Harvesting Libya's hidden water with Holland's help

RNW, 1 September 2011, by Jannie Schipper   

(Photo: Galenfrysinger.com)

It is both scarce and precious and the whole world wants it. Libya has large supplies of it underground. But it's not what you're thinking… we are talking about water! The Netherlands shouldn't just look to the oil industry for entrepreneurial opportunities in Libya.

World leaders are in Paris today to discuss the future of Libya. Delegates will not just talk about security and freedom for Libyans, they will also be looking at the economic opportunities for their own countries in a 'new Libya'.

Risky business

Dutch companies like Shell, Damen Shipyards, construction company BAM (Tebodin), engineering company Arcadis and pipe supplier Libitco have already indicated that it is too early to think about returning to Libya. UN sanctions are still in place and there’s no stable government. For the time being, business in the north African country will remain classified as 'highest risk' as in a recent report by analyst Dun & Bradstreet.

Dutch companies from various sectors operated on a modest scale in 'old Libya'. But long term prospects are good for the Dutch, says export authority Bart Jan Koopman:

“If the country becomes more stable and installs a government quickly, it’s potentially an extremely rich country. This is mainly due to the oil and gas industry of course. That is potentially so big, that if this wealth is used for the reconstruction of the country, there are plenty of opportunities for Dutch companies.”

Great Man Made River

Mr Koopman thinks there are other areas in which Dutch entrepreneurs can play a role besides in the oil and gas industry. Take agrifood and infrastructure for instance. 

Grand Omar Mukhtar reservoir, Libya
Photo: Galenfrysinger.com

And there is water, of course. Right now, Unicef and the World Food Programme are supplying the stricken population with water, but there is a huge reservoir under the surface of Libya’s desert. The 40,000-year-old Nubian Sandstone Reservoir contains an estimated 150,000 square kilometres of water. The basin lies under Libya, Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.

Gaddafi started a huge project back in the 1980s to access this fossil water: the Great Man-Made River. He called in experts from abroad to help. Many of the Libyans who have worked on the project were trained at Delft’s Technical University and at the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education - which was partly set up by the Netherlands. Although the Great Man-Made River project has not been completed, it has supplied coastal cities in recent years.

Uprising

Libya is a pioneer when it comes to international cooperation in water, says Neno Kukurich, director general of the International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre (IGRAC), an institute in Delft which maps underground water reservoirs.

“Libya has played a key role in regional cooperation in the water sector. It began with a workshop in Tripoli followed by a conference in 2008. Just before the uprising began, the Libyan ministry for water set up a regional centre for shared ground water. So Libya was working well with other countries.”

The Gaddafi regime was making plans for a waste water system and new harbours. “As groundwater would have run out at some point, an alternative had to be found as a long term solution, such as desalination or reuse of waste water,” says Professor András Szöllösi-Nagy of UNESCO’s water institute.

As a result of the war, in which a factory producing huge pipelines for the Great Man-Made River project was blown up in a NATO bombardment, supplying water has been difficult. There are opportunities for Dutch companies to restart the project. And there are other opportunities elsewhere in the country, says Professor Szöllösi-Nagy:

“The knowledge the Dutch have in the area of water technology is unique in the world. I’m sure Dutch companies will be involved at various stages. But it is up to the international community, in particular the UN, to decide what needs to be done when the fighting is over.”

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