Tunis, June 9 (TAP) - Prime Minister Sarra Zaafrani Zenzri stressed on Tuesday, while chairing a small cabinet meeting on the water system at the Government Palace in Kasbah, that the governance and reform of the water sector are among the national priorities on which the state is working in accordance with the directives of the President of the Republic.

She stressed that the governance of the water sector would enshrine the constitutional right to drinking water for all citizens on an equal footing and preserve water wealth in a manner that guarantees water security for future generations, according to a statement issued by the Prime Ministry.

Zenzri affirmed the strategic importance of the water system as a fundamental pillar for achieving water sovereignty, ensuring national security and achieving food security, especially in light of the climate challenges facing the entire world.

She pointed out that work is underway to develop legislation aimed at ensuring improved management, preservation, valorisation and protection of water resources for future generations.

She affirmed that the state is paying special attention to the maintenance of water facilities and systems to ensure their readiness to provide a regular supply of drinking water to all citizens throughout all regions of the country continuously and year-round and to avoid sudden water cuts.

Zenzri noted that the state is working to diversify water sources through the mobilisation of non-conventional water resources, alongside the implementation of major public projects in the field of water resource mobilisation, including the development of water transfer infrastructure, improving the performance of distribution networks, extending and rehabilitating drinking water supply systems in urban areas and developing sanitation and treatment services.

This is with a strategic orientation towards alternative energies as an option to control the cost of producing and transporting drinking water, she added.

For his part, Minister of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries Ezzeddine Ben Cheikh and Secretary of State to the Minister of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries in charge of Water Hamadi Habaieb presented during the meeting a detailed and comprehensive presentation on the current state of water resources, dam reserves, the plan to secure drinking water supply for this summer, the current situation of irrigation water, future programmes and orientations in the field of valorising non-conventional water resources.

According to the statement, the emergency programme to secure drinking water supply during this summer includes 81 projects, including 35 ongoing projects at a cost of 58 million dinars.

The programme includes the drilling and connection of 38 deep wells to strengthen water resources, the maintenance and renewal of 26 pumping stations, interventions in 22 projects to renew and reinforce networks, in addition to interventions according to water systems in many regions across all governorates. Several central working teams have also been established in coordination with the regional agricultural development authorities to ensure continuous monitoring and guarantee the supply of drinking water to all citizens throughout the country's regions.

The announced programme also includes accelerating the completion of 187 water systems benefiting 248,000 inhabitants at a cost of 147 million dinars, including improving the performance of 74 water systems benefiting 113,000 inhabitants, restarting 38 water systems benefiting 20,000 inhabitants, completing 6 deep wells that will enter service in the central and southern governorates, replacing 10 deep wells in several governorates, maintaining pumping stations and networks, acquiring backup equipment, and providing 20 tanker trucks equipped for rugged mountainous areas.

Regarding irrigation water, data were presented on the plan to secure irrigation water supply for the current year according to the dam system and its distribution by governorate, ahead of the agricultural season, while stressing the need to rationalise the use of irrigation water in all regions.

The meeting also reviewed the main programmes aimed at developing the reality and prospects of the drinking water and irrigation water sectors, stemming from the strategic water study by 2050 and the proposed programmes for the 2026–2030 period.

This strategy is based on four main axes comprising 43 programmes, including 1,200 measures and investments worth 74.515 billion dinars, of which 53% is allocated to programmes for the valorisation of non-conventional water resources and the implementation of a number of priority projects for mobilising water resources.

It also provides for improving the efficiency of drinking water and irrigation networks, valorising non-conventional water resources, developing and preserving agricultural land, promoting rainwater harvesting and adopting renewable energies.

This strategy is based on a shift towards alternative energies as an option to control the cost of producing and transporting drinking water through the continued implementation of the 2026–2035 energy transition programme, as well as through energy audits, the rehabilitation of pumping stations and smart networks and the production of solar power plants with a capacity of 225 megawatts.

The strategy also relies on energy governance aimed at ensuring that energy costs do not exceed 17% of the cost of water production and distribution by 2030, compared with 27% of those costs in 2025.

The cabinet meeting discussed innovative technologies that will be adopted for the mobilisation and management of water resources, most notably the creation of a digital platform to assist decision-making for the real-time management of developed water resources, through the collection of hydrological data from various sources (rainfall, runoff, dam reserves, transfers and exploitation).

Work is also underway on a digital platform dedicated to authorisations for managing the public water domain, in order to strengthen governance in the water sector and bring administrative services related to permits for exploiting the public water domain closer to applicants.

This is while simplifying procedures by reducing the number of stakeholders involved in the process of authorising groundwater exploration and prospecting, and encouraging applicants to obtain permits rather than resorting to random drilling, thereby supporting transparency and integrity in service delivery and promoting investment.

During the same meeting, the updating of the bioclimatic zones map was discussed. This will make it possible to update the agricultural map and determine the geographical areas for establishing crops according to the updated zones and reducing evaporation.

In this context, a pilot experiment will be carried out on water bodies in the laboratories of the Tunisia Water Technology Centre, along with an action plan for experimentation on Kamech lake in the governorate of Nabeul, cloud seeding and floating photovoltaic panels.

The cabinet meeting adopted a set of measures aimed at implementing the programmes and orientations in the field of drinking water.

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