Households now need a supply of bottled water to wash, use toilets and prepare meals during late night hours. The Sidi Salem dam in northwest Tunisia provides tap water to Tunis and along the Tunisian Sahel, including cities like Sfax, as well as water for irrigation around Tunis. Then came the water rationing order, a baptism by fire for many citizens, which coincided with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan where people gather to break their fasts with large feasts and gatherings and water use is normally intense. Radhia Essamin, from the Tunisian Water Observatory, said the decision to cut the water supply was not surprising, given the country’s worrisome water shortage. Before taking any measures, the citizen must be ... made aware of the importance of water rationing,” she said.

Source: The North Africa Journal April 19, 2023 07:51 UTC