{{short description|Waterway in Egypt}} {{about|the canal in Egypt|the general concept of a "fresh water canal"|Aqueduct (watercourse)|and|Canal}} {{Infobox canal |name = Ismailia Canal |image = Suez Canal Ismailia2 courtesy copy.jpg |image_size = 280px |image_caption = |former_names = |modern_name = |original_owner = |engineer = |other_engineer = |date_act = |date_began = 1861 |date_use = |date_completed = 1863 |date_extended = |date_closed = |creator =
|date_restored = |len = |len_in = |original_boat_length = |original_boat_length_in = |len_note = |beam = |beam_in = |original_beam = |original_beam_in = |beam_note = | direction = East-West |start_point = Zagazig (Nile) |end_point = Ismalia (Lake Timsah) | begin_coord = {{Coord|30|6|18|N|31|14|30|E|display=inline|name=East end|dim:30}} | end_coord = {{Coord|30|35|21|N|32|17|0|E|display=inline|name=West end|dim:30}} |branch = {{plainlist|1= * Al-Suways al-Ḥulwah Canal (Ismalia to Suez)<ref name="suezhbrit">{{cite web |title=Suez Canal - History |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Suez-Canal/History |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en}}</ref> * Al-ʿAbbāsiyyah Canal (Ismalia to Port Said)<ref name="suezhbrit"/> }} |branch_of = |connects_to = |locks = |original_num_locks = |lock_note = |elev = |elev_note = |status = Open |navigation_authority = }}
'''Ismailia Canal''' or the '''Al-Ismāʿīliyyah Canal''', formerly known as the '''Sweet Water Canal''' or the '''Fresh Water Canal''', is a canal which was dug by thousands of Egyptian fellahin to facilitate the construction of the Suez Canal. The canal travels east-west across Ismailia Governorate.<ref name="EB Al-Ismailiyyah">{{cite web|title=Al-Ismailiyyah|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Al-Ismailiyyah|website=Britannica|accessdate=20 November 2016|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20161019041612/https://www.britannica.com/place/Al-Ismailiyyah|archivedate=19 October 2016}}</ref>
It was dug to provide fresh water to the arid area, from Lake Timsah to Suez and Port Said.<ref name="Digging" /><ref name =Rappoport />{{rp|page=267}}<ref name="Reassessing">{{cite book|last1=Smith|first1=Simon C.|title=Reassessing Suez 1956: New Perspectives on the Crisis and Its Aftermath|date=2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317070696|page=16|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wv7sCwAAQBAJ&q=Sweet&pg=PA39|accessdate=19 November 2016}}</ref> The canal facilitated the growth of agriculture settlements along the Suez Canal, and it is particularly important for supplying water to the city of Port Said. Like the Suez Canal, it was designed by French engineers; construction lasted from 1861 until 1863. It runs through the now-dry distributary of the Wadi Tumilat,<ref name="Britannica">''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 11th edition, s.v. [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Suez-Canal "Suez Canal"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161119120534/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Suez-Canal |date=2016-11-19 }}. Accessed 19 November 2016.</ref> incorporating portions of an ancient Suez Canal that existed between Old Cairo and the Red Sea.<ref name="Rappoport">{{cite book | author = Rappoport S | title = History of Egypt | volume = 12, Part B | chapter = Chapter V: "The Waterways of Egypt" | publisher = The Grolier Society | url = https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17332 | format = {{font|P|font=Heidelstein}}roject {{font|G|font=Heidelstein}}utenberg | location = London | accessdate = 11 March 2013 | url-status = bot: unknown | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20130127035047/http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17332 | archivedate = 2013-01-27 }}</ref>{{rp|pages=251–257}}
The Ismailia Canal proper ends at Ismalia. Additional branches connect the canal from Ismailia to Suez and Port Said. The Sweet Water Canal refers to a combination of the Ismailia Canal and its southern branch to Suez.<ref name="suezhbrit"/>
==Construction== In February 1862, after thousands of workers excavated 1.1 million cubic meters, the canal reached Lake Timsah. As soon as the fresh water reached the area, more labourers were hired for the Suez Canal construction project. The canal also allowed for the easy transportation of materials and food with ferries traveling along its narrow ways.<ref name="Digging">{{cite book|last1=Karabell|first1=Zachary|title=Parting the Desert: The Creation of the Suez Canal|date=2003|publisher=A.A. Knopf|isbn=9780375408830|page=[https://archive.org/details/partingdesertcre00kara/page/172 172]|url=https://archive.org/details/partingdesertcre00kara|url-access=registration|quote=British servicemen, sweet water canal.|accessdate=19 November 2016}}</ref><ref name="Ferry">{{cite web|title=Photo of ferry in canal|url=http://www.suezcanalzone.com/pics18.html|website=Suez Canal Zone|accessdate=20 November 2016|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408044807/http://www.suezcanalzone.com/pics18.html|archivedate=8 April 2016}}</ref>
==Battle of Kassassin Lock== The Battle of Kassassin Lock was fought near Sweet Water Canal, on August 28, 1882.<ref name="Household Cavalry in Public Domain">{{cite book|last1=Arthur|first1=Sir George|title=The story of the Household Cavalry|date=1909|publisher=London,: A. Constable|pages=[https://archive.org/details/storyofhousehold02arthuoft/page/676 676]–679|url=https://archive.org/details/storyofhousehold02arthuoft |accessdate=21 November 2016}}</ref>
==Anglo-Egyptian War== Less than 100 years later, the canal<ref name="Map">{{cite web|last1=Woolley|first1=Richard (Dick)|title=Suez Canal Zone Map|url=http://www.suezcanalzone.com/czmap.html|website=Suez Canal Zone|accessdate=20 November 2016|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20161102071632/http://www.suezcanalzone.com/czmap.html|archivedate=2 November 2016}}</ref> no longer provided clean, fresh water but was disturbingly polluted. During the 1950s when British soldiers were stationed in the area, some referred to the canal as an open sewer. Royal Air Force personnel were advised to avoid contact with the water and were warned that the canal was where deserters would end up.<ref name="Brotherhood">{{cite book|last1=Richards|first1=Colin|title=New Skeletons|date=November 3, 2012|publisher=Colin Archer-Richards|isbn=9781291925623|edition=2nd|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PnYhBwAAQBAJ&q=British+servicemen%2C+sweet+water+canal&pg=PT244|accessdate=19 November 2016}}</ref> When the war became especially bloody, between national, Egyptian, resistance movements and British soldiers, from October 1951 to January 1952, the remains of some of the British soldiers who were tortured and killed, ended up in the canal.<ref name="Reassessing" /><ref name="Fishing">{{cite web|last1=Delta|first1=Charlie|title=Photos of the Sweet Water Canal in the 1950s|url=http://www.suezcanalzone.com/picsnt.html|website=Suez Canal Zone|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20161029232825/http://www.suezcanalzone.com/picsnt.html|archivedate=2016-10-29}}</ref><ref name="Soldier Biography">{{cite book|last1=Tait|first1=James H.|title=One Day At A Time: My Lfe And Times (Ch. 41 Service in Suez)|date=21 November 2012|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=9781456793029|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j6BhK9NCBnoC&q=Sweet+Water+Canal&pg=PA175|accessdate=20 November 2016}}</ref>
== Present day == The Ismalia Canal remains the main source of drinking and irrigation water for many cities in the 21st century. According to a 2014 study, its water quality is excellent for irrigation, and ranges from good to poor for drinking. Pollution nowadays is mainly a combination of upstream Nile discharge, treated drainage into the canal, and seepage from trash.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Goher |first1=Mohamed E. |last2=Hassan |first2=Ali M. |last3=Abdel-Moniem |first3=Ibrahim A. |last4=Fahmy |first4=Ayman H. |last5=El-sayed |first5=Seliem M. |title=Evaluation of surface water quality and heavy metal indices of Ismailia Canal, Nile River, Egypt |journal=The Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Research |date=2014 |volume=40 |issue=3 |pages=225–233 |doi=10.1016/j.ejar.2014.09.001|doi-access=free }}</ref>
==See also== * Tell El Kabir * Khalij (Cairo)
== References == {{reflist|30em}}
{{Suez Canal}}
Fresh Water Canal Category:1863 establishments in Egypt Category:Wadi Tumilat Category:Canals in Egypt