Most of Libya is desert, with limited surface water resources, and it relies almost entirely on groundwater, most of which is ‘fossil’ water – recharged thousands of years ago when the region’s climate was wetter. Most agriculture relies on groundwater for irrigation, largely from the Great Man-Made River. This was a major project from the 1980s: a network of pipes transporting groundwater abstracted from the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System, in the Saharan part of southern Libya, northwards to cities and towns on the coast where most of the population lives.
Great Man-Made River:
Libya’s only large and reliable river is a pipeline. Great Man-Made River (GMR) is a well field that mines drinking and irrigation water from non-rechargeable aquifers that underlay much of North Africa. The largest GMR aquifer is the 1981-meter-deep Kufra Basin on the Egyptian border, with a total of 350000 cubic km. The aquifers were discovered in 1953, during petroleum exploration, and the administration began the 25-year project in 1984.
For more information on government contact details, please see the following link: 4.1 Government Contact List
Company Information
As no passable waterways available inland Libya, no water transport are available.
For more information on waterway company contact details, please see the following link: 4.4 Port and Waterways Companies Contact List
