During a visit he made on Tuesday, December 9, 2024, to the seawater desalination station in the Zarat region in Gabès, the Secretary of State in charge of water resources, Ridha Gabouj, insisted on the completion of the work on the last phase of this station as quickly as possible.
This project, which will benefit nearly 1.1 million inhabitants, is part of the strategic program of the National Water Exploitation and Distribution Company (Sonede). It aims to improve and secure water resources in southeastern Tunisia until 2035.
The project will help meet the additional demand for water and improve its quality in the South-Eastern governorates, as well as avoid the shortage of water resources recorded in recent years, particularly during peak summer periods.
The daily production capacity of the Zarat seawater desalination plant is estimated at 50,000 cubic meters (m3), expandable to 100,000 m3. It will help meet the increased demand for water, improve its quality and avoid the shortage of drinking water recorded in recent years during peak summer periods in the region. It will benefit residents in the governorates of Gabès, Médenine and Tataouine. And is part of the strategic program for the development and security of water resources in the South-East region, by 2035, through the strengthening of the drinking water supply system.
In a Tunisia lacking rain, desalinating seawater has become essential, in addition to an increasing use of recycling of wastewater in agriculture.
If the Maghreb countries risk falling by 2030 below the threshold of ” absolute shortage ” of water (500 m3 per year per inhabitant), according to the World Bank, Morocco is already at 600 m3 and Tunisia at less than 400, while the filling rate of the dams is below 30%. Hence the urgency to accelerate the completion of seawater desalination projects currently underway, including that of Zarat, which has experienced some delay.
The implementation of this project was awarded by the Tunisian Water Exploitation and Distribution Company (Sonede) to the Indian multinational group Va Tech Wabag in November 2018 for a completion period of 27 months, and an additional 12 for implementation. and initial maintenance.
