Turkey’s ambitious water project, the value of which, according to preliminary data, will be equal to one billion Turkish liras, will enable Turkey to sell water to Northern Cyprus, and in the case of successful solutions of peace talks on the reunification of the island, to Southern Cyprus as well. The project uses experimental pipe delivered to Turkey and Northern Cyprus (Famagusta port), from Hong Kong, and the pipeline project of this scale will be the first in the world.
Currently the pipeline is under construction and if everything goes according to schedule, water delivery will start in 2014.
The underwater part of the pipeline is 80 kilometers long and was made of high density polyethylene , will pass through a channel of depth 1,430 meters, but the pipes will be at a depth of 250 meters below the water surface . Engineering department working on the project has provided the risks associated with possible earthquakes.
During a year through the pipeline 75 million cubic meters of water will be delivered. The relevant agreement was signed for a period of 30 years, with a possible extension. The water will be collected in Turkey in the dam Alakopru, transported via an undersea pipeline and stored in a tank in Gecitkoy , near the town of Girne ( Kyrenia) .
And on the South and on the North side of Cyprus increase in the population is marked, as well as climate change that is happening in this part of the Mediterranean Sea. Precipitation, for example, fell by more than a quarter over the past 96 years.
It is expected that the project will be able to solve the water problem of Cyprus. The Governments of Turkey and Northern Cyprus stress that water can be transported also to Southern Cyprus, if negotiations will reach solution to the issue of uniting the island of Cyprus and the peaceful coexistence of the two communities.