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Tunisia's falling water supplies - 11th August 2023

The World Bank has predicted a serious lack of water across the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) by 2030. Water will fall below the required level per person of 500 cubic metres a year.

Tunisia, now in its fourth year without rainfall, is looking at different options. These include 'desalination' plants, which remove salt, and plants which clean waste water for farming.

Nowadays, Lotfi Atyaoui's farm depends on a processing plant.

Lotfi Atyaoui: "To tell you the truth, we consider this (wastewater treatment) project to be vital because we suffer a lot from drought and lack of water. If we don't have water, we will lose our agriculture, our trees and our livestock."

Tunisia's first desalination plants were built in the 1970s. These improved salty water below ground, and then later – in 2018 – the first seawater desalination plant was developed.

At present, 6 percent of the nation's drinking water is provided by 16 plants. 37 lakes supply the rest of Tunisia's water, but now these are just a third full.

Certain uses, such as car washing, have now been banned by the government. However, the need for more desalination plants is clear.

Unfortunately, these plants generally work on gas, oil or coal, with their negative effect on climate change. SONEDE, the national water company, believes technology can help.

Mosbah Helali: "The drawback is energy consumption, but this is improving. One of the disadvantages is that it uses a lot of energy. We hope that, with technology, this will improve and that, with solar energy, we'll be able to mitigate the impact of energy consumption a bit."

Now, many MENA countries are trying to modernise their water processing plants. These may provide one solution to this urgent problem.