Moving Water Through a Desert? The case of Libya’s GMMR.
This week’s blog will explore a potential solution to addressing the geographical unevenness of water and food availability; water transfer projects to deficit areas. The blog will explore the famous example of the Great Man-Made River (GMMR) in Libya and its approach to addressing the unevenness of water access and food production.
Libya’s ‘Great Man-Made River’:
In last week’s blog, I discussed the spatial unevenness of water access and food production in Ethiopia. Ethiopia's plight is not unique. Instead, this uneven distribution of water and food is relatively standard across much of Africa, owning to the continents complex physical and human characteristics (MacDonald et al. 2012; Quadri 2019). In the last blog, I stated if there was only a way to "physically transport water to areas that need it". This is what has Libya done. Under the authority of Colonel Gaddafi, Libya began the construction of a sophisticated pipeline system known as the 'Great Man-Made River', which, in essence, is a water transfer system moving water from areas of surplus to areas in deficit (fig. 8) (Salem 2007; Siala and Stoner 2006). The purpose of this human-made river was to transfer ample freshwater from aquifers located in Southern Libya to cities like Tripoli and Benghazi in the country's north (Abdelrahem et al. 2013). Ali (2017) stated that the total area covered by the GMMR is upwards of 1,600 kilometres. Likewise, it provides over 70% of total freshwater supplies in Libya; a country plagued by low rainfall and high evaporative losses. Therefore, this infrastructure project's sheer scale dubbed it the “eighth wonder of the world” by the late Libyan leader. The project was not just an engineering feat, but also the GMMR has been crucial for municipal water and also to some extent irrigation, as groundwater wells have proved inefficient owing to a continually fluctuating water table (Nair et al. 2006).
Figure 8: The Great Man-Made River in Libya and where it supplies. (Wikipedia n/a) |
Limitations of water transfer projects:
Exploiting Libya’s aquifers for domestic needs and agriculture may appear ingenious now owning to the sheer quantity of freshwater. However, despite the effectiveness of the GMMR in increasing freshwater access, it remains unsustainable mainly for one reason, and that is Libya’s groundwater variability. For other regions, exploiting groundwater is relatively risk-free, and that is because groundwater recharge is ample (Gleeson et al. 2011). However, for Libya, being a nation with one of the lowest rainfall rates, but the highest average temperatures, therefore means groundwater recharge is limited (El-Asswad 1995). Henceforth, Libya's continued aquifer exploitation will, therefore, prove disastrous in the future as groundwater levels will continue to fall, without an adequate quantity of groundwater recharge (Ibid 1995). Exploiting groundwater, especially for irrigation, is only a viable solution if there is a certainty of regular recharge, therefore justifying Equatorial Africa's groundwater use (Jones 1997; Davie 2002).
There are also various other factors justifying why water transfer projects like the GMMR are greatly unsustainable. Here they are:
- The GMMR was incredibly expensive. It was estimated to have cost $25bn, which is out of scope for most African countries, even with the financial assistance of international lenders (Ali 2017).
- Developing infrastructure like the GMMR takes time. Therefore, it is not a practical solution for a country in immediate need of water.
- For some countries, adequate access to water is not domestically available, requiring liaising with a 'donor' country (Allan 2003).
In conclusion, water transfer projects may initially appear as an excellent solution for making water and subsequently, food production more even. However, for Libya, exploiting an aquifer that is seldom recharged is incredibly unsustainable. Even though at present freshwater is ample in Libya's aquifers, agriculture has seen little expansion. Instead, the country has preferred to import food. Arguably, for Libya, importing food omits the risk of over-exploiting its groundwater systems given the intense water demands of food production. However, the country likely recognises the uncertainties and risks of over-exploiting its little water, especially in a harsh environment like the Maghreb.
This is an excellent post. Ive too always asked myself why they cant just take water from areas of surplus to those of deficit, but now reading this post the sheer complexity of this process is a lot clearer to me. Perhaps I was slightly naive in this respect. Nevertheless, not only do you explain how this has been done, you also evaluate its sustainability by providing its limitations. I wanted to ask if you could think of a way to decrease the variability of groundwater to provide the pipe with a more constant supply?
ReplyDeleteHi there Konstantine, I appreciate taking the time to read this blog. Groundwater is a complex thing. Much of decreasing groundwater variability comes down to reducing its over-exploitation. But also, natural factors especially the climate can exacerbate this. Maybe shielding of the aquifer in a casing could be a way, I know that sounds like an engineering nightmare. But that could potentially reduce transmission loses. But much of it comes down to regular groundwater measurements, modelling and recognising when to stop the pumping! Hope that answers your question.
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