See other World News Articles
Title: Libya warns of disaster if 'Great Man-Made River' hit
Source:
[None]
URL Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/af ... 149aa6e7d06680c9cf785978729.81
Published: Apr 16, 2011
Author: AFP
Post Date: 2011-04-16 00:55:19 by HAPPY2BME-4UM
Keywords: None
Views: 76
Comments: 2
TRIPOLI — Libya warned on Sunday that NATO-led air strikes could cause a "human and environmental disaster" if they damaged the country's massive Great Man-Made River (GMMR) project. Built at a cost of 33 billion dollars, the GMMR extracts water from deep beneath the Sahara desert at a depth of between 500 and 800 metres (1,600 to 2,500 feet), purifies it and transports it to the coastal cities of the north where most of the population is concentrated. Engineer and project manager Abdelmajid Gahoud told foreign journalists in the ultra-modern control centre on the outskirts of Tripoli, that a "human and environmental disaster" was on the cards if the GMMR was hit. He said three pipelines, one for gas, one for oil and another for water, run underground parallel to the 400-kilometre-long (248 miles) road from the eastern city of Benghazi to Moamer Kadhafi's home town of Sirte, through the area between Ajdabiya and Sirte where there have been many coalition air raids. "If one of the pipelines is hit, the others are affected as well, which could mean a humanitarian catastrophe," Gahoud said. "If part of the infrastructure is damaged, the whole thing is affected and the massive escape of water could cause a catastrophe," he added, leaving 4.5 million thirsty Libyans deprived of drinking water. Conceived in the 1960s and launched in the 1980s by Kadhafi as part of a plan to make Libya self-sufficient in food, the GMMR provides 70 percent of the population with water for drinking and irrigation. A total of 4,000 kilometres of pipeline were laid at a depth of two to three metres, he said, crossing the country from south to north and making the GMMR the largest and most expensive irrigation project in history. It is designed to pump water from Libya?s vast, underground Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System in the south to populated coastal areas in the north where most of the country?s six million inhabitants live and work.
Poster Comment: Libya's Great Man-Made RiverLibya warns of disaster if 'Great Man-Made River' hit
Libyans celebrate as they splash in the waters of the Gurdabiya Dam in 2002, part of Libya's "Great Man-Made River"
posted yesterday by Stephen Lendman
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: X-15, Eric Stratton, Lod, FormerLurker, randge, RickyJ, christine, Itistoolate, Original_Intent, *US INDUSTRIAL WAR MACHINE* (#0)
U.S. Constitution - Article IV, Section 4: NO BORDERS + NO LAWS = NO COUNTRY
"If part of the infrastructure is damaged, the whole thing is affected and the massive escape of water could cause a catastrophe," he added, leaving 4.5 million thirsty Libyans deprived of drinking water. Conceived in the 1960s and launched in the 1980s by Kadhafi as part of a plan to make Libya self-sufficient in food, the GMMR provides 70 percent of the population with water for drinking and irrigation. A total of 4,000 kilometres of pipeline were laid at a depth of two to three metres, he said, crossing the country from south to north and making the GMMR the largest and most expensive irrigation project in history. As Libya was under Italy's colonial control, here's some Italian history that could have some bearing on invasion forces: 1. Fortune Is a River : Leonardo Da Vinci and Niccolo Machiavelli's Magnificent Dream to Change the Course of Florentine History by Roger D. Masters 2. Hydraulics and the Science of Politics In 1503 Leonardo da Vinci and Machiavelli began work on a project that they believed would end the threat from Pisa forever. They proposed to divert the Arno river [My note: which appears in the da Vinci painting, the Mona Lisa] away from Pisa, leaving the city literally high and dry and making Florence [My note: an inland] seaport. The beleaguered Florentine republic approved funds for the project. Leonardo spent the spring and summer drawing a series of stunning "bird's eye" maps of the Arno river and the surrounding landscape. In August 1504, the project began. It was a huge undertaking that posed critical problems for earth removal and directing water flow. Time was of the essence, both for financial and military reasons. The engineer in charge of the project was forced to make cost- cutting measures. Leonardo devised a digging machine to expedite matters and save on labor, but apparently it was never built. The result was failure. The diversionary ditches were too shallow and the river did not follow the new course. Efforts to deepen the ditches began, but a storm destroyed the earthworks. What nature left, the Pisans demolished. According to Roger Masters, who has written a history of the project, "the Arno diversion could be called a magnificent failure. Niccolò and Leonardo tried to control the flow of history and the flow of the river by combining science, technology, and political power. The ambition to use this means to conquer nature, common place today, had never been attempted in quite this way on such a scale."** Long story short, the Military was bogged down in mud from the project and suffered heavy losses because of it. iirc, Machiavelli was jailed shortly thereafter and da Vinci left the area.
------- "They're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us...they can't get away this time." -- Col. Puller, USMC
#2. To: HAPPY2BME-4UM, All (#0)
(Edited)
"If one of the pipelines is hit, the others are affected as well, which could mean a humanitarian catastrophe," Gahoud said.
To its west, Florence was at war with the city of Pisa. Both cities sought to control the Arno river, and Pisa could easily cut Florence off from the sea. For a republican government, the political instability that would accompany such an economic disaster could spell its doom.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest