The Great Man-Made River is a network of pipes that supplies fresh water from underground aquifers to cities in Libya's Sahara Desert. The project, initiated in 1983 and costing $25 billion, involves over 1,300 wells and 6,500,000 cubic meters of water delivered daily to cities like Tripoli, Benghazi, and Sirte across 2,820 kilometers of pipes. Considered the eighth wonder of the world by Muammar Gaddafi, the project's timeline saw water deliveries begin in phases from 1989 to 2007, though control of parts of the system became unstable after Gaddafi's death in 2015.

1. Great Man-Made River
Students: Jaime Salazar
Cristobal Morales
Date: November 9, 2015

2. Introduction
• Is a network of pipes that supplies water to the Sahara Dessert in
Libya, from the Nubian sandstone aquifer system.
• It is the world's largest irrigation project (2,820 kilometres )

3. Muammar Gaddafi said: “The Great Great Man-
Made River is the eighth Wonder of the world”

4. Plan of the network pipes

5. Some Numbers
• 1300 wells (most of them more than 500 m deep)
• 6,500,000 m3 of fresh water per day to the cities of Tripoli, Benghazi and
Sirte.

7. The cost
25,000 millions US$

8. • 3 October 1983: The General People's Congress held an extraordinary
session to draft the resolutions of the basic people's Congresses,
which decided to fund and execute the Great Man-Made River
Project.
• 28 August 1984: Muammar Gaddafi laid the foundation stone in Sarir
area for the commencement of the construction of the Great Man-
Made River Project.
The timeline

9. • 28 August 1986: Muammar Gaddafi inaugurated the Brega plant for
the production of the pre-stressed concrete cylinder pipes, which are
considered the largest pipes made with pre-stressed steel wire (the
majority of steel wire was made in Italy by the Redaelli Tecna S.p.A.
company). The Sarir plant was also inaugurated on this date.
• 26 August 1989: Muammar Gaddafi laid the foundation stone for
phase two of the Great Man-Made River Project.
The timeline

10. • 11 September 1989: to Ajdabiya reservoir.
• 28 September 1989: to Grand Omar Muktar reservoir.
• 4 September 1991: to Ghardabiya reservoir.
• 28 August 1996: to Tripoli.
• 28 September 2007: to Gharyan
Water arrivals

11. In 2015, after the death of Muammar Gaddafi, the Islamic State
jihadists control center Sirte, the hometown of deposed Libyan leader
and the seaport and the nearby resort of Grand River Artificial.
¿Actually?

12. Great Man-Made River
Students: Jaime Salazar
Cristobal Morales
Date: November 9, 2015