7/6/2023 0 Comments Fresh download link![]() ![]() The state urgently needs to publish an agricultural map and show our priorities for irrigation." "We export our water in the form of agricultural products, but this water must be directed to our food sovereignty. "As soon as there is a drought, citizens are the first to be affected by the cuts, even though 70% of the water is used for irrigation." Essamin points to water-intensive crops such as citrus fruits and tomatoes. In 2022, it collected 2,299 alerts, more than 70% of which were related to water shutoffs.īut the quotas and cuts decided by the authorities may not have the desired effect. One of the projects of her organization is an interactive map allowing citizens to report a shutoff, degradation of water quality or a protest related to this resource. This is "particularly the case in the south and inland regions where outages can last several days," Essamin noted. While rationing is currently causing concern in the capital, it is already widespread in several regions of the country. ![]() The Ministry of Agriculture was contacted several times by Le Monde, but has not responded to requests for interviews. In a report published in 2020, the Ministry of Agriculture estimated that nearly 32% of water was lost on the Sonede network and some 40% on irrigation networks due to "the dilapidated state of the infrastructure and lack of maintenance." "This is bad governance and the state must take urgent action," Essamin demanded. "There are leaks that no one cares about, and as soon as there is a drought, citizens are the first to be affected by cuts." "There has been a lack of strategic vision for years," the researcher lamented. This opinion is shared by Radhia Essamin, a doctor in hydrogeology and a member of the Tunisian Water Observatory, a civil society organization. It's also a management issue," Gammar commented. But "that used to happen and we still had water. In 2022, the country experienced the driest fall since 1950 after one of the hottest summers on record. The 40-year-old farmer and campground manager is watching the weather. 'The dilapidated state of the infrastructure' I've never seen anything like it," said Anis Gammar, walking carefully. "Do you see the grove up there? The water used to come up to the lower edge of that, and where we are now there was 5 to 6 meters of water. The bowl looks like a bathtub that has been drained. On the banks of the reservoir, the usual deep blue of the water has been replaced by the color of dust. At the beginning of spring, its level had fallen to a historic low of 16%. This concrete megastructure, built at the start of the 1980s, was constructed on the Medjerda river, which rises in the Algerian Atlas mountains and flows into the Mediterranean north of the Tunisian capital. Located 70 kilometers from Mégrine and Bin Brahim's faucet, the Sidi Salem dam held what used to be the largest reserve of fresh water in Tunisia. According to the company, these rationing measures are justified by the low levels – no more than 30% on average – of the country's 30 or so dams. Responding "to the imbalance between supply and demand (.) because of the shortage of water resources and the persistence of drought for consecutive years," the National Company for the Exploitation and Distribution of Water (Sonede) introduced a widespread system of quotas and cuts on March 31. Greater Tunis is not the only region to be impacted by rationing. It's more than enough," said the retired tourism worker, who lives with his wife, children and mother-in-law. "We got into the habit of putting a bucket in the toilet that I fill in the afternoon, and we each get aīottle for the night. Rationing has been going on for weeks, but Chiheb Bin Brahim and his family have come to terms with it. There is no water at night now in Mégrine, a southern suburb of Tunis. The Sidi Salem dam, the largest in Tunisia, reached a historic low of 16% in the spring of 2023. Levels are low in the country's 30 or so dams, resulting in the introduction of a system of quotas and water shutoffs.īy Nissim Gasteli Published on May 9, 2023, at 1:24 am (Paris), updated on May 9, 2023, at 2:49 am Tunisia's fresh water reserves are dwindling, leading to rationing ![]()
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