Great Man-Made River
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Great Man-Made River
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Re: Great Man-Made River
#2That feels like a post-apocalyptic story now, remnants of great, more developed civilization.
Re: Great Man-Made River
#3Really fantastic project. Gives me Dune vibes. May it long continue to supply many with the water they need.
Re: Great Man-Made River
#4That feels like a post-apocalyptic story now, remnants of great, more developed civilization.
"During the second Libyan civil war, lasting from 2014 to 2020, the water infrastructure suffered neglect and occasional breakdowns. As of July 2019, 101 of 479 wells on the western pipeline system had been dismantled"
It is not all gone and still somewhat working, but how long?
Re: Great Man-Made River
#5I grew up in Libya during the building of the GMMR.
I still remember the size of the pipes and the amount of trucks hauling them. One truck one pipe.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nubian_Sandstone_Aquifer_Sys...
The Korean companies building the project were massive. They would build a double lane road. One side would be used exclusively for one direction pipe supplies and machines. Eventually when the section completed they would just open the road as a public highway. This really helped Libya build up reach and infrastructure. The truck lines were endless... We are talking km long here...
Eventually when the water reached the coast, I remember I was in Benghazi then. It was good and drinkable from the spring ( this is usually not possible since the water is still salty from the sea) after about a week the sweet water stopped because they started mixing it with the old supply to conserve the desert supplies, the water amount in the desert was over estimated...
All in all Libya was a great country. My family moved to Europe and I remember how much miss information there was about Libya. The 2012 happened...
Ama about the GMMR. I ll try to answer as best as I can and remember.
Re: Great Man-Made River
#6I grew up in Libya during the building of the GMMR.
I still remember the size of the pipes and the amount of trucks hauling them. One truck one pipe.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nubian_Sandstone_Aquifer_Sys...
The Korean companies (Daewoo mainly I think) building the project were massive. They would build a double lane road. One side would be used exclusively for one direction pipe supplies and machines. Eventually when the section completed they would just open the road as a public highway. This really helped Libya build up reach and infrastructure. The truck lines were endless... We are talking km long here...
Eventually when the water reached the coast, I remember I was in Benghazi then. It was good and drinkable from the spring ( this is usually not possible since the water is still salty from the sea) after about a week the sweet water stopped because they started mixing it with the old supply to conserve the desert supplies, the water amount in the desert was over estimated...
All in all Libya was a great country. My family moved to Europe and I remember how much miss information there was about Libya. Then 2012 happened...
Ama about the GMMR. I ll try to answer as best as I can and remember.
Re: Great Man-Made River
#7I am always amazed by human engineering. I grew up near the Rhine in Germany, and literally they changed the position of the whole river into a different shape, depth, and form so that ships can flow on it.
The planning of the event was called "Rheinbegradigung" [1] and they made the river straight, with lots and lots of watergates in between from the Ocean right up to Basel in Switzerland.
Eversince I grew up, hundreds of "Guetermotorschiffe" [2] were flowing up and down the rivers here, transporting coal, ores, stones, metal, even plane parts from Airbus. Their travel routes were all across Europe, as the Rhine has lots of side rivers that are connected orthogonally to it.
And they started the Rheinbegradigung in 1817 and completed it in 1876, which is totally insane from the perspective of the available technology at the time.
Re: Great Man-Made River
#8I am always amazed by human engineering. I grew up near the Rhine in Germany, and literally they changed the position of the whole river into a different shape, depth, and form so that ships can flow on it. The planning of the event was called "Rheinbegradigung" [1] and they made the river straight, with lots and lots of watergates in between from the Ocean right up to Basel in Switzerland. Eversince I grew up, hundr…
Here is a painting of the view from the "Isteiner Klotz" in southwestern Germany prior to the "Rheinbegradigung":
https://www.gkgbs.ch/obsolet/schulleben/oekowoche/1998-2003/...
Here is a picture of the (approximately) same view today (well, 20 years ago), you can use the church for orientation. The Rhine is at the far right corner. The village once had a small fishing harbor.
https://www.gkgbs.ch/obsolet/schulleben/oekowoche/1998-2003/...
> which is totally insane from the perspective of the available technology at the time.
What they did was pretty clever: they didn't dig an entire new river bed (that would've been impossible), but only some small, narrow shortcut "pilot beds", protected by a dam. You can see such a shortcut here: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/07/K%...
After the shortcut was finished, they opened up the dam. The Rhine then slowly dug a new bed itself.
Re: Great Man-Made River
#9I grew up in Libya during the building of the GMMR. I still remember the size of the pipes and the amount of trucks hauling them. One truck one pipe. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nubian_Sandstone_Aquifer_Sys... The Korean companies (Daewoo mainly I think) building the project were massive. They would build a double lane road. One side would be used exclusively for one direction pipe supplies and machines. Eventual…
> this is usually not possible since the water is still salty from the sea
Excuse my naive question, but where did the population get drinking water from prior to the GMMR?
Re: Great Man-Made River
#10I grew up in Libya during the building of the GMMR. I still remember the size of the pipes and the amount of trucks hauling them. One truck one pipe. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nubian_Sandstone_Aquifer_Sys... The Korean companies (Daewoo mainly I think) building the project were massive. They would build a double lane road. One side would be used exclusively for one direction pipe supplies and machines. Eventual…
1. How come so much water collects in the desert, rather than closer to the coastline?
2. Is there some decent English text, in a book or online, which describes how Libyan society worked up until 2012? With focus on social and political structures and their interaction?