ABB is providing a complete power, automation and mechanical solution for a large water transfer project in a remote and rainless region of the Sahara Desert.

The project will pump and store water from deep underground, ready for transfer to a city of 115,000 people that is 750 kilometers away.

Currently under construction and scheduled for completion in 2011, the Réseau de Collecte water transfer scheme in Algeria is one of the biggest water projects ever undertaken in the Sahara region one of the hottest and driest places on Earth, where temperatures can reach 50 degrees Celsius.

About 90% of Algeria’s 35 million population lives on the northern coastal belt close to the Mediterranean Sea, but several million live inland in oasis towns and cities, where rainfall is rare and water resources are limited.