Great Man-Made River • Hacker News Board

Re: Great Man-Made River

#51

Post by cmpb » Wed, Mar 10, 2021, 10:22 PM UTC

selimthegrim wrote: post #48

cmpb wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't mean to be a wet-blanket with my comment, just to point out the potential negative impacts of human engineering, when such engineering is not well-thought-out. We (in gulf south US) have had similar engineering projects with the Mississippi River (et al) over the course of the last couple of centuries. Largely the goal has been to keep the rivers from flooding their banks, which they are keen to do in various…

Where was your trip?

To Lafitte wetland trace with the Louisiana Native Plant Society

Re: Great Man-Made River

#52

Post by hutzlibu » Thu, Mar 11, 2021, 2:17 AM UTC

weeblewobble wrote: post #42

Viker wrote: post #6

I 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…

I find it very cool that you were there for something like this. How was it funded? Seems very expensive. Were regular people excited about it? Was there a meaningful change in day to day life after it was completed?

"How was it funded? Seems very expensive."

Oil money.

Re: Great Man-Made River

#53

Post by 3131s » Thu, Mar 11, 2021, 7:40 AM UTC

JetAlone wrote: post #3

Really fantastic project. Gives me Dune vibes. May it long continue to supply many with the water they need.

It seems to be struggling currently, but certainly it's already proven to be a resilient piece of infrastructure given the circumstances:

On 22 July during the 2011 Libyan civil war, one of the two plants making pipes for the project, the Brega Plant, was hit by a NATO air strike.[18] At a press conference on 26 July, NATO claimed that rockets had been fired from within the plant area, and that military material, including multiple rocket launchers, was stored there according to intelligence findings, presenting a photo showing a BM-21 MRL as an example.[19]

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.[20]

On 10 April 2020, a station controlling water flow to Tripoli and neighboring towns was seized by an unknown armed group. The flow of water was cut to over two million people as a result, and as such the attack was condemned by the United Nations on humanitarian grounds.[21]