Water Resources Collections and Archives

The main objective of the International Conference on Coastal Zone Management of River Deltas and Low Land Coastlines, Alexandria, Egypt, 6-10 March 2010 is/was to bring together engineers, scientists, managers, and officials and staff of government agencies (national and local) to address outstanding problems and programs associated with erosion! accretion! subsidence of shores of river deltas and other low land coastal areas. The venue is on the Nile Delta, southeastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Port of Alexandria, and its ancient predecessors is probably the oldest in the world. This paper gives a brief history of the venue -- the delta and the ancient and present port of Alexandria The delta has a large population, extensive irrigation-based agriculture, and industrial! commercial! municipal requirements. The delta has been affected by great decreases in the delivery of water and sediment to the sea (almost a total cessation) during the past half-century. This has resulted in major changes to the delta coast, many of them adverse. Nile Delta sedimentation, coastal processes, coastal erosion and accretion have been studied extensively for the past several decades. A Shore Protection Master Plan for the Nile Delta has been developed. Mitigation works have been recommended, and are in various stages of implementation; they are being monitored. Many of the studies of processes, procedures, and mitigations are cited herein.