Large part of Algeria consists of an arid to semi-arid environment, where renewable water resources are very scarce. The per capita ratio does not exceed 600m3 per year and consequently, the country is structurally in a situation of water stress.

Good management of the scarce water resources is therefore pivotal and entails also saving domestic water use in households. The EU funded, “Water and Environment Project (WES)”, will therefore support l’Algérienne des Eaux (ADE) in proposing measures to save domestic water and to help raising awareness on the use of the scarce water resources of Algeria.

According to Professor Michael Scoullos, Team Leader of WES “good management of the scarce water resources is crucial and it is good practice to save water in households.  This WES activity will therefore propose various measures to save water and will help raising awareness on water consumption.”

During the kick off meeting, which was held online with different WES experts and representatives of ADE and the Ministry of Water Resources, Mr. Farid Kardache of AdE from the Tizi Ouzou zone,  explained that this project will be carried out in the pilot zone of Wilaya de Bejaia, in the city of Remala, which has over 10.000 inhabitants. This pilot zone was chosen as it is a domestic area characterised by different types of villas, houses and other buildings. Especially in the summer, interruptions in the water supply are frequently occurring.

The project will conduct a survey among various households in Remala to obtain a better idea about how, and for what purposes, water is consumed in the households. It will furthermore try to establish the attitude of the inhabitants  towards water saving measures. Matthew Bullock, an international expert leading this activity, emphasized that from the survey we also want to find out what percentage of water consumption is currently used as drinking water, as most water consumed in the households is used for purposes like washing and laundry.

With the results of the survey, WES will propose different measures for efficient water use and water saving and it will raise awareness of the households on their role in proper water management by adopting water saving measures. This activity is the second project that WES is implementing in Algeria. In another zone of Tizi Ouzou, WES  is currently supporting ADE in carrying out a diagnosis of the performance of non-revenue water in order to strengthen the capacity of the public water service to reduce water losses.