The current fill rate of dams has reached 37 percent of the total national capacities of storage, with a quantity equivalent to 2.1 billion cubic meters, according to the Inspector General of the Ministry of Water Resources and Water Security Omar Bougueroua.
Being the guest of the National Radio Forum, Mr. Bougueroua, indicated that this percentage is “insufficient” compared to the available storage capacities of 9 billion cubic meters.
Algeria currently has 75 dams under operation, 5 other dams that will enter soon into service, as well as 5 dams under construction, adds Mr. Bougueroua.
He also stated that a program has been drawn up with the aim to reaching 12 billion cubic meters of stored water in the medium term, by adapting to climate changes using unconventional permanent water, which mainly depends on water produced from seawater desalination plants and wastewater treatment.
In this context, Mr. Bougueroua pointed out that the western regions of the country record a greater deficit in water resources due to the lack of rainfall compared to the eastern provinces, which pushed the sector turn towards major diversions and linking dams located on the coastal strip to create strategic reserves for the need and good management of this water through rationalized consumption.
Mr. Bougueroua also indicated that dams represent only 33 percent of the water resources produced at the national level, compared to 50 percent of groundwater and 17 percent resulting from treatment and purification plants, explaining that the provinces that were linked to dams during the past two years were the ones that experienced a greater deficit in water resources in light of the scarcity of rain.
To face up to this situation, an urgent program was prepared by the sector with the aim of drilling wells and completing seawater desalination plants and waste water treatment plants to cover the coastal regions and reach the borders of the areas of the high plateaus that witness a low percentage of rainfall and a shortage in terms of other water resources.
