Almost every aspect of the ancient Egyptians lifestyle was, in some way, affected by the River Nile.
Even the planning of a town or city was done around the river.

The planning of a town or city

The settlement of a town had to take two main considerations into mind The proximity to a water source and the height it was built above the flooding of the Nile. The mud-brick buildings were susceptible to water and damp conditions so care had to be taken when considering the placement of a house, town or city. When houses did crumble, new houses were simply built upon the ruins of the former house. This led to houses and towns being built on a more elevated plain. These hills are called tells. The 'permanent' structures like temples and their surrounding enclosures are now on a lower floor level - this would be the original level as temples were not generally built or renewed upon each other as the houses were. This method of building one house upon the other continued until the building of the Aswan Dam in the late 1960's, making excavations of the housing areas virtually impossible. This has left a scarcity of data for Egyptologists to study.