Great man made river

Great Man-Made River

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Great Man-Made River (GMR), vast network of underground pipelines and aqueducts bringing high-quality fresh water from ancient underground aquifers deep in the Sahara to the coast of Libya for domestic use, agriculture, and industry. The GMR has been described as the largest irrigation project in the world. (Indeed, the Libyan government proudly proclaimed it “the Eighth Wonder of the World.”) Since 1991 the project has supplied much-needed irrigation and drinking water to populous cities and farming areas in Libya’s north, which previously were dependent on desalination plants and on declining rain-fed aquifers near the coast.

Water was first discovered in the Al-Kufrah area in Libya’s southeastern desert in the 1950s during exploration drilling for oil. Subsequent analysis indicated that this find was part of the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System, a vast reservoir of “fossil water” that is anywhere from 10,000 to 1,000,000 years old, water having percolated into the sandstone before the end of the last ice age, when the Saharan region enjoyed a temperate climate. Initially, the Libyan government planned to set up large-scale agricultural projects in the desert where the water was found, but plans were changed in the early 1980s, and designs were prepared for a massive network of pipelines to the coast.

Some Libyan officials, citing the enormous size of the underground reservoirs, have claimed that the reservoirs could continue to supply water for thousands of years. Critics have stated that such claims are greatly overstated; some insist that the GMR might not last through the 21st century. As an ancient system of fossil water, the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System is not rechargeable, and thus its water supplies are finite. Should the underground water supplies be depleted, the region would face severe water scarcity unless sufficient desalination infrastructure is established.

In 1983 the Great Man-Made River Authority, established by the government to manage the project, awarded a contract for construction of the first arm, known as GMR 1 or Phase I. Hundreds of water wells were drilled at two fields, Tāzirbū and Sarīr, where water was pumped up from a depth of some 500 metres (1,650 feet). From Sarīr, water from both fields was pumped underground through a double pipeline to a holding reservoir at Ajdābiyā, which received its first water in 1989. From there the water was piped in two directions, west to the coastal city of Surt and north to Benghazi. The completion of Phase I was formally celebrated at Benghazi in 1991. GMR 1 is capable of transporting 2 million cubic metres (70.6 million cubic feet) of water per day through some 1,600 km (1,000 miles) of double pipeline between the well fields in the south and the destination cities in the north (though not all of that capacity is used).

A second system, GMR 2 or Phase II, located in western Libya, began supplying Libya’s capital, Tripoli, with drinking water in 1996. GMR 2 draws water from three well fields in the Jabal al-Ḥasāwinah region. From Qaṣr al-Shuwayrif one pipeline pumps water to Tarhūnah in the Nafūsah Plateau region, whence it flows by gravity to the Al-Jifārah Plain. Another pipeline goes north and east to the coast, where it turns west and supplies cities such as Misurata and Al-Khums before ending at Tripoli. The system’s design capacity is 2.5 million cubic metres (roughly 90 million cubic feet) of water a day, though only a fraction of that is needed for drinking water.

Completed in 2009, GMR 3, or Phase III, was divided into two parts and added a total of 1,200 km (746 miles) of pipelines. The first part served as an expansion of GMR 1 and added 700 km (435 miles) of new pipelines and pumping stations to increase the total daily supply capacity of the existing system to 3.68 million cubic metres (130 million cubic feet). The second part provided a further 138,000 cubic metres (4.9 million cubic feet) a day to Tobruk from wells in the Al-Jaghbūb oasis and necessitated the construction of a reservoir south of the city and 500 km (311 miles) more of pipeline.

The project also encompasses two additional phases (GMR 4 and 5), which include an extension of the GMR 1 system southward to well fields in the Al-Kufrah region; a pipeline from wells near Ghadames in the western desert to the coastal cities of Al-Zāwiyah and Zuwārah, west of Tripoli; and a pipeline connecting the GMR 1 and 2 systems. The total capacity of the GMR with all phases built would be some 6.5 million cubic metres (230 million cubic feet) of water per day. The complete network would include some 4,000 km (2,500 miles) of pipeline.

Ирригационная система в ливийской пустыне

Работы по проекту наступления на пустыню Сахара начались в 1984-м году. Огромная ирригационная система включила в себя более 1300 колодцев глубиной от 1 до 3 км, из которых вода доставляется на поверхность и распространяется по крупным каналам. Диаметр круговых полей, над которыми вращаются поливальные машины, варьируются от нескольких сот метров до 3 км.

Великая рукотворная река (англ. The Great Manmade River, GMR) — сложная сеть водоводов, которая снабжает пустынные районы и побережье Ливии водой из Нубийского водоносного слоя.

По некоторым оценкам это самый большой инженерный проект из ныне существующих. Эта огромная система труб и акведуков, включающая также более 1300 колодцев глубиной более 500 метров, снабжает города Триполи, Бенгази, Сирт и другие, поставляя 6 500 000 м³ питьевой воды в день. Муаммар Каддафи назвал эту реку «Восьмым чудом света». В 2008 году Книга рекордов Гиннесса признала Великую рукотворную реку самым большим ирригационным проектом в мире.

Ещё в 80-е годы Каддафи начал широкомасштабный проект по созданию сети водных ресурсов, которая должна была охватить Ливию, Египет, Судан и Чад. К сегодняшнему дню этот проект был почти реализован.

Задача стояла, надо сказать, историческая для всего североафриканского региона, потому как проблема воды актуальна здесь со времён Финикии. И, что ещё важнее, на проект, который мог бы превратить всю Северную Африку в цветущий сад, не было потрачено ни одного цента из МВФ. Именно с последним фактом некоторые аналитики связывают нынешнюю дестабилизацию обстановки в регионе.

Maghreb-Nachrichten от 20.03.2009 сообщает: «На 5-ом Всемирном водном форуме в Стамбуле ливийские власти впервые представили проект по водообеспечению стоимостью в 25 миллиарда долларов. Проект назвали “восьмым чудом света”, потому что он предусматривает создание искусственной реки, которая снабжала бы питьевой водой население севера Ливии. Работы проводились с 80-х гг. под руководством ливийского лидера Муаммара Каддафи. И сейчас проект реализован на 2/3. Водопровод должен протянуться на 4 000 км, и по нему вода из подземных резервуаров под пустыней будет поступать на север. Исследования показали, что данный проект более экономичен, чем альтернативные варианты. Согласно расчётам, водных запасов хватит на 4 860 лет, если заинтересованные государства, Ливия, Судан, Чад и Египет, будут использовать воду так, как это предусмотрено проектом».

В своё время Каддафи говорил, что ливийский водный проект станет «самым сильным ответом Америке, которая обвиняет Ливию в поддержке терроризма». Мубарак тоже был большим приверженцем этого проекта. Не слишком ли много совпадений? После этого все другие объяснения современных событий кажутся какими-то не очень убедительными…

Эти, уже начинающие пересыхать, участки (со спутника) после свержения режима Каддафи

Великая рукотворная река (англ. The Great Manmade River, GMR) — сложная сеть водоводов, которая снабжает пустынные районы и побережье Ливии водой из Нубийского водоносного слоя. По некоторым оценкам это самый большой инженерный проект из ныне существующих. Эта огромная система труб и акведуков, включающая также более 1300 колодцев глубиной более 500 метров, снабжает города Триполи, Бенгази, Сирт и другие, поставляя 6 500 000 м³ питьевой воды в день. Муаммар Каддафи назвал эту реку «Восьмым чудом света». В 2008 году Книга рекордов Гиннесса признала Великую рукотворную реку самым большим ирригационным проектом в мире.

Ещё в 80-е годы Каддафи начал широкомасштабный проект по созданию сети водных ресурсов, которая должна была охватить Ливию, Египет, Судан и Чад. К сегодняшнему дню этот проект был почти реализован. Задача стояла, надо сказать, историческая для всего североафриканского региона, потому как проблема воды актуальна здесь со времён Финикии. И, что ещё важнее, на проект, который мог бы превратить всю Северную Африку в цветущий сад, не было потрачено ни одного цента из МВФ. Именно с последним фактом некоторые аналитики связывают нынешнюю дестабилизацию обстановки в регионе.

До войны рукотворная река орошала около 160 тыс. га, активно осваиваемых под сельское хозяйство. Часть облагороженной земли планировалось выделить мелким фермерам, поставляющим продукцию на внутренний рынок. Крупные хозяйства должны были быть ориентированы на производство импортируемой в настоящее время продукции: пшеницы, овса, кукурузы и ячменя. Выведенные на поверхность арыки служили местом водопоя животных.

Maghreb-Nachrichten от 20.03.2009 сообщает: «На 5-ом Всемирном водном форуме в Стамбуле ливийские власти впервые представили проект по водообеспечению стоимостью в 25 миллиарда долларов. Проект назвали “восьмым чудом света”, потому что он предусматривает создание искусственной реки, которая снабжала бы питьевой водой население севера Ливии. Работы проводились с 80-х гг. под руководством ливийского лидера Муаммара Каддафи. И сейчас проект реализован на 2/3. Водопровод должен протянуться на 4 000 км, и по нему вода из подземных резервуаров под пустыней будет поступать на север. Исследования показали, что данный проект более экономичен, чем альтернативные варианты. Согласно расчётам, водных запасов хватит на 4 860 лет, если заинтересованные государства, Ливия, Судан, Чад и Египет, будут использовать воду так, как это предусмотрено проектом».

В своё время Каддафи говорил, что ливийский водный проект станет «самым сильным ответом Америке, которая обвиняет Ливию в поддержке терроризма». Мубарак тоже был большим приверженцем этого проекта. Не слишком ли много совпадений? После этого все другие объяснения современных событий кажутся какими-то не очень убедительными…

ПРЕСНЫЕ ПОДЗЕМНЫЕ ОЗЁРА ЛИВИИ (восьмое чудо света)

Great man made river

In 1953 while drilling for oil in southern Libya,
workers found instead a huge freshwater sea beneath the sands,
a vast ocean called the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System (NSAS),
which stretches beneath Libya, Egypt, Chad and Sudan.
The water had accumulated during the last ice age.
Its reserves are estimated to be the equivalent to about
500 years of Nile River flow
and are expected to last a thousand years.

GREAT GADDAFI MAN-MADE RIVER

Western technicians said that Libya did not have the expertise
to exploit this underground ocean; but in the early 1980s
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi initiated the Great Man-Made River Authority,
a 25-billion-dollar project
to raise the water and pipe it across the desert.
Expertise and equipment was imported
from Italy, Spain, Germany, Japan and South Korea.
The first water began to flow in September 1989
and the project is nearing completion this year, 2011.
It is already the world’s largest irrigation project and
the largest underground network of pipes and aqueducts.
It supplies 6,500,000 cubic metres of fresh water daily.
From being one of the driest countries on earth,
the Libyan desert is now blooming.

As mentioned many times in previous articles on ORWELL TODAY I knew very little about Libya or Muammar Gaddafi until motivated to do research after BIG BROTHER UNITED NATIONS began barbarically bombing that innocent nation five months ago on March 19th, 2011. I was inspired, in part, by having flown over Libya in 2006 and snapping pictures from the airplane:

All the best,
Jackie Jura, 2011

The Great Man-Made River Project
Facts & Figures
by The Great Man-Made River Authority
October 31, 2008

— Approximately 500,000 pre-stressed concrete cylinder pipes have been manufactured to date.

— Approximately 500,000 pipes have been transported to date. Pipe transportation is a continuous process and the work goes on day and night; the distance travelled by the transporters is equivalent to the sun and back.

— Over 3,700 kilometers of haul roads were constructed alongside the pipe line trench to enable the heavy truck-trailers to deliver pipe to the installation site.

— Phase I total length: 1,600 kilometers

— Phase II total length: 2,155 kilometers

— Volume of trench excavation: 250 million cubic meters.

— The amount of aggregate used in the project: 30,000,000 tons; enough to build 20 pyramids the size of the great pyramid of Khoufu.

— Total weight of cement used: 7.0 million tons.

— Total length of pre-stressing wire: 6.0 million kilometers. This would circle the Earth 280 times.

— The 1,300 wells which will be drilled will ultimately produce 6.5 million cubic meters of water per day.

Libya has water to green the desert
by Simba Russeau, Guardian, May 27, 2011

«The Colonel’s GMMR [Great Man-Made River] project was discounted when first unveiled as an uneconomic flight of fancy and a wasteful exploitation of un-renewable freshwater reserves,» Middle East-based journalist Iason Athanasiadis told IPS. «But subsequently it was hailed as a masterful work of engineering, tapping into underground aquifers so vast that they could keep the 2007 rate of dispersal going for the next 1,000 years.» Lying beneath the four African countries Chad, Egypt, Libya and Sudan, the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System (NSAS) is the world’s largest fossil water aquifer system, covering some two million square kilometres and estimated to contain 150,000 cubic kilometres of groundwater. Fossil water is groundwater that has been trapped in underground fossil aquifers for thousands or even millions of years.

«The GMMR [Great Man-Made River] provides 70 percent of the population with water for drinking and irrigation, pumping it from Libya’s vast underground aquifers like the NSSA [Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System] in the south to populated coastal areas 4,000 kilometres to the north,» Ivan Ivekovic, professor of political science at the American University of Cairo told IPS. «The entire project was drawn out over five phases. Phase one took water from eastern pipelines in As-Sarir and Tazerbo to Benghazi and Sirte; phase two supplied water in Tripoli and western pipelines in Jeffara from the Fezzan region; and phase three intended to create an integrated system and increase the total daily capacity to almost four million cubic metres and provide up to 138,000 cubic metres per day to Tobruk.» With an estimated cost of nearly 30 billion dollars, the GMMR’s network of nearly 5,000 kilometres of pipeline from more than 1,300 wells drilled up to 500 metres deep into the Sahara was also intended to increase the amount of arable land for agricultural production.

«Libya could start an agro-business similar to California’s San Joaquin Valley. Like Libya, California is essentially desert but because of irrigation and water works projects that desert valley became the largest producer of food and cotton in the world, making it the ninth largest economy in the world,» Patrick Henningsen, 21st Century Wire editor and founder, told IPS. «At the moment the only agro-markets in the Mediterranean zone competing to supply citrus and various other popular supermarket products to Europe are Israel and Egypt. In 10 or 20 years, Libya could surpass both of those countries because they now have the water to green the desert.».

Libya’s Crop Circles in the Desert
Peak Water/Green Prophet/African Agriculture

Center pivot irrigation is basically a method of agricultural irrigation which results in a circular field of crops. A huge column of sprinklers, fixed to the ground at one end, slowly travels around in a circle whilst spraying the crops below. The hexagonal forms look like they are made up of clusters of houses in the middle and farmland radiating out. Each circular plot is about 1-kilometer in diameter, and is able to grow a number of different crops including grains, fruits and vegetables, and crops for animal fodder. Desert-based irrigation projects such as this one typically drill thousands of feet underground to tap fossil water deposits. There are a half-dozen or so such projects in Libya; this is one of the largest, with almost 100 irrigated fields, each over one kilometer in diameter.

Libya has been involved for years in growing crops by pivot irrigation, a system designed to minimize water loss through evaporation. A combination of sprinkler and drip irrigation methods feeds water from a pivot point within a circle. The water being fed to the crops is measured and dispersed from a series of circular pipes that are rotated on wheeled platforms that gradually move out from the center of the circle; the place where the water originated from. By using this circular rotation method, less water is wasted and the crops inside the circular agricultural plot are able to receive the maximum amount of water available. The use of this method to grow crops is so unique that the circular pivot irrigation fields are often photographed by both orbiting satellites and NASA space shuttles passing overhead.

In a country like Libya, where more than 95% of the country consists of the near-waterless Sahara, this type of agriculture is not cheap, and is only possible by being able to tap underground fossil water deposits from a large underground aquifer like they’ve done in the Great Man Made River project. No one really knows how much Libyan President Muammar al-Gaddafi has spent on these projects. But when one is sitting on what is still one of the world’s largest oil reserves (at least 10% of the world’s oil) then anything is possible – as long as the oil holds out.

Water shortages across Libya «impending» disaster for millions News, February 7, 2021

The UNITED NATIONS children’s agency, UNICEF, said more than four million people, including 1.5 million children, faced critical water shortages if «immediate solutions are not found and implemented». Libya’s crisis, which started a decade ago, has destroyed many of its water treatment plants, while those left are highly vulnerable to failure because of a lack of maintenance, UNICEF said. Libya has been torn apart by civil war since an uprising, which was later backed by NATO, removed dictator Muammar Qaddafi from power in 2011. Since 2014, the country has been divided between two rival administrations that agreed on a ceasefire last October. UNICEF said most of the country’s citizens used cesspits that polluted underground reserves. Most waste water is emptied directly into the sea without any form of filtering, leading to more extensive pollution.

GREAT GADDAFI MAN-MADE RIVER

GADDAFI: RECOLLECTIONS OF MY LIFE (gave people houses/hospitals/schools/made desert into farmland)

UNICEF warns of imminent humanitarian disaster in Libya amid water shortage, RwandaNewTimes/Xinhua, Feb 2, 2021
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Monday expressed concern over the shortage of water in Libya, which threatens millions of people, especially children. «Over four million people, including 1.5 million children, will face imminent water problems if immediate solutions are not found and implemented», UNICEF said in a statement. The statement explained that the prolonged crisis in the country has impaired its water facilities. «This is mainly attributed to the lack of required budgets for the purchase of equipment, operational materials and spare parts for regular maintenance. Suppliers are also struggling to open bank credits in hard currency to import equipment from outside the country», the statement said. The UNICEF calls on the Libyan government and international organizations to prioritize the water supply in order to avoid a «humanitarian disaster», said UNICEF Special Representative in Libya, AbdulKadir Musse.

watch Pipeline to Paradise (Gaddafi’s Gift to Libya), StateOfMind, Nov 14, 2013, YouTube
From the documentary filmmaker and producers Winfried Spinler and its crew, first in Hollywood at the documentary film festival in 2001 presented film, another reality about the states points in Libya and their revolutionary leader Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi.

The Great Man-Made River, Direct Democracy of the Jamahiriya
. In 1984, the Libyan government started the largest civil engineering project ever undertaken in the world that was scheduled to complete within twenty years. The project, popularly known as the Great Man Made River Project (GMMRP), when fully completed can supply a total of 6,500,000m³ of freshwater per day to most northern Libya cities bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Eighty percent of this water is allocated for agricultural activities while the remaining is for municipal and industrial purposes. The impact of the availability of this water on the agriculture activities is tremendous ….”

Jackie sends email to Patrick’s radio show about Gaddafi’s Great Man-Made River providing pure water to Libya, OneRadioNetwork, Aug 23, 2013

Moammar Gadhafi Overthrown, by Paul Koring, GlobeMail, A Moment in Time, Aug 23, 2011-2013
Bizarre, ruthless and unpredictable, Moammar Gadhafi styled himself «King of Kings,» believed HIV was a Western biological weapon, was protected by comely female security guards and liked to travel with a huge Bedouin tent. He ruled Libya for more than 42 years after seizing power in 1969. Dubbed the «mad dog of the Middle East» by USA president Ronald Reagan, Gadhfi set out his political philosophy in The Greeen Book, and odd form of supposedly direct democracy. But mostly he ran his desert fiefdom as a tyrant, killing or imprisoning dissenters. Civil strife erupted into a war in 2011, and a Canadian general led a NATO campaign that backed Libyan rebels with more than 10,000 air strikes over six months. Gadhafi fled Tripoli. Weeks later, he ws found hiding in a ditch in his home town of Sirte, and was shot and beaten to death.

KILLING GADDAFI LIKE JFK-LUMUMBA

UN overthrew Libya leader Gaddafi 2 years ago

(USSR/CHINA/USA/ISRAEL dropped 10,000 bombs)
Globe/YouTube, Aug 23, 2013
watch Gaddafi say UN Security Council terrorist council
(65 illegal UN wars by big nations on small nations)
watch Gaddafi interview explaining speech to UN
watch Gaddafi the eye of the tiger listen
(Gaddafi made the 8th wonder of the world)
GREAT GADDAFI MAN-MADE RIVER

watch ORWELL TODAY LIBYA WATER VIDEO

BIG BROTHER WATER BARONS &
Big Brother & BB Falsify Past & BB Super-States

Gaddafi not a dictator; we lived in democracy; life was good
(UN is killing our children; why are they doing this? for what?
8 months of UN bombing has turned Libya into living hell:
no food/water/gas; stench of dead bodies in street)
Fare thee well Brother Gaddafi
(attacked because his Green Book system liberated Libya)
Telegraph/Uganda, Sep 25-Oct 3, 2011

GADDAFI: RECOLLECTIONS OF MY LIFE
watch GADDAFI NOT DICTATOR HE MADE 8TH WONDER
(Libya 6,000-km water pipeline greatest engineering feat)
watch ORWELL TODAY LIBYA WATER VIDEO

GREAT GADDAFI MAN-MADE RIVER
& BIG BROTHERHOOD BANKS BOMBING LIBYA
& 4.Old World Destruction

Emerging water crisis in Tripoli, UNICEF, Aug 27, 2011
UNICEF has delivered 23,000 bottles of water with support from a WFP vessel for the emergency use in Tripoli as the situation is expected to worsen in the Libya capital. UNICEF delivered an additional 23,000 litres of bottled water earlier this week for use in two major hospitals in Tripoli. In addition, 90,000 bottles of water are due to arrive on Monday 29th August. Currently, a total of around 5 million litres of water is being procured by UNICEF from neighbouring countries to be trucked and shipped to Tripoli in the coming days. “UNICEF is responding to the immediate needs in Tripoli, but we remain extremely concerned about the situation should there be a shortage of water in the coming days. This could turn into an unprecedented health epidemic “said Christian Balslev-Olesen, UNICEF Libya Head of Office. A UNICEF technical team is now working with the Libyan authorities to facilitate an assessment of water wells, review urgent response options and identify alternatives for water sources. «The current situation is the absolute worst-case scenario, and a swift resumption of water supplies is critical«, added Mr. Bolaslev-Olesen. Since the beginning of the conflict, power cuts and fuel shortages has put the Great Manmade River Authority, the primary distributor of potable water in Libya, at risk of failing to meet the country’s water needs.

UN war on Libya now water-shortage humanitarian disaster (no fuel/power to pump Man-Made-River wells/reservoirs). UNICEF, Aug 27, 2011

Listen to JACKIE JURA RADIO INTERVIEW talking «1984» (explains UN illegal war on Libya and Gaddafi made Great Man-Made River). Patrick Timpone/One Radio Network, Aug 18, 2011

53 African Union nations will miss Gaddafi’s generosity (financial/moral support to Africa unrelenting/wholehearted). East African Kenya, Aug 27, 2011

UN wants to bomb Libya’s Man-Made River water system (say Gaddafi hiding weapons in irrigation tunnels). Guardian, Apr 18, 2011

What if Colonel Gaddafi loses the battle of Tripoli? (a patron saint to 31 sub-Saharan Africa countries). Uganda Vision, Apr 12, 2011

Gaddafi says al-Qaeda is to blame for unrest in his country, CNN: Question: «If Libyans love you, then why are they capturing Benghazi, and they say they are against you there?». Gaddafi answers: «It is not my people. There are no demonstrations at all in the streets. No one is against us. against me for what? I am not the President. They love me, all my people are with me, they love me all. It is al Qaeda. al Qaeda. al Qaeda. not my people. «

Libya Seeks World Intervention to Prevent Environmental Disaster (UN warplanes targeting Libya’s Great Man-Made River)
Tripoli Post, Apr 7, 2011
Libyan authorities have urged the UN and its specialised agencies, UNESCO, FAO and the International Agency for Environmental Protection, to prevail on the Western coalition forces to stop aerial bombing and the hawling of missiles on targeted parts of the country. The Libyan authorities raised the alarm against targeted air attacks on such sensitive areas like the Great Man-Made River Project facilities, which provides drinking water and irrigation needs to about 4.5 million people, which is 70 per cent of the population, Panapressreports. In a joint statement issued after an emergency meeting held Sunday to inform the world of the dangers inherent in targeting such sensitive areas by the air raids, the Libyan Secretariat of General People’s Committee (Ministry) on Agriculture and the executive committee of the Great Man-Made River said that continued bombing could cause environmental and humanitarian disaster that will affect over 4.5 million Libyans, in addition to the damage that could affect the production of cereals, fodder and waterholes for livestock. The statement highlighted the serious catastrophic consequences that could result from the air raids on most parts of Libya, including areas very close to pipelines, especially between Sirte and Benghazi, where pipeline networks and gas pipelines overlap, in addition to equipment and facilities. Panapress reported the statement warning against the consequences of actions that may affect part of the water project, in view of the difficulties to repair the damage to the pipes of the plant of Brega, which could affect the supply of water to the citizenry. Among the consequences of the destruction of the hydraulic system, the statement also cited the risk of flooding, which could affect residential areas and cause human and environmental disaster. These water systems drain more than three million cubic metres daily at high pressure, in addition to the over 60 million cubic metres of water stored in reservoirs across different regions of Libya. It said that the Management Committee of the Great Man-Made River Project is responsible for its operation and water supply to most towns and villages in Libya and it is the main source of water for most of the regions and cities, which represent approximately 70 per cent of the Libyan population.

The Great Man-Made River system has been globally recognised as the largest water transport system in the world. It stretches from Kouffra, Serrir and Jabal Hassouna (south) to Ghadames (southwest), up to coastal areas from Benghazi (east) to Zouara (west), through the city of Ajdabia, Brega, Ras Lanuf, Ben Jaouad, Sirte, Museratha, Zlitin, Khomas, Tarhouna, Beni Walid, Gharyan, Kufra, Yefrane, Nalout and Tripoli, through pipelines stretching to over 4,000 km. This gigantic water project has several reservoirs in Benghazi, Sirte and Ajdabiyah, with a total capacity of more than 50 million cubic metres and pumping stations in various parts of the country. The water system has 120 supply sources to the cities, agricultural projects and maintenance services, 55 pastoral watering points, 3,000 control rooms and ventilation valves, which are the main facilities for safety and operation of the hydraulic structure.

watch Great Man-Made River Project, Libya (fantastic footage of project, with soundtrack in background), You Tube, Mar 23, 2011

Canada politicians & media silent about bombing Libya (role in UN-war not mentioned in election campaign)
CBC, Apr 8, 2011
Canada’s former former chief of the defence staff says he’s «puzzled» by the lack of debate over the conflict in Libya during a «boring» election campaign. Rick Hillier, the outspoken former head of Canada’s military, said in an interview with CBC Radio’s The Current that he finds it puzzling that Canada’s role in Libya is not coming under more scrutiny, especially as voters are heading to the polls on May 2. Hillier said he’d like to see a debate over where the parties stand on the conflict in Libya happen on the campaign trail. «I’m puzzled by the absolute absence of any discussion of the operations in Libya by the United Nations and by NATO on behalf of the United Nations, which is inclusive of Canada,» Hillier said. «I am just absolutely puzzled; we are two weeks into an election campaign, it is the most boring thing that I’ve ever seen in my life and this would be one of the questions that might liven it up just a little bit.». Canada has committed six CF-18s to join an international effort to enforce a UN Security Council resolution that is trying to prevent violence by forces loyal to Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi against rebels and civilians. Hillier said in the interview the no-fly zone over Libya was a half-measure and that it won’t protect people on ground. The retired general said there is very little clarity on the mission in Libya. «It hasn’t come up during the election campaign whatsoever. We are at war, we’ve been doing this in Afghanistan, we’ve had immense discussion, huge amounts of discussions on the mission in Afghanistan including parliamentary debates,» Hillier said. «Here in Canada right now it is actually silent on what is happening in Libya and that is puzzling to me personally.»

Man Made River Libya, Web Shots, by JaapBerk, Nov 30, 2010 http://travel.webshots.com/album/579213989DMszyN

Pure Technologies monitors Great Man Made River Project in Libya, Journal of Commerce, May 10, 2010

Great Man-Made River in Libya, Documents & Resources
[website http://www.docstoc.com/docs/57355610/Great-Man-Made-River-in-Libya no longer connects]

Facts & Figures about The Great Man Made River Project, The Great Man Made River Authority, Oct 31, 2008
[Libya GMMR website «http://www.gmmra.org/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=76&Itemid=50 now links to a Chinese website]

Libya’s thirst for ‘fossil water’, BBC World Service
. Further along the coast is the Pre-Stressed Concrete Cylinder Pipe factory at Brega. This is where they make the 4-meter-diameter pipes that transport water from the desert to the coast. It’s a modern, well-equipped factory, built specially for the Great Man-Made River Project. So far, the factory has made more than half a million pipes. The pipes are designed to last 50 years, and each pipe has a unique identification mark, so if anything goes wrong, engineers can quickly establish when the pipe was made. The engineer in charge of the Brega pipe factory is Ali Ibrahim. He is proud that Libyans are now running the factory: «At first, we had to rely on foreign-owned companies to do the work. «But now it’s government policy to involve Libyans in the project. Libyans are gaining experience and know-how, and now more than 70% of the manufacturing is done by Libyans. With time, we hope we can decrease the foreign percentage from 30% to 10%.».

The Muammar Gadaffi Story, BBC News
. The combination of water and oil gave Libya a sound economic platform Colonel Gaddafi fitted the bill as an authoritarian ruler who had endured for more years than the vast majority of his citizens could remember. But he was not so widely perceived as a western lackey as some Arab leaders accused of putting outside interests before those of his people. He had redistributed wealth. He sponsored grand public works, such as the improbable Great Man-Made River project, a massive endeavour inspired, perhaps, by ancient Bedouin water procurement techniques, that brought sweet, fresh water from aquifers in the south to the arid north of his country.

an independent researcher monitoring local, national and international events

The Great Man-Made River of Libya

One of the biggest civilian development project that Libya’s ex-president Muammar Gaddafi undertook during his forty-two-year rule was the Great Man-Made River. Gaddafi’s dream was to provide fresh water for everyone, and to turn the desert green, making Libya self-sufficient in food production. To make this dream a reality, Gaddafi commissioned a massive engineering project consisting of a network of underground pipes that would bring fresh water from ancient underground aquifers deep in the Sahara to the drought suffering Libyan cities. Gaddafi called it the “Eighth Wonder of the World”. The western media rarely mentioned it, and whenever it did, it was dismissed as a “vanity project” calling it «Gaddafi’s Pet Project» and “the pipe dream of a mad dog”. But truth is, the Great Man-Made River Project is a fantastic water delivery system that has changed lives of Libyans all across the country.

Libya is one of the sunniest and driest countries in the world. There are places where decades may pass without seeing any rainfall at all, and even in the highlands rainfall seldom happens, like once every 5 to 10 years. Less than 5% of the country receives enough rainfall for settled agriculture. Much of Libya’s water supply used to come from desalination plants on the coast, which were expensive and therefore used only for domestic purposes. Little was left for irrigating the land.

In 1953, while searching for new oilfields in southern Libya, vast quantities of ancient water aquifers were discovered. The exploration team discovered four huge basins with estimated capacities of each ranging between 4,800 and 20,000 cubic km. Most of this water was collected between 38,000 and 14,000 years ago, before the end of the last ice age, when the Saharan region enjoyed a temperate climate.

After Gaddafi and the Free Unitary Officers seized power in a bloodless coup in 1969, the new government immediately nationalized the oil companies and started using the revenues from oil to set up hundreds of bore wells to bring fresh water from the desert aquifers. Initially, Gaddafi planned to set up large-scale agricultural projects in the desert where the water was found, but when the people displayed reluctance to move, he conceived a plan to bring the water to the people instead.

In August 1984, Muammar Gaddafi laid the foundation stone for the pipe production plant at Brega, and the Great Man-Made River Project began. Around 1,300 wells were dug into the desert soil, some up to 500 meters deep, to pump water from the subterranean water reserve. The pumped water is then distributed to 6.5 million people living in the cities of Tripoli, Benghazi, Sirte and elsewhere through a network of underground pipes 2,800 km long. When the fifth and final phase of the project is complete, the network will have 4,000 km length of pipes that will enable 155,000 hectares of land to be cultivated. Even with the last two phases yet to complete, the Great Man-Made River is the world’s largest irrigation project.

The pipeline first reached Tripoli in 1996, at the completion of the first phase of the project. Adam Kuwairi, a senior figure in the Great Man-Made River Authority (GMRA), vividly remembers the impact the fresh water had on him and his family.

«The water changed lives. For the first time in our history, there was water in the tap for washing, shaving and showering,» he told BBC. «The quality of life is better now, and it’s impacting on the whole country.»

The project was so well recognized internationally that in 1999, UNESCO accepted Libya’s offer to fund the Great Man-Made River International Water Prize, an award that rewards remarkable scientific research work on water usage in arid areas.

US citizens protesting against US military action in Libya in Minneapolis, on March 21, 2011. Photo credit

In July 2011, NATO bombed the Great Man-Made River water supply pipeline near Brega including a factory that produces the pipes, claiming that the factory was used as “a military storage facility” and that “rockets were launched from there”. NATO’s attack on the pipeline disrupted water supply for 70% of the population who depended on the piped supply for personal use and for irrigation. The country now reeling under civil war, the future of the Great Man-Made River Project is in jeopardy.

Back in 1991, at the opening of the first phase of the project, Muammar Gaddafi had prophetically said about the largest civil engineering venture in the world:

“After this achievement, American threats against Libya will double. The United States will make excuses, but the real reason is to stop this achievement, to keep the people of Libya oppressed.”

Fleet of more than one hundred transporters has altogether travelled a distance equal to the distance between the Earth and Sun. Photo credit

Transport of pipe segments. Photo credit

Work on trench digging for waterpipe. Photo credit