For years now, daily life on the island of Djerba has been punctuated by water cuts. In response to global warming and water stress, the Association Jlij for the Marine Environment has invested in the restoration of fsegui, public water cisterns dating from the colonial era.
As water levels in Tunisia’s dams have fallen, the country itself has fallen below the water poverty line. Water levels in the country’s dams are at a record low in comparison with previous years, at 28.5% of reserve capacity, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Financial Resources. This drop has had a direct impact on agricultural activities and contributed to soaring prices, while also causing interruptions in the supply of water used for irrigation and human consumption.
Farmers have been ruined, lands abandoned. Agricultural zones that were still flourishing just five years ago have since dried up. Water scarcity caused by climate change and rising temperatures has a direct impact to bear on Tunisia’s food security—far more than the conflict in Ukraine. Report.
The article presents the situation in Kasserine, but in fact the water problem and challenges are common in most of the countries in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region. Water scarcity is one of the most urgent issues and binding constraints for food security and agricultural development in these countries. Let us look at some striking numbers published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO):
After Kairouan in the center of the country and Sejnane in the north, we set out for Kasserine, where the rate of access to potable water for the majority of delegations throughout the governorate is less than the national average, a fact which exacerbates the plight of vulnerable and poor segments of the population with limited access to potable water at best, and nothing more than contaminated drinking water at worst.
A Google Web search on «l’eau + Kairouan» produces a disconcerting variety of reports on the magnificent Aghlabid basins, the conqueror Okba’s recovery of a lost golden cup («When picking the cup up, water sprang from the ground») and the stoppage of running water to the Haffouz delegation of Kairouan, so that one is left confusedly marveling at the graceful aesthetic and functional design of the region’s ancient water source and wondering how residents of such parched lands have survived the summer months without the potable running water to which they are accustomed.
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