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The water sector has recently been consolidated by several major operations including the construction of infrastructure that would help to remedy the acute water stress that has affected, since the beginning of summer, many municipalities in the wilaya of Béjaïa and, exceptionally, those located in the Soummam valley.
Localities have repeatedly expressed their needs in this area. In addition to the seawater desalination plant which should produce 300,000 M3 per day of drinking water and which should, at least, supply four or five surrounding wilayas upon its delivery at the beginning of 2025, 100 boreholes have been drilled in the last two years, half of which have been rehabilitated, another program is being initiated this year where more than 25 other boreholes are being drilled as part of the emergency program initiated by the wilaya since the beginning of summer.
This program concerns several municipalities including those in the Soummam valley which are facing very serious water stress.
This is how the wali of Béjaïa Mr. Kamel-Eddine Karbouche put into service at the beginning of the current week a water treatment plant (WTP) located at the place called Ikoukar, commune Aït R’zine, daïra of Ighil-Ali. With a capacity of 50,000 M3/day, the water infrastructure should treat the water from the Tich-Haf dam and gradually supply six communes of the upper Soummam, namely, Tazmalt, Ighil-Ali, Boudjellil, Aït R’zine, Ighram and Béni M’likèche.
Municipalities, totally, deprived for the most part and suffering, entirely, from the lack of drinking water due to the drought that has affected the region following the glaring lack of rainfall over the last fifteen years. The populations of these regions have been feeding themselves in summer, by means of tanker trucks for many years.
Since the beginning of the current month, water has only been flowing through the taps once a week and sometimes once a fortnight (this is the case in Tazmalt, Béni M’lickeche and Aït R’zine). Recurring breakdowns are often recorded at the equipment level.
Add to this, the degradation of the drinking water supply networks (the case of Tazmalt) built almost 40 years ago, networks requiring a renewal operation over several hundred meters, not to say more. Mr. Karbouche also inspected during his outing the construction work of the wastewater treatment plant of the commune of Akbou during which he expressed his annoyance with regard to the delay in the progress of the work on the site.
He called on the company in charge of building this infrastructure to “speed up the work and make more efforts to deliver this infrastructure as soon as possible, whose treatment capacity is 16,000 M3/day. As a reminder, the head of the wilaya had also commissioned a new water treatment plant in Sidi-Aïch just three weeks ago. Which should also supply several municipalities including Sidi-Aïch, Timezrit and Sidi-Ayad. It was also a question of consolidating the drinking water supply in these regions which have suffered from a shortage for several years. A borehole was also commissioned on the occasion, which would provide sufficient water to homes. According to the wilaya, “these projects are part of the program initiated by the wilaya on the instructions of the President of the Republic.”
“Instructions were given to the director of hydraulics and the director of Algerian water to ensure that disruption in the supply and distribution of drinking water during the summer season is avoided,” the same source stressed. And to do this, a listening and monitoring cell was recently set up to more closely monitor the situation and the drinking water supply and distribution program across the wilaya.
It is also a question of “intervening to respond to citizens’ grievances in the event of a water shortage,” the same source emphasizes. Two telephone numbers have been made available to citizens who could make their complaints. “The grievances expressed will be recorded by the members of the cell who will intervene quickly to deal with them,” the wilaya affirms.
“This unit is composed of the directors of water resources and the Algerian Water Agency, the director of the National Sanitation Office (ONA) and the DOPS,” the same source added. As a reminder, the company “Danone Algeria”, specializing in the processing of dairy products and derivatives, had put into service, on the occasion of World Environment Day, on June 5, its own polluted water treatment plant (STEP).
Located in the Taharacht industrial zone, this plant, which can be expanded to 2,000 m3 per day, should treat 1,200 m3 of polluted industrial water. It is equipped with a high-performance treatment system, according to the strictest environmental standards with an efficiency of 99%.