Libya is now battling to reverse the impact of the collapse of two dams that were built by the Gaddafi administration. They were used to store water from great man-made rivers for domestic, irrigation, and industrial use. More than 90% of Libya’s landmass is arid or semi-arid and there are no permanent rivers save for a few seasonal ones that spring up during the rainy season.
How Muammar Gaddafi Implement the Project
The great man-made river was a network of pipes that delivered fresh water obtained from the Nubian Sandstone aquifer across Libya and pumped it to major cities in the country. It was the world’s largest irrigation project. The water used to cover a distance of up to 1,600 kilometers and provided 70% of all freshwater used in Libya. Hundreds of boreholes were drilled with some measuring 500 meters below the earth’s surface.
Exploration of oil and gas in the country led to the discovery of large amounts of water underground in 1953. The project was conceived in the late 1960s and construction began in 1984. The project’s construction was divided into five phases and the first phase was completed and commissioned in 1991.
On 22 July 2011, during the uprising that led to civil war and the NATO support of repels, a factory that was producing pipes was bombed by the US and France fighter jets. Other infrastructure was hit by airstrikes.
After the fall of Gaddafi’s regime, civil wars ensued, and now militants control more than 70% of the country.
The remaining facilities, including the two dams that collapsed, were not maintained because they are located in a region that is controlled by repels.
Because there is no strong functioning government to repair and maintain the project, most of the facilities are in ruins. The two dams that collapsed were filled by floodwaters…… See More
Current situation after two dams collapsed