Work on the Mellegue upper mega-dam, located in the north of the Kef governorate, has progressed by 87%, according to figures provided by the supervisors of a structural project that will replace the current Mellegue dam.
Completion is scheduled for the end of December 2025, at a cost of 200 million dinars.
Once completed, the upper Mellegue mega-dam will help to water the adjoining irrigation areas, not forgetting its role in generating electricity and protecting against flooding.
Considered to be a major achievement in the sequence of hydraulic structures in the country, the planned dam will rank third nationally in terms of storage capacity, estimated at around 193 million m3, and will thus play a major role in supplying drinking water to the various delegations in the region.
A magnet for jobs
The Mellegue dam is not only the largest water conservation project under construction in Tunisia, but also a magnet for local workers.
At present, almost 300 Tunisians are employed to work on the project, which has partly eased the employment pressure in the governorate.
The Chinese have taught their Tunisian colleagues the techniques of operating the experimental equipment, which has improved their work skills and job competitiveness.
According to a recent report by the World Resources Institute, Tunisia ranks 30th among countries facing a high level of water stress. The Tunisian government is paying close attention to water conservation projects, in particular the construction of the Mellegue dam.
Filling rate of dams: An alarming decline
The filling rate of all Tunisian dams had fallen further to 20.8% by October 23, 2024, according to the latest data published on Wednesday by the National Agriculture Observatory (ONAGRI).
Water reserves in these dams fell by 12.1% to just 489.037 million m3, compared with 556.437 million m3 a year earlier.
Compared with the average for the last three years, the decline is all the more alarming at 21%.
However, it should be pointed out that the filling rate varies from one region to another. Dams in the north have a filling rate of 24.3%.
These dams account for 91% of the water reserves available in all the country’s dams. The two dams at Sidi SaIem and Sidi Barrak contain 35% of the country’s total water reserves.
As for the Centre and Cap-Bon dams, their filling levels were limited to 8.8% and 5.6% respectively.
With the exception of the Masri dam, all the Cap Bon dams are virtually empty, namely those of Bezirk, Chiba, Lebna, Hma and Abid.
Still according to the ONAGRI data, water inflows into the dams recorded on October 23, 2024 amounted to 8.850 million m3, of which almost 7 million m3 came from the dams in the Center and around 1.6 million m3 were supplied by the dams in the North.
The total use of water from dams on October 23 was 1.537 million m3.