La priorité du Gouvernement – La Nouvelle République Algérie

The Government’s priority

Improving the supply of drinking water

This Thursday, the Government addressed the question of improving the supply of drinking water, as part of the various measures taken to carry out the instructions of the President of the Republic. The Government also examined the state of implementation implementation of the special program ordered by President Abdelmadjid
Tebboune to mitigate the impacts of the shortage of drinking water and develop water production capacities.
This is an ambitious project aimed at responding sustainably to the needs of citizens and coping with water stress due to drought and climate change.
A week earlier, the Minister of Hydraulics, Taha Derbal, first concerned in the Government by this problem, explained to the deputies, during a plenary session at the National People’s Assembly (APN) devoted to oral questions, the efforts that the Government intends to continue to supply regions and urban centers with high population density with drinking water through the various projects carried out by the State and those in progress, while ensuring the efficiency of these projects in the face of the reduction conventional water resources. These are regions and urban centers suffering from water shortages. The minister stressed that “emergency measures” must be accompanied by a prospective vision of the sector in line with demographic growth, economic growth and the needs of agricultural irrigation. Taha Derbal recalled the sector’s efforts to promote the use of treated wastewater in the agricultural sector.
The national plan aims to achieve the reuse of 60% of treated wastewater annually in the agricultural and industrial fields, in the face of a decline in the mobilization of conventional water due to climate change. In this regard, for example, the Minister of Hydraulics recently inspected projects in Adrar under the National Sanitation Office (ONA), including a construction site for a waste treatment station. wastewater over an area of ​​7 hectares by a national construction company for a budget exceeding 2.4 billion DA, and whose work progress rate has reached a very advanced level.
This project, which should be delivered in November this year, will help preserve the environment and public health by avoiding water-borne diseases, in addition to protecting the region’s groundwater against pollution. It remains to promote the use of treated water produced by the station in the agricultural sector. Regarding the lack of drinking water in the wilaya of Oran, the minister described it as “natural”, because the water supply comes in the majority from desalination stations which sometimes experience shutdowns for maintenance.
With a view to ensuring total supply to the inhabitants of the wilaya and neighboring towns, Taha Derbal recalled the construction of a mega-seawater desalination station in Cap Blanc, the work of which is experiencing “significant progress”, that this structure is part of the national program decided by the President of the Republic to create large desalination stations with a capacity of 300,000 m3/day for each unit.
The day before Eid El-Adha, the Minister of Hydraulics was in Tiaret where he announced the allocation of more than 27 billion dinars to implement urgent projects for the benefit of areas exposed to water stress across the country, in accordance with the directives of the President
Tebboune.
During his supervision of the commissioning of the project to supply the town of Tiaret with water from the Chott Chergui basin, the minister explained to the media that “the walis of the Republic received correspondence on Thursday to contact water resources managers to begin, immediately, the implementation of the submitted projects, which include wells, storage facilities and others to mobilize water resources, provided that the deadlines for completion do not exceed not exceed four months”, affirming in this regard that what was implemented in Tiaret constitutes an example to follow for other regions of the country. He recalled that the President of the Republic has placed the citizen at the top of his priorities, particularly with regard to the water resources sector.
Lakhdar A.