A package of procedures and legislation to protect “water security” in Tunisia

Ahmed Murad (Tunisia, Cairo)

Tunisia is witnessing vigorous efforts to protect “water security” through a package of measures and legislation to confront the sharp decline in water resources resulting from climate change and the drought that has struck it in recent years.
In the coming days, the Tunisian Parliament is scheduled to approve a package of decisions and legislation regulating the exploitation of water resources in the country, including valuing ground resources and giving priority to their exploitation of drinking water, preventing the export of water-consuming fruits, and encouraging a building model that takes into account the presence of a network for collecting renewable water in the country. roofs, and encourage farmers and home consumers to employ modern technologies to save water.
Tunisian activist, Suhaib Al-Mazriqi, explained that Tunisia is witnessing a major water crisis resulting from the decline in the amount of rain and the near-emptiness that valleys, dams and wells are suffering from, which has led the authorities to take strict measures to reduce the rate of water wastage and rationalize consumption, in addition to many other measures.
Tunisia has allocated large allocations in the 2024 budget for investment in the water sector, the completion of seawater desalination plants in Sfax and Gabes, the construction of a number of new dams to benefit from rainwater, the development of used water treatment technologies, and the implementation of a program to transfer surplus water from the north of the country to the central cities. .
Al-Mazriqi stated in a statement to Al-Ittihad that the water situation in Tunisia requires declaring a state of “water emergency” and drawing up a long-term water strategy, while tightening measures to rationalize consumption and reduce the amount of wasted water, which was embodied in the vision recently presented by the Deanship of Engineers. » With the aim of reducing water use.
Some estimates indicate that dams lose about 20% of their storage capacity due to sedimentation and poor maintenance. The volume of water wasted from the “Sidi Buraq” dam from its construction in 2002 to 2016 amounted to about 3.5 billion cubic meters, and it is considered one of the most important Tunisian dams.
For his part, Tunisian writer and analyst, Bassam Hamdi, explained that climate changes and the decrease in rainfall in recent years have caused a significant decline in water resources.
In light of the state of drought that the country is suffering from, the government approved a number of measures related to the management of potable water, including distributing water according to circulation in many points, reducing consumption hours, especially in the summer, and preventing farmers and workers in the industrial sectors from using potable water for activities. Agricultural and industrial.
In a statement to Al-Ittihad, Hamdi downplayed the usefulness of these measures, and considered them “temporary and patchwork” and insufficient, and would not be effective or beneficial if the drought wave continued and the rainfall rate continued to decline. He believed that Tunisia was too late in taking serious and important measures to protect its water security. Such as clearing dams that were filled with a large amount of mud and sediment, making them unable to absorb large amounts of rainwater.
He said that Tunisia, during the “Black Brotherhood Decade,” suffered from the spread of corruption in state institutions, which embodied the sorry state in which water dams appeared, in addition to the lack of interest in seawater desalination projects, which is the most appropriate and most important solution, especially for some industrial sectors and sectors that need to water on a daily basis.