Although water availability is already among the lowest in the world, demand is increasing steadily, along with the population - and efforts to improve Libya's industrial base. The water requirements of the country's 5 million inhabitants already outstrip supply by more than 1 million cubic metres a year (cm/y). If nothing were done to improve the resource base by 2015, when the population is expected to be 7 million-8 million, the deficit would likely be nearer to 3 million cm/y.

But the authorities are determined to avoid this sorry scenario. For two decades, Libya has been pouring its energy and resources into one of the greatest civil engineering projects the world has ever seen, all in order to ensure sufficient water supplies for future decades of economic growth. The great man-made river (GMR) project is, on paper at least, the stuff of fantasy - a conveyance scheme of colossal proportions designed to tap the prehistoric waters of the Nubian aquifers deep in the south and pipe them thousands of kilometres north to the urban population centres on the coast. However, for those working on the project - and over the past 20 years they have numbered in the 10s of thousands - the reality has been less than fantastic.

Manmade river

Delays, technical problems, corroding infrastructure and financial difficulties have dogged the five-phase scheme. Today, only phase 1 is totally complete, with phase 2 expected to be concluded by the end of the year. Moreover, the two sections are only supplying 25 per cent of their combined capacity, and are not expected to increase production to anywhere near the potential 4.5 million-cubic-metre-a-day (cm/d) level for at least another two-three years.

However, present supply through the pipelines is more than enough to meet existing levels of demand, insists Bashir el-Saleh, People's Committee member for the GMR Authority (GMRA). 'Today, we are providing 450,000 cm/d to Tripoli, 200,000 cm/d to Benghazi and 90,000 cm/d to Misurata, which is more than sufficient to meet the drinking water requirements of the inhabitants of those cities,' he says. 'Only 32 per cent of the water from GMR is destined for municipal and industrial use - the chief objective of the scheme is to provide water for irrigation, and the only reason that this is not yet the case is that the agricultural projects themselves are not ready yet.'

The idea of extracting non-renewable, naturally purified water from underground lakes to irrigate crops is enough to send a shiver down an environmentalist's spine. But it is a price Tripoli is prepared to pay in order to escape its dependency on food imports. 'We will of course ensure that the water will be used wisely,' says El-Saleh. 'We need to get away from the old methods of irrigation and introduce modern techniques such as drip-fed systems and greenhouses to reduce consumption.'

GMRA is also aware that it may be able to capitalise on the quality of the water. 'We have considered the possibility of bottling water for sale in Europe, and are studying the feasibility of such a project,' says El-Saleh. 'We have invited a number of companies to make presentations regarding forming a marketing joint venture, but it is not our priority.'

Instead, GMRA has its sights set on future phases of the project. Bids were submitted on 20 August for the design, procurement and construction contract for the Ghadames-Zuara network close to the Tunisian border. Over the past few years, the western phase - which involves drilling 106 wells and building pumping stations, storage tanks and a 620-kilometre pipeline - has been given priority over the two eastern extensions: the new Khufra wellfield and the 400-kilometre Jagboub extension to Tobruk. If all goes to plan, an award on the 250,000-cm/d Ghadames phase should be made early next year, allowing the estimated $1,000 million scheme to come on stream in 2007.

Progress has been slower on phase 3. The UK arm of Japan's Nippon Koei, the consultant for the third-phase schemes, submitted the preliminary designs for the 140,000-cm/d Jagboub and 1.7 million-cm/d Khufra phases at the end of last year. Discussions about possible revisions and delays in the wellfield investigations have slowed everything down, with the result that it will be many years before water starts flowing from either.

When the new phases do come on stream, GMRA is confident they will not run into the same technical difficulties that blighted the operation of phases 1-2. 'While the project is huge, the technology, other than the control and communications systems, is not tremendously sophisticated,' says El-Saleh. 'We did have problems with corrosion and the desert environment in the initial stages, but these have since been rectified, and we now have the systems in place to constantly monitor the pipelines and can move to replace them before serious damage is done.'

The setbacks and delays have, however, increased the costs of GMR. When the designs were unveiled to the world in 1983, the price tag was $25,000 million and the construction period put at 25 years. Two decades and many billions of dollars later - over budget and overdue - the price advantage of the conveyance system over desalination is becoming less pronounced. The cost of water from GMR is around $0.37 a cubic metre, while improvements in technology, combined with plentiful supplies of subsidised energy feedstock have reduced the cost of similar volumes of desalinated water to $0.65. And with the bulk of production from GMR destined for agricultural use, Libya is now working to increase non-conventional water supplies to supplement the quantities being drawn from the desert wells.

Desalination

Like the GMR, desalination has had a chequered history in Libya. Thermal plants were first introduced in the late 1960s. By 2000, the state-owned General Electricity Company of Libya (Gecol) had overseen the installation of 16 multi-stage flash (MSF) and three multi-effect distillation (MED) plants with total capacity of 413,000 cm/d. However, a lack of desalination expertise - both generally and in Libya particularly - prompted the selection of inappropriate plant designs and inefficient materials and chemical additives. This, combined with the non-availability of much-needed spare parts during the sanctions years, resulted in wide-ranging operational problems that severely reduced the plants' efficiency. By 2000 the few that still functioned were only producing about 142,000 cm/d.

'It is a very different story nowadays,' says Sultan Kershman, desalination manager at Gecol. 'There has been a technological revolution enabling us to overcome many of the problems we have faced over the past 30 years. Desalination is very much a viable option in Libya today, and will be a vital component in providing domestic water supplies as the population continues to grow.'

Indeed, Gecol is now implementing an ambitious $1,000 million programme that calls for the installation of an additional 850,000 cm/d of desalination capacity by 2010. But while the political will may exist to increase non-conventional water resources, the practical process of implementing the programme is proving frustratingly slow. 'One of the difficulties we face is that Gecol is required to prepare the plans on a project-by-project basis,' says an industry expert close to the scheme. 'Each plant is individually approved by cabinet. Only then are the funds made available and the letter of credit [LC] opened - it is a process that requires a certain amount of patience.'

For those companies prepared to stay the course, the results can be rewarding. France's Sidem has established a strong working relationship with Gecol. It has installed desalination plants with total capacity of 274,000 cm/d in Libya over the past 30 years and is now preparing to build two more. 'It took some time to get the LC for Zuara,' says Sidem managing director Gerard Canton. 'But we were ready to start work as soon as it was opened and construction of the plant should be completed in 24 months.' Sidem's work at Zuara may be extended as Gecol is evaluating the possibility of adding a 40,000-cm/d extension to the plant, effectively doubling its capacity. While the Zuara expansion is under consideration, Sidem is also preparing for work on the 40,000-cm/d Abutaraba plant, 800 kilometres east of Benghazi. The contract has not yet come into force, but Canton is hopeful that the LC will be opened before the end of the year.

Learning the lessons

As Tripoli seeks to increase its desalination capacity, the authorities are keen to ensure the lessons are learned from previous failures. 'In the past three-four years, the provision of training, both theoretical and practical, of as many as 60 local technicians has emerged as an extremely important clause in contracts,' says Canton. 'More recently there is also an emphasis being placed on maximising local content.' The requirement to source equipment locally has led to delays on the proposed 250,000-cm/d plant at Tripoli and the 80,000-cm/d plant at Misurata. However, Gecol is confident the process will reap rewards in the long run.

The requirement to incorporate local involvement in Libya's desalination programme is an understandable move, and is part of a process that is gaining acceptance across the world. It is not only a political statement, it is a very practical move. 'Desalination is a growing necessity in Libya,' says Kershman. 'Establishing a base for manufacturing equipment will not only enable us to keeps costs down, but will also play an important part in developing the local industrial sector and so contribute to the wider economic development of the country as a whole.'