Tunisia: Water stored in dams down by 20.3% to 694.276mln m3

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Tunisia - Water stored in dams fell by 20.3% (-176,949 m3) to 694.276 million cubic metres (m3) on August 24, compared with an average of 871.224 million m3 over the last three years, according to the National Agricultural Observatory (ONAGRI).

The distribution of this stock among the main dams shows that the Sidi Salem dam holds the most water at the moment (198.857 million m3, 34% full), followed by the Sejnane (65.102 million m3, 49% full), Saad (34.459 million m3, 26% full) and Bouhertma (24.492 million m3, 22% full) dams, according to the water situation indicators published by the Observatory.

The remaining stored water are distributed among the Mellègue (14.825 million m3), Joumine (13.667 million m3), Bir Mcherga (10.655 million m3), Siliana (6.487 million m3), El Haouareb (1.115 million m3) and El Hma (0.002 million m3) dams.

Dams' fill rate had reached 36.6%, as of 10 August 2023. During the current season, the total inflow to the dams is in the order of 690.876 million m3, compared to an average for the period of 1,804.629 million m3, i.e. a decrease of -1.113.753 million m3.

The total use of water from dams on August 24 was 2.950 million m3, mainly from dams in the north (2.927 million m3) and the rest from dams in the centre (0.014 million m3) and Cap Bon (0.005 million m3).

Finally, the total water supply to Lake Ichkeul for the current season is 2.209 million m3, compared with a total of 0.569 million m3 for the same date last season.