Drought has plagued Tunisia for the past five years. Studies seem to confirm the persistence of the drought and a significant reduction in rainfall. This prolonged drought naturally affects the availability of water, both for drinking and for irrigation.
The government therefore believes that one of the priorities for the next stage is to “rationalize water consumption and put pressure on demand in all sectors, in addition to the use of non-traditional resources”, including seawater desalination and the reuse of treated wastewater.
To this end, the filling rate of Tunisia’s dams has continued to fall. According to the National Observatory for Agriculture (ONAGRI), it reached 22.8% on September 16, compared with 23.1% four days earlier.
The filling rate of all the country’s dams has fallen to this level, with water reserves in Tunisian reservoirs reaching 535.54 million m3 compared with 685.13 million m3, the average for the last three years.
Uses and withdrawals
It should be noted that the level of dams was 34.8% on May 6 before falling to 23.2% on August 27 and 23.1% on September 12, making the water situation in Tunisia critical despite the recent rains.
Compared to last year, the situation is even more worrying. Water reserves have fallen by 132 million cubic meters, from 995.258 million cubic meters to 862.502 million cubic meters.
Total dam reserves are around 3.2 million cubic meters, concentrated mainly in the dams in the north.
Water use and abstraction totaled 1.2 million cubic meters, underlining the urgent need for more efficient management of this vital resource.
Last year’s low rainfall and repeated droughts are taking their toll on water reserves. The situation is all the more worrying as the summer sucked up large reserves and coincided with a period of high water consumption.
Faced with this worrying situation, it is essential to mobilize all stakeholders to preserve this precious resource.
Measures are needed to raise awareness of the need to use water responsibly, to optimize irrigation systems and to seek alternative solutions.
The situation at the dams is a serious warning. Immediate and concerted action is needed to avoid a water crisis with dramatic consequences. Tunisia’s future depends on the responsible and sustainable management of its water resources.
Current water situation is ‘critical’, according to expert
Houcine Rhili, an expert in development and water resources, has described the current water situation as ‘critical’, pointing out that the filling rate of dams is 25.6%, representing water reserves of around 580 million m3.
Speaking recently on Jawhara fm, he explained that this figure does not represent all the water that can be used, and that with a daily water consumption of 2.3 to 2.4 million m3, it is equivalent to 75 days of consumption, and this is only due to the fact that 14 governorates are supplied by dams, while the rest use groundwater.
