Supply of potable water to Tripoli resumes on Tuesday

08 Septembre 2020

Tripoli, Libya, September 8 (Infosplusgabon) - The supply of drinking water to the Libyan capital, Tripoli, resumed on Tuesday after several days of interruption due to problems with power supply to the water pumping station of the Artificial River Body of the Hassaouna - Sahel al-Jafara system.

"The gradual increase in water flows will continue," the Artificial River Authority said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

It said there will be a gradual return of water in the capital after midnight on Monday, if electricity to the wells and pumping stations continued to stabilise.

It attributed the delay in the return of water to the cities to the instability of the power supply to the wells and water pumping stations.

It also referred to the repeated power cuts at the pumping stations and wells on Sunday, in addition to the power cut at the pumping station at the Tarhouna site south of Tripoli until Monday morning.

Libya has been faced in recent years with a recurrent electricity deficit estimated at 2,500 megawatts, leading to long-term load shedding.

This situation has provoked demonstrations by citizens calling for a definte solution of the crisis and the dismissal of managers of the Libyan General Electricity Company.

The artificial river is a water supply system in Libya consisting of a network of giant aqueducts thousands of kilometres long, pumping water from underground aquifers of the Libyan desert to the western regions of the country where the large urban centres and vast agricultural estates are located.

It provides water to 80 percent of Libya's population of six million people.

FIN/ INFOSPLUSGABON/BILK/GABON2020

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