongside desert tech and could also provide huge benefits to northern Africa. In my opinion your best approach would be to get some individual experts in on the topic and then see if a large company of the water Treatment industry is willing to showcase this as a case study. Im currently thinking of alternatives to membranes for RO, but I dont have anything at the top of my head. Talking about case studies, Israel could be an extremely interesting place as well to start on a smaller case. They have knowledge and financial ressources plus a need for more water.

[@dat_sneckie_boi6375]

Surely you could make it more eco efficient by installing turbines through the tunnels to generate a ton of power for a majority of Egypt, and shove desalination plants on their end to stop it becoming one massive salt flat?

[@rmar127]

Would some of the seawater mining filters be tuned to pull salts out of the water to prevent hyper salinity.

[@Paplu-i5t]

He presents really well and argued for his case very well. Also there are very large underground aquifers in that zone as discovered in Libya which will be recharged and carry away some more of that water for storage and use elsewhere in the zone, possibly.

[@TheSSoSS]

what modelling has been undertaken to study the potential for casutic lake environment/ dehydrated soda lakes / caustic winds affecting the nile delta river and wider region - I think on principle this all sounds very promising, however mans ablity to create a disaster out of a cure all is all too apparent, and we should look at al potential negatives very very closely, or you might end up with a mega casutic soda lale blowing deadly salt all about after onlya hundered years, if the inflows and salt management are not kept optimal at all times - a simlar project is propsed for lake aire in Australia, and it would also recreate an inland sea that would reverdify a massive devoided eco region - but lets really closely analyise the potential pit falls long before we start!

[@norodinlucman3358]

Wow! The Arab World and the UN can finance this crucial piece of crucial global de-warming. Qattara is a gem.

[@alexwestisbest]

Agreed! It’s a great opportunity. Thank you for the enthusiasm!

[@thebeautifulones5436]

There is no way a level 60km canal dug through a 250m range would cost $3 billion. It would be hundreds of billions maybe possible using nuclear blasting. Consider instead large above ground steel pipes, a pumping station on the sea and a hydro power station in the depression. Design this such that the power generated is sufficient to lift the water over the range. Or use the same method to pump water from the end of the Nile.

[@mshine6500]

Isn't the ground temperature in Egypt greater than the average sea surface temperature in the Mediterranean Sea? Won't this actually heat up the water (especially in the winter)?

[@bingo737]

He was pointing out the tunnels, which would be cooling the water deep under ground. The lake itself would probably be cold during summer, and warm during winters (especially during winter nights).

[@TalasDD]

insted of building a tunnel you could also build a pipe and have them funktion as a siphon.

[@thegiggler2]

It would beyond crazy to fill it up with salt water that would be saltier every year due to extreme evaporation. What should be done, it use thousands of (square) miles of solar evaporators that are placed above the land, to drip down and water the ground, with enough of them, you could get a decent amount of coverage and output. Plus, you could take the concentrated brine and mine the minerals. I've been thinking about his idea for 20 years. The added shade of the evaporators would radically lower the evaporation of the freshwater.

[@RichardBehiel]

Cool idea, impressive presentation. Will come back to this as an example of how to give a presentation.

[@cglearner3D]

how long will it take to fill it up , according to his plans ?

[@tadblackington1676]

Greening the desert might be more cheaply and universally achieved by building many thousands of small water harvesting structures. The Al Baydha project in Saudi Arabia is a great example of this.

[@MmMm-ll9dw]

اعتقد ان المشروع من الممكن أن ينجح اذا تم عمل محطة تحليه لمياه البحر والماء الخارج منها يذهب إلى المنخفض حتى لا تؤثر ملوحه مياه البحر على طبيعه الأرض بالمنطقة وأعتقد أنه يجب عمل اكثر من محطه وتكون من أكبر المحطات فى العالم لاستعاب هذه الكميات من المياه ويجب أن يساعد دول العالم فى مثل هذا المشروع للفائده العامة للبشريه

[@BaskingInObscurity]

All of what @Muhammad Essam said below. This "mining" operation would have to be extensive and include desalination in order not to pollute the aquifer he mentions. It's not undoable, but desal is extremely expensive because it is intensive. So the pipes/tunnels and filters are too simple by orders of magnitude compared to the potential operation that would work. I'm not against the idea; but I DO find the idea presented here grossly underexplaining the magnitude of a project that would work. Further, forests and other flora would have to be planted; because it takes generations for flora to return to an environment that hot and humid. In fact there would be the concern that humidity would climb too much for habitability possibly without enriching the air sufficiently to produce rain. All that said, I'm not against addressing all the many, many problems with this concept in order to develop a plan that would prevent the great damage of the simpler plan. While it would at best mitigate sea level rise by less than a millimeter, it has the potential to supply Egypt with the drinking and agricultural water it needs as well as create industry that could employ many thousands. Employing technologies to speed up the greening process might bring the concept to fruition within two or three generations. If there were such a project that would make a great difference in regional climate, it would be to restore the Aral Sea.

[@smparreira]

solar powered dessalinisation plants around the lake ... coupled with irrigation canal to send that water somewhere else ... thus increasing space to grab more water from the ocean

[@benprovan]

With no outflow, this body of water will become increasingly saline. Not sure if that was factored in.

[@rolandscales9380]

Increasingly saline? It's already a vast, geologically unstable salt bog, practically uninhabited and unable to support life. Even the Bedouins avoid it.

[@mythiccass3837]

It wasn't in the video but the guy replying to another comment said that creating outflow tunnels back into the Mediterranean would would help balance salinity. I'm not sure why he said it was going to be clean water in his presentation though, but maybe it's a semantic thing, ie is seawater "dirty"?

[@bingo737]

Still, the salt filling up the depression would reduce sea levels..right?

[@lukaspfitscher8737]

you create more surface, more surface to evaporate water. i could be wrong but my intuition say cooling such much water trough a tunnel is insignificant.

[@tbur8901]

Wouldn't it make more sense to use Nile water, with increasing rainfall as a side effect ?

[@ytadventurer9170]

The Nile is: 1. Farther away, and therefore more expensive 2. Already under EXTREME political tension with massive fears of running dry.

[@hueywallop2461]

With time, the salt concentration will increase to point at which there will be little to no evaporation. This lake will turn into the Dead Sea or the Salton Sea, which are not big rain makers. If the lake is allowed to dry up, we will have an immense salt flat. Won't the wind blow the alkali dust eastwards to centers of population?

[@OVTraveller]

Please advise what financial support you anticipate to come from the Egyptian Government as the key benefactor?

[@lecturesfromleeds614]

All that kinetic energy can be put to use generating electricity. Also I believe California also has a large section beneath sea level where the Salton sea is

[@_archimedes]

Sea water is 3.5% salt. The tunnels would cake with salt and even the whole Qattara would eventually fill with salt.

[@hichemguemmar2242]

Great job you did, that was revolutionary... I am hoping that you would make a presentation about Chot Melghigh sea in the Algerian Tunisian Sahara desert... I would be so grateful thank you

[@theorganguy]

what app u r using to operate the slideshow from the smartwatch?

[@SailorGerry]

What you failed to mention, is the possibility of a hydro generating station , in bringing water from a higher level of the Med to the lower level of the depression...

[@bmobert]

For me, I have only one question: What do the people who live in the area think of the idea? And I don't mean just the nation in which these land exist but the peoples that actually inhabit this desert. And don't tell me there are none because there is nowhere outside of Antarctica where there are no native humans. I want to know what the natives and locals think of the idea.

[@smparreira]

Asuan v 2.0?

[@bmobert]

@@smparreira Exactly! .... Though the version number is probably higher by now. 😁

[@Unkn0wn1133]

Two years ago “the biggest threat is sea level rise”

[@TarekAmr]

Is it feasible to desalinate the sea water before moving it to the depression. I.e. create a fresh water lake instead of a salty one?

[@ClearMystic]

use hydroelectricity generated by the elevation difference to power desalination plants.

[@beeble2003]

No, not even remotely feasible. The guy in the video has commented that it would require about 365 times the world's current desalination capacity just to provide enough water each day to replace evaporation losses. (That is, the amount of water that's needed every day is about as much as the whole world desalinates in a whole year.)

[@coppeis]

How did you control your slides and make it work with hand snaps?