Water Resource Management Policies in Tunisia: From Supply Management to Territorial Equity

Abstract

Water resources in Tunisia are scarce and unevenly distributed between regions. As well, rainfall varies year-to-year. This study deals with the development of water resource management policies in Tunisia during the last five decades, starting with supply and mobilization management programs that transferred water resources from the interior to the coastal territories where the most important cities are and most economic activity takes place. This policy resulted in the establishment of an interconnected water system that remained in place until the end of the last century. The study also reviews the success of the demand management system the government has been forced by the increase in both urban consumption of water and agricultural needs to adopt. We also review the many challenges that set the current situation apart from previous periods of stress on the system, including high demand, climate change and social movements in the inner cities demanding the right for water, protected in the 2014 Constitution, be respected. The study highlights these challenges and suggests elements for a new resource governance that would draw on the accumulated good governance of the last five decades.