SYRTE TERMINAL STORAGE RESERVOIR (RÉSERVOIR DE LA GRANDE RIVIÈRE ARTIFICIELLE)

At 5 km after the roundabout at the exit of the city in the direction of Benghazi, we must not miss to go to the giant open water reservoir open from the Artificial Grand River (we see it from the road, but the entrance and access path are 2 km further on the right). It is a real artificial lake with a capacity of 6,8 million cubic metres of water. The water of the Great Artificial River is distributed here between Sirte and Benghazi. It arrives from the main reservoir of Ajdabiya, after a journey of nearly 2 000 km in concrete concrete ducts 4 m in diameter from the wells of Sarir and those of Tazirbou in the desert in the south-east of the country. The Sirte reservoir was inaugurated in 1993 at the end of Phase I of the Great Artificial River project. A very clear map of the river is located on the bank of this reservoir that resembles a lake. Two years ago, we arrived at the reservoir after being moved not far from the village of technicians and engineers supervising Phase III of the Great Artificial River project, which consisted of connecting Phases I (to the east of the country) and II (to the west) (see box «La Grande Rivière Artificial» in the chapter «Economics»).

The countryside around Sirte is littered with new wells for irrigation of fields with the waters of the Great Artificial River. It is therefore developing an agricultural sector created by any room in this arid area of the sea where the Bedouin pastoralism was traditional activity. The pivotal ramps, which were the spearhead of the Saharan agriculture in Kufra or in the Fezzan, are now in the new countryside in Sirte extending between the Sea and the Littoral road.