Great man-made-river

Great Man-Made River

Students: Jaime Salazar

Cristobal Morales

Date: November 9, 2015

Introduction

• Is a network of pipes that supplies water to the Sahara Dessert in Libya, from the Nubian sandstone aquifer system.

• It is the world's largest irrigation project (2,820 kilometres )

Muammar Gaddafi said: “The Great Great Man-Made River is the eighth Wonder of the world”

Plan of the network pipes

Some Numbers

• 1300 wells (most of them more than 500 m deep)

• 6,500,000 m3 of fresh water per day to the cities of Tripoli, Benghazi and Sirte.

The cost

25,000 millions US$

• 3 October 1983: The General People's Congress held an extraordinary session to draft the resolutions of the basic people's Congresses, which decided to fund and execute the Great Man-Made River Project.

• 28 August 1984: Muammar Gaddafi laid the foundation stone in Sarirarea for the commencement of the construction of the Great Man-Made River Project.

The timeline

• 28 August 1986: Muammar Gaddafi inaugurated the Brega plant for the production of the pre-stressed concrete cylinder pipes, which are considered the largest pipes made with pre-stressed steel wire (the majority of steel wire was made in Italy by the Redaelli Tecna S.p.A. company). The Sarir plant was also inaugurated on this date.

• 26 August 1989: Muammar Gaddafi laid the foundation stone for phase two of the Great Man-Made River Project.

The timeline

• 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

Water arrivals

In 2015, after the death of Muammar Gaddafi, the Islamic State jihadists control center Sirte, the hometown of deposed Libyan leader and the seaport and the nearby resort of Grand River Artificial.

¿Actually?

Great Man-Made River

Students: Jaime Salazar

Cristobal Morales

Date: November 9, 2015