Turkey - Northern Cyprus Water Pipeline by 2012
A Multi-million-dollar undersea pipeline to bring water to North Cyprus from Turkey could be up and running by 2012. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said work on the 80km plastic pipeline scheme would start in June 2009. A dam will be created at Alakopur, near Anamur in southern Turkey, to collect water from the Dragon River. Water from it will be pumped to a new dam in North Cyprus by converting the reservoir at Gecitkoy, south of Guzelayali. Selin Mkinci, one of the engineers from Alsim-Alarko working on the project said water would be transferred to a 10,000m3 storage facility through a 21km pipeline in Turkey. Mr Ekinci said then it would be sent along the 80km plastic pipeline submerged 250 metres below the surface of the Mediterranean. The pipeline will be attached to large weights to keep it under water. Mr Ekinci said this was essential because the pipeline would otherwise float. At Guelyali beach, a pumping station will be constructed to send the water to Gecitkoy dam along a 4km pipeline. Mr Ekinci said: “The pumping station will not have a great impact on the beach where it will be constructed, either environmentally or scenically. It will not be a huge construction.” The project, which was signed between Turkish Water Works General Directorate and Alsim-Alarko in 2005, will carry 73 million m3 of water from Turkey each year. About 15 million m3 will be used for drinking water after being purified in a facility that will be constructed near Lefkosa. The remainder will be used to irrigate 7,650 hectares of agricultural land in the Mesaoria plain. The project aims to meet the drinking and irrigation needs of North Cyprus up to the year 2035, when the population of the TRNC is estimated to grow to about 350,000. Orhan Aydeniz, chairman of the Association of Forestation and Prevention of Erosion (Kema), said the project to bring water from Turkey was “very good” However, he also said that it would take at least four years for the project to be completed, and urged the government to take tough measures in order to protect existing resources. There should be a limit on the number of wells opened, he urged. Apart from this, meters should be put on wells to limit the amount used. The municipalities should not plant exotic plants which need a lot of water- they should plant local plants which can withstand drought. In addition, the government should identify those agricultural products that are marketable, and the water should be used on them.
