In February 2017, The Libya Observer reported that a team from the French company SIDEM had visited the Tobruk desalination plant. It met the city's water crisis committee, which included mayor Al-Naji Maziq and plant director Fathallah Al-Naas. SIDEM had built the facility in 2000. The committee urged SIDEM to submit its offers quickly, as rival Wabag proposed adding a fourth evaporator unit. The plant had shut down repeatedly in recent years, and Tobruk relied on desalinated water because its groundwater was saline.
The report showed how heavily a coastal city without usable groundwater depended on one ageing desalination plant, and how its original builder and a competitor vied for the upgrade.
Source: The Libya Observer