An ambitious pipeline project linking reservoirs in Turkey to the parched, isolated Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is on track to bring much needed drinking water to the island by year’s end. Engineers behind the Baris Su (“Peace Water”) project said earlier this month they passed the halfway point on the 66-mile undersea pipeline, and could be delivering fresh water from Turkey to Turkish Cypriots for drinking and agricultural development by the end of the year. When completed, the $500 million-plus pipeline is projected to deliver some 19.8 billion gallons of water annually and give the ethnic Turkish enclave significant new economic and political leverage in the standoff with the majority Greek Cypriot community that has kept the Mediterranean island divided for four decades. Turkish officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who visited the island this month, say they hope the prospect of a reliable water source will spur the local economy and give fresh impetus to reconciliation talks between the two communities. Mr. Erdogan told Turkish Cypriot leaders the water could be used by both the Greek and Turkish communities, but only “as long as [Greek Cypriots] take the hand of peace we are offering.” Water is a constant concern for the island, which has intensified desalination and conservation efforts in recent years to compensate. The Cyprus News Agency reported in August that the island’s reservoirs were at only 37 percent capacity, down from 73 percent a year earlier. The Baris Su pipeline is designed to meet the Turkish Republic’s drinking and irrigation needs through at least 2040. “Water is like oil and gas for the region,” Veysel Ayhan, director of the International Middle East Peace Research Center, an Ankara think tank, told the online regional news service Al Monitor.