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Great Man-Made River

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Schematic drawing of de project. Note dat dem already propose different routes give de not-yet-implemented phases (dashed). Tobruk may for instance end up connected to Ajdabiya instead of to de Jaghboub well field.

De Great Man-Made River Project (Arabic: النهر الصناعي العظيم, romanized: an-nahr aṣ-ṣināʿiyy al-ʿaẓīm, abbreviated GMRP) be a network of pipes dat dey supply fresh water wey dem obtain am from de Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System, a fossil aquifer, across Libya. E be de world ein largest irrigation project.[1]

De project dey utilize a pipeline system dat dey pump water from de Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System, for southern Libya insyd, to cities wey dey along de populous northern Mediterranean coast of Libya, wey dey include Tripoli den Benghazi. De water dey cover a distance of up to 1,600 kilometers den dey provide 70% of all fresh water wey dem use for Libya insyd.[2]

According to de project ein website, e be de largest underground network of pipes (2,820 kilometres (1,750 mi))[3] den aqueducts for de world insyd. E dey consist of more dan 1,300 wells, most of wey dey ova 500 m deep, den dey supply 6,500,000 m3 of fresh water per day to de cities of Tripoli, Benghazi, Sirte den elsewhere for Libya insyd. De late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi describe am as de "Eighth Wonder of de World".[4]

History

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Transport of pipe segments for de 1980s insyd.
Trench digging for de 1980s insyd.
False-color image of de Grand Omar Mukhtar reservoir project south of Benghazi. Water (dark blue) wey dey reside for reservoirs insyd dey appear twice for dis image insyd, for de upper right den at de bottom. Vegetation dey appear red, cityscape structures such as pavement den buildings dey appear for gray insyd, bare ground dey appear tan anaa beige.

For 1953 insyd, efforts to find oil for southern Libya insyd lead to de discovery of large quantities of potable fossil water underground. Dem conceive de Great Man-Made River Project (GMRP) for de late 1960s insyd den work for de project top begin for 1984 insyd. Dem divide de project ein construction into five phases. De first phase require 85 million m³ of excavation den dem inaugurate am for 28 August 1991 top. De second phase (wey dem dub am First water to Tripoli) dem inaugurate am for 1 September 1996 top.

De Great Man-Made River Project Authority own de project den dem fund am by de Gaddafi government. De primary contractor give de first phases be Dong Ah Consortium (a South Korean company) den de present main contractor be Al Nahr Company Ltd.

Imported goods wey dem destine am give use for de construction of de GMRP insyd dem make am Korea insyd den Europe (mainly for Italy insyd) den arrive by sea via de entry port of Brega (Gulf of Sidra). Cathodic corrosion protection for de pipeline top dem supply am by an Australian company, AMAC Corrosion Protection, wey base for Melbourne insyd den and deliver via de port of Benghazi.[5] Dem make de rest of de material for Libya insyd.

Dem project de total cost of de GMRP at more dan US$25 billion.[6] Libya complete de work to date without de financial support of major countries anaa loans from world banks. Since 1990, UNESCO provide training to engineers den technicians involve plus de project.

De fossil aquifer from wey dem already dey supply dis water be de Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System. E accumulate during de last ice age den dem no currently replenish am. If 2007 rates of retrieval no dey increase, de water fi last a thousand years.[7][8] Oda estimates dey indicate dat dem fi deplete aquifer of water as early as 60 to 100 years.[9] Analysts dey say dat de costs of de $25 billion groundwater extraction system be 10% dem of desalination.[10]

For dis project insyd, dem invest one billion euros give de installation of 50,000 artificial palm trees give water condensation. De Spanish engineer Antonio Ibáñez de Alba carry out dis project.[11][12][13][14][15][16][17]

For 22 July 2011 top, during de First Libyan Civil War den de foreign military intervention, one of de two plants wey dey make pipes give de project, de Brega Plant, a NATO air strike hit am.[18] At a press conference for 26 July top, NATO claim dat dem already fire rockets from within de plant area, den dat military material, wey dey include multiple rocket launchers, dem store am der according to intelligence findings, wey dey present two photos of an BM-21 MRL as sole evidence give de destruction of de factory. De evidence give a potential breach of UN resolutions already dey insufficient.[19]

During de Second Libyan Civil War from 2014 to 2020, de water infrastructure suffer neglect den occasional breakdowns. As of July 2019, dem already dismantle 101 of 479 wells for de western pipeline system top.[20]

For 10 April 2020 top, dem seize a station wey dey control water flow to Tripoli den neighboring towns by an unknown armed group. Dem cut de flow of water to ova two million pippoe as a result, den as such dem condemn de attack by de United Nations for humanitarian grounds top.[21]

Timeline

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  • 3 October 1983: De General Pippoe ein Congress hold an extraordinary session to draft de resolutions of de Basic Pippoe ein Congresses, wey decide to fund den execute de Great Man-Made River Project.
  • 28 August 1984: Muammar Gaddafi lay de foundation stone for Sarir area insyd give de commencement of de construction of de Great Man-Made River Project.
  • 28 August 1986: Muammar Gaddafi inaugurate de Brega plant give de production of de pre-stressed concrete cylinder pipes, wey dem consider am de largest pipes make am plus pre-stressed steel wire (dem make de majority of steel wire for Italy insyd by de Redaelli Tecna S.p.A. company plus ein head office for Cologno Monzese-Milan insyd den ein factory for Caivano-Naples insyd). Dem sanso inaugurate de Sarir plant for dis date top.
  • 26 August 1989: Muammar Gaddafi lay de foundation stone give phase two of de Great Man-Made River Project.

First water arrival

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  • 11 September 1989: to Ajdabiya reservoir.
  • 28 September 1989: to Grand Omar Muktar reservoir.
  • 4 September 1991: to Ghardabiya reservoir.
  • 28 August 1996: to Tripoli.
  • 28 September 2007: to Gharyan.
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[22]

References

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  1. ↑ Guinness World Records 2008 Book Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine. ISBN 978-1-904994-18-3
  2. ↑ Moutaz Ali (2017). "The Eighth Wonder of the World?". Quantara.de. Archived from the original on 2021-12-19. Retrieved 2019-11-30.
  3. ↑ Keys, D., 2011, Libya Tale of Two Fundamentally Different Cities, BBC Knowledge Asia Edition, Vol.3 Issue 7
  4. ↑ "Water-Technology". Archived from the original on 2020-08-16. Retrieved 2004-10-14.
  5. ↑ Hands-on; AMAC's Purchasing Manager.
  6. ↑ Scholl, Adam. "Map Room: Hidden Waters". World Policy Journal. Archived from the original on 30 October 2021. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
  7. ↑ Article from Saudi Aramco Archived 2014-08-05 at the Wayback Machine January/February 2007
  8. ↑ "UN Environment Program". Archived from the original on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
  9. ↑ "Libya's Qaddafi taps 'fossil water' to irrigate desert farms - CSMonitor.com". The Christian Science Monitor. Archived from the original on 2013-03-23. Retrieved 2011-12-13.
  10. ↑ "Colonel Qaddafi and the Great Man-made River – Water Matters - State of the Planet". Archived from the original on 2013-09-06. Retrieved 2011-12-13.
  11. ↑ "La conquista del desierto". EL PAÍS (in Spanish). 1990-01-20. Archived from the original on 2017-09-03. Retrieved 2017-09-04.
  12. ↑ "ABC (Madrid) - 15/09/1990, p. 48 - ABC.es Hemeroteca". hemeroteca.abc.es (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2017-09-03. Retrieved 2017-09-04.
  13. ↑ "Technology: Plastic trees may turn the deserts green". New Scientist (in American English). Archived from the original on 2017-09-02. Retrieved 2017-09-04.
  14. ↑ "Cómo inventar y vivir de ello en España.A R I A D N A-101". www.elmundo.es. Archived from the original on 2017-08-24. Retrieved 2017-09-04.
  15. ↑ Phillips, David J. (2001). Peoples on the Move: Introducing the Nomads of the World (in English). William Carey Library. ISBN 9780878083527. Archived from the original on 2024-05-30. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
  16. ↑ Binner, J. (2013-10-22). Advanced Materials 1991-1992: I. Source Book (in English). Elsevier. ISBN 9781483294001. Archived from the original on 2024-05-30. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
  17. ↑ "Antonio Ibáñez de Alba, el inventor obsesionado con evitar los ahogamientos" (in European Spanish). Archived from the original on 2017-09-01. Retrieved 2017-09-04.
  18. ↑ Missy Ryan; Giles Elgoodl; Tim Pearce (22 July 2013). "Libya says six killed in airstrike near Brega". Reuters. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  19. ↑ "NATO bombs the Great Man-Made River". Human Rights Investigations Blog. 27 July 2013. Archived from the original on 7 June 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  20. ↑ In battle for Libya's oil, water becomes a casualty Archived 2021-07-18 at the Wayback Machine. Reuters. 2019-07-02.
  21. ↑ "UN condemns water cutoff to Libyan capital Tripoli". www.aljazeera.com. 2020-04-10. Archived from the original on 2020-04-11. Retrieved 2020-04-12.
  22. ↑ "Грандиозный проект Каддафи - Великая рукотворная река" [Gaddafi's Grand Project – the Great Man-Made River]. Earth Chronicles (in Russian). 17 May 2012. Archived from the original on 2014-03-29. Retrieved 2013-09-08.

Additional sources

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Dem retrieve am from "https://gpe.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Great_Man-Made_River&oldid=109248"