developing these into a reliable source of water for Libya's largest cities became an attractive alternative to the country's overexploited coastal aquifers and the expensive process of desalination.

Before petroleum was discovered in the late 1950s, the country was considered one of the poorest nations in the world.

In 2010, the Great Man-Made River project, initiated by Muammar Gaddafi, was intended to provide Libya with water. Unfortunately, the civil war in Libya interrupted these plans. New estimates ...