Friedrich Bassler (21 June 1909, Karlsruhe – 7 September 1992, Freiburg im Breisgau) was a German hydraulic engineer.

From 1961 to 1977 he was director of the Institut für Wasserbau und Wasserwirtschaft (Department of water engineering and management) at the Technische Hochschule Darmstadt.

During the German North Africa Campaign he served as a Luftwaffe officer under Field Marshall Rommel in the Western Desert near the Qattara Depression.

In 1956, he received his doctorate at the 'Technischen Universität Berlin' with his dissertation on „Gesichtspunkte bei der Wahl einer Talsperren-Bauart“ or "Considerations when choosing a dam design".

Besides his activities for the university and his numerous publications and consultancies, he assumed various offices at research and industrial institutes, e.g. at the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.

Additionally he worked on regional models and water management of water-rich and water-poor countries such as Peru, Argentina, Ecuador, India, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

This project envisaged bringing water from the Mediterranean Sea near El Alamein into the Qattara Depression to generate hydroelectricity.

Bassler led from 1964 onward the international "Board of Advisers" which was responsible for planning and financing activities of the project.

Halfway through the seventies a team of eight mostly German scientists and technicians was working on the planning of the first hydro-solar depression power station in the world.

The project concept was: Mediterranean water should be channelled through a canal or tunnel towards the Qattara Depression which lies below sea level.

Further problems arose with the tectonically unstable Red Sea Rift located just 450 km away from the blast site on which the shockwaves of the explosions would not have remained without result.

Also a massive demining operation would have to be executed to remove millions of mines and UXOs left from the Second World War.

Present day scientists still explore the viability of such a project, as a key to resolving economic, population, and ecological stresses in the area.