Azerbaijan Opens 265km Water Pipeline

The 2m diameter pipeline is made from glass reinforced plastic (GRP), similar to fibreglass. For the last four years, the pipes have been produced locally by the 1500-employee company Azkompozit in a refurbished Soviet-era factory.

Because of the 410m elevation difference between the source and Baku, no pumping is needed to move water through the system. The steep gradient, however, requires that pressure reduction stations be placed along the pipeline to keep the joints from bursting.

The project, completed in just three years and financed from oil revenues, is the world's largest high-pressure water system built with GRP (with the exception of a 55km section where the pressure is too high and steel was used instead). The GRP material was chosen because it can withstand high water pressures and is less corrosive than steel. Installation costs are also lower, because of the material's low density.

"Compared to the Kura water pipeline with the same productivity, energy costs of Oguz-Gabala-Baku water pipeline is almost 7-fold less", said Nizameddin Rzayev, chairman of the Azersu national water operator.

To integrate the pipeline project with the city water network, Baku officials built hundreds of miles of water and sewer lines.

The OGB pipeline continues a tradition of ambitious water engineering projects for Baku. In the early 20th century, the city commissioned a 170km pipeline to deliver water from springs in the Caucasus Mountains. Completed in 1917 and made from porcelain, the Shollar pipeline remained the best source of drinking water for Baku until the new OGB system was inaugurated last week.

The system will not operate at full capacity until February, according to ABC News Azerbaijan. Once it does, however, the fraction of Baku's two million residents supplied continuously with water will rise from 40% to 75%. The remaining quarter of the capital city's population receiving water intermittently will also benefit, with access times doubling.