Jebel Aulia Dam

South of Khartoum, Sudan

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Jebel Aulia Dam, located about 40 kilometers south of Khartoum on the White Nile in Sudan, was constructed between 1933 and 1937 by British and Egyptian interests primarily to store floodwaters for irrigation in Egypt, creating a vast reservoir spanning up to 1,500 square kilometers at full capacity.

At completion, it ranked as the world's largest dam, regulating seasonal Nile flows, controlling floods, and later supporting local agriculture, fishing, and a 30-megawatt hydroelectric plant added in 2003. 

Ongoing Sudanese civil war since 2023 has turned it into a military hotspot, with operators fleeing, gates unmanaged amid record inflows from climate-driven rains, risking overtopping or collapse that could devastate downstream areas including Khartoum.