Tunisia is in a precarious water situation, with only 420 cubic meters of water per inhabitant per year, a very dangerous situation, according to the president of the Federation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, Chekib Ben Mustapha.
Speaking on the ‘EcoMag’ program on Express FM, he pointed out that there is a disparity between Tunisia’s regions in terms of water availability.
In the north, it is between 400 and 1000 mm per year, while in the centre it varies between 200 and 400 mm per year and in the south it is less than 100 mm per year, according to recent statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture.
In the last ten years, Tunisia has experienced eight years of drought,” recalls Ben Mustapha, adding that “there are 36 billion cubic meters of water per year, of which 13% is used for drinking water, 17% for rained agriculture and 18% for forestry, while 55% evaporates or runs off into the valleys…”
Out of a total of 36 billion cubic meters of water, about 5,000 cubic meters are used for basic consumption, he added, noting that 56% of this water comes from surface water, while the rest comes from groundwater.
Since independence, the Tunisian government has developed programs and projects, including seawater desalination, to alleviate Tunisia’s water shortage.
The President of the Union of Small and Medium Enterprises said that surface water with a salinity of less than 1.5 grams per liter (g/l) is “drinking water” and that most groundwater is between 1.5 and 3 g/l, noting that 75% of water is used mainly for agriculture, while the industrial sector uses 8%.
