Cyprus is very weak in terms of water supplies. Almost the entire water demand of the island is met through underground water resources. Water quality in Cyprus is derogating since landfill areas are close to water resources and potable water blends into underground waters and water potential which is already limited is being reduced every other day. Ministry of Forests and Water Affairs has developed numerous projects until now such as convey water with balloons to meet the water demand of TRNC which is experiencing water shortage for years. The most appropriate way to offer a long term solution for the water problem of the foster land is to convey water from Turkey to TRNC. In this context; TRNC Potable Water Supply Project was realized to solve the water problem of TRNC in long term. Within scope of this project, water to be supplied from Alaköprü Dam to be constructed in Turkey will be passed through the sea and conveyed to Geçitköy Dam to be constructed in TRNC. This gigantic project has 3 points as Turkey, sea passage and TRNC.
The most critical point of TRNC Potable Water Supply Project is “sea passage”. Fırat was preferred for this gigantic project due to its advanced engineering knowledge and experience in PE Pipe production, production speed and achievements in the worldwide plastic industry. In this project, Fırat outpaced the world's most important 500 meter solid HDPE Pipe manufacturers since it possesses the capacity to manufacture PE 100 pipes in excess of 80,000 meters in a time as short as one year by itself and became the Pipe Supplier of TRNC Water Supply Project. Having produced 500 meters long solid PE 100 Piping for sea water treatment for two different seas in Libya, Fırat is employing its experience in this project.
Fırat has leased a 85,000 square meters area at Mersin-Taşucu Seka harbor reach and constructed a production plant consisting of 5500 square meters of indoor area. 3 large extrusion lines were established in the plant for PE 100 pipe production. Sea Passage is a unique application in the world with PE 100 pipeline of 80 km and 151 m length laid 250 m under the sea surface supported with a suspension system. Fırat will manufacture a total quantity of 160 pipes with 1600 mm diameter, 500 meters of continuous length with operating pressures of PN 8 and PN 6.4. 25,000 tons of rawmaterial will be used in the project. Production is ongoing at Taşucu Harbor Reach. It is planned to complete the production of 160 pipes until December 31st, 2013.
It will be possible to convey 75 million cubic meters of water to TRNC with this project. When the project is realized, TRNC will have a resource to meet the water demand for a timeframe of 50 years. Potable water, industrial use and irrigation purposes will be possible with the received water and irrigated agriculture to be performed on a land of 4,824 hectares covered by the project will provide extensive contribution for the economic growth of the region. Sharing its everything with the foster land until now, Turkey will this time share its water with this project.
