The challenges and successes of Algeria's water supply industry

Water management is a major challenge for Algeria, as both the need for drinking water, and the consistent spells of drought, make the process a race against time. To confront this challenge, the country relies on its desalination plants and its dams.

In the region of Tipaza, Kef Eddir is one of the 81 large dams in Algeria, where four new dams bring the storage capacity to 9 billion cubic meters. Dozens of other similar projects are planned in the country, which has just experienced three of the driest summers in its history.

"The interannual storage of water will of course enable us, first of all, to meet the population's drinking water supply needs. But also the development of agriculture, and in turn food security. We also have the use of water for industrial purposes,” says Nadia Ouchar, central director of the National Agency for Dams and Transfers (ANBT).

This dam has a strategic role in supplying three wilayahs (regions) with drinking water – Tipaza and its neighbouring wilayahs of Ain Defla and Chlef.

"Interconnectivity is important for regional balance, for equity in the supply of drinking water to the population, and of course for solidarity between the different regions,” Ouchar adds.

The dam’s reserve lake hopes to soon supply the greater Algiers area – some 150 kilometres away. The first stage of the water supply work consists of large pipes, pumping stations and reservoirs that stretch over dozens of kilometres towards the region's capital, Tipaza. Upon completion, about half a million people will benefit from this regional project.

There are no dams in the very arid south of the country. But the Sahara has some of the largest underground reserves in the world. The inhabitants of Tamanrasset, the big city in the