READING EXERCISE

Read the following article and underline SIMPLE PRESENT sentences or questions.

The Great Man-Made River Project Water is a scarce and precious commodity in much of the world, and desert countries like Libya face serious problems finding enough fresh water. As populations rise and industrialisation increases, the demand for water escalates and long-term solutions need to be found. In the early 1980s it became clear to the Libyan government that something dramatic had to be done. Most of the population lived on the coast and relied on water from aquifers (natural underground water deposits). But these aquifers had become contaminated with sea water, and the water supply in some cities, including Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city, was undrinkable. The government considered various options, including desalination and piping water in from Europe. Oil exploration had already revealed that there were vast aquifers beneath Libya’s deserts, but these were far from where people lived. Economists looked into the feasibility of piping this water to the coast, and decided that this was by far the cheapest option. The Great Man-Made River Project was inaugurated in August 1984, when Colonel Gaddafi laid the foundation stone for a pipe-manufacturing factory. The Great Man-Made River Project is in fact a network of pipelines, being constructed in a series of phases, which will take water from the desert aquifers to the coastal cities, and eventually to irrigate agricultural land. Phase I, transporting much-needed fresh water to Benghazi, was completed in 1993. Three years later Phase II began supplying water to the capital Tripoli. Phase III will link the pipelines in Phases I and II, and is still under construction. A further two phases will complete the network. The scale of the project is impressive. As well as the 4-metre diameter pipes which carry the water throughout the network, the project requires huge reservoirs and holding tanks, new wells, pumping stations and chlorination plants to be constructed. Roads have been built alongside the pipeline trenches to allow trucks to deliver the pipes. When the project began, Libya did not have the engineering experience required for such a vast undertaking, and relied on experts from a number of foreign countries. Now parts of the project, such as the factory which manufactures the pipes, are run completely by Libyans, and Libya is a world leader in hydrological engineering. Phases I and II have already transformed the lives of people who for the first time have access to fresh water. But perhaps the most ambitious aspect of the project is the plan to use water for agriculture. Libya hopes to be able to end its dependence on imports for crops such as wheat and oats by irrigating 130,000 hectares of land for farming. In some of the coastal areas the soil is very fertile.  Eventually, it hopes to start exporting crops to Europe and the Middle East. http://www.britishcouncil.org/professionals-specialisms-engineering-construction-2.htm