Tunisia has achieved the highest access rates to water supply and sanitation services among the Middle East and North Africa. As of 2011, access to safe drinking water became close to universal approaching 100% in urban areas and 90% in rural areas. Tunisia provides good quality drinking water throughout the year.

Responsibility for the water supply systems in urban areas and large rural centres is assigned to the Sociéte Nationale d'Exploitation et de Distribution des Eaux (SONEDE), a national water supply authority that is an autonomous public entity under the Ministry of Agriculture. Planning, design and supervision of small and medium water supplies in the remaining rural areas are the responsibility of the Direction Générale du Génie Rurale (DGGR).

In 1974, ONAS was established to manage the sanitation sector. Since 1993, ONAS got the status of a main operator for protection of water environment and combating pollution.

The rate of non-revenue water is the lowest in the region at 21% in 2012.

Access In 2015, 98% of Tunisian population had access to "improved water", 100% of the urban population and 93% of the rural population. Subsequently, there were, in 2015, 253 thousand people lacking access to "improved" water. Regarding sanitation, in 2015, 92% of the population had access to "improved" sanitation, 98% and 80%, urban and rural population, respectively. The total number of people that, in 2015, lacked access to "improved" sanitation was around 944 thousand people.WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation

According to the Joint Monitoring Program by WHO and UNICEF, 96% of the Tunisian population had access to an improved water source and 90% to improved sanitation in 2004. Between 1990 and 2011, access to water increased from 81% to 96%, while the access to sanitation increased from 75% to 90%.

Tunisia has achieved the highest access rates to water supply and sanitation services among the MENA countries through sound infrastructure policy. 96% of urban dwellers and 52% of the rural population already have access to improved sanitation. By the end of 2006, access to safe drinking water has been expected to be close to universal (approaching 100% in urban areas and 90% in rural areas).

According to the Tunisian Ministry of Development and International Cooperation, in 2006 92.6% of the population had access to drinking water in homes.Tunisian Ministry of Development and International Cooperation from 2006

Service quality

Continuity of supply Tunis, the capital of Tunisia is able to provide 24-hour water with a supply of 110 litres per capita and day.Original text of article carried in the Times of India on October 27, 2005 entitled “There is a hole in the bucket” by Sumir Lal, Advisor, External Affairs, World Bank The continuity of supply is very good with respect to regional standards as it ensures good quality water throughout the year and has the lowest percentage of non-revenue water in the region. Ministere du Developpement et de la Cooperation Internationale, Banque Mondiale et Programme “Participation Privee dans les infrastructures mediterreeanees”(PPMI):Etude sur la participation privée dans les infrastructures en Tunisie, Volume III, 2004, accessed on March 21, 2010

Drinking water quality Tunisia provides a good drinking water quality throughout the year. The quality of the water supplied by SONEDE and GBRE/ACI in rural areas varies according to local conditions.Welfare Consequences of water supply alternatives in rural Tunisia, Slim Zekri, Ariel Dinar; Ecole Superieur d’Agriculture de Mograne, Tunisia; Rural Développement Department of the World bank, accepted on 14 November 2001(PPMI) Drinking water quality is monitored from production to distribution from bacteriological and physico-chemical quality. The national water distribution utility (SONEDE) and the Ministry of Health undertake this monitoring.

Sewer services The rate of connection to sewerage network in Tunisian urban areas increased from 20.6% in 1975 to 35.9% in 1987, and further up to 81.6% in 2007.Contribution of wastewater treatment to groundwater protection- experiences in Tunisia, Khaled Mehrez, National Sanitation Utility “ONAS”

Wastewater treatment

Since 1960, Tunisia has engaged in studies of the re-use of wastewater. Currently, , planted primarily with orchards and for livestock feed, use treated water for irrigation consistent with national law. The number of waste water treatment plants has gradually risen in the last decade and it is expected to reach 83 in 2006. Currently, 61 wastewater treatment plants are in operation with of wastewater network collecting 178 hm3 (million cubic metres) wastewater.Ministry of Agriculture of Tunisia, 1998 The largest wastewater treatment plant is situated in Choutrana with a daily performance of 120,000 m3.Akissa Bahri, National Institute for Research on Agricultural Engineering, Water and Forestry:Water Reuse in Tunisia: stakes and prospects, Actes de l’atelier du PCSI, Montpellier, France, 28-29 mai 2002, accessed on March 21, 2010

Water resources

Freshwater The annual total volume of exploitable freshwater in Tunisia is about 4670 hm3, out of which about 57% (2700 hm3) is surface water and the remaining 43% (1970 hm3) groundwater.15. Treated Wastewater Use in Tunisia: Lessons learned and the Road Ahead, Shobba Shetty, The World Bank, Jakarta, Indonesia Tunisia is a water stressed country with per capita renewable water availability of 486 m3—well below the average of 1200 m³/capita for the Middle East and North Africa Region (MENA) region. Out of the available surface water resources of 2100 hm3, only about 1220 hm3 are expected to be captured for actual use. Eighteen existing dams, 21 projected dams and 235 hillside dams are expected to augment the available supply but rapid sedimentation of reservoirs will progressively reduce storage capacity and shorten life. Excessive groundwater extraction in the coastal regions of Cap Bon, Soukra and Ariana has resulted in saline intrusion in many areas leading to groundwater being unsuitable for further regions. Only 50% of all water resources have salinity levels lower than 1500 mg/L and can be used without restriction. 84% of all groundwater resources have salinity of more than 1500 mg/L, and 30% of the shallow aquifers more than 4000 mg/L.

Table 1 shows accessible (A) and available water (B) in Tunisia in hm3 per year for different time-horizons Accessible and Available Water in Tunisia|1990201020202030 A B A B A B A B Large Dams 1340 871 1800 1170 1750 1138 1750 138 Hillside Dams and Lakes 65 59 100 50 70 35 50 45 Tubewells and springs 997 997 1250 1150 1250 1000 1250 1000 Open Wells 720 720 720 720 720 620 720 550 Reclaimed Water 120 120 200 200 290 290 340 340 Desalinated Water 7 7 10 10 24 24 49 49 Total 3249 2774 4080 3300 4104 3107 4159 3122

Desalination The government plans to build four seawater desalination plants in Djerba, Kerkennah, Zaarat near Gabes and Sfax. The total installed capacity of the plants is 381,000 cubic meter/day at a cost of 620 million Tunisian Dinar. The capacity of the plants was increased by 50% in 2014 because groundwater availability was less than expected and water demand projections were higher than anticipated in studies conducted in 2006. The tenders for the 50,000 cubic meter/day plant in Djerba financed through a loan by German development bank KfW were opened in April 2014, with an option to increase capacity by another 25,000 cubic meter/day. It still remains to be decided if the large plants in Ziarat and Sfax, with a capacity of 100,000 and 200,000 cubic meter per day respectively, will be financed through loans or by the private sector through Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) contracts. According to SONEDED chief executive Hedi Belhaj desalination plants are designed for peak demand during the two months summer season, while for the rest of the year demand is only a fraction of the installed capacity.

Water use The consumption of water was estimated at more than 2.4 km3 in Tunisia in 2005. Raqya Al Atiri, Diréction générale du génie rural et de l’exploitation des eaux, Ministère de l’Agriculture et des Ressources Hydrauliques:Evolution institutionnelle et réglementaire de la gestion de l’eau en Tunisie, in:L’avenir de l’agriculture irriguée en Méditerranée, Actes du séminaire Wademed, Cahors, France, 6-7 novembre 2006, accessed on March 21, 2010 In 1996, 86% of the water withdrawals were from agriculture.Earth Trends, The Environmental Information Portal – Water Resources and Freshwater Ecosystems- Country Profile- Tunisia The water sector is also obliged to meet the increasing water demand for all urban and rural areas, the agriculture sector as well as for touristic and industrial needs. Through the management and development of water resources, available water resources increased from 2.76 km3 in 1991 to 3.525 km3 in 2000. It is planned that the supply will reach 4.6 km3 by 2010. This will mainly be done by developing unconventional resources, including the use of treated sewage water.Water Governance Program for Arab States, Draft terms of reference national needs assessment in Tunisia, UNDP According to estimations for the year 2030 by the Ministry of Agriculture, the demand of water would be stabilized of 2.7  km3 per year, even if the supposed population of Tunisia in 2030 will be about 13 million people and given today's regular demand would result in a demand of 3.1  km3 per year.

History and recent developments

Evolution of water policy in Tunisia

Water policy in Tunisia from the beginning of the second half of the 20th century until the 1970s contained the limited mobilization of the resources – with the construction of dams and reservoirs.

From the beginning of the 1980s there was an enforcement of the dam policy and application of the Plans Directeurs des Eaux (Water Master Plan).Centre National de la Recherche scientifique- Les resources en eaux en Tunisie Bilan et Perspective, extrait de la letter n° 16

In 1990 the Decennial Strategy (1990–2000) for the Mobilization of Water Resources and the Maximum Mobilization Maximale of available Resources was set up. This strategy was devised and implemented in order to provide integrated control of potential water sources. The cost of this ten-year strategy approached two billion US dollars.Water in Tunisia: A National Perspective, Armeur Horchani- State of Water Resources, Ministry of Agriculture, Tunisia The following table shows the perspective concerning water resources in Tunisia:

Perspective Water Resources in Tunisia|Type of water resourcesPotential resources [hm³] Mobilizable resources [hm³]Mobilized resources [hm³]| 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 Surface water 2700 2500 1179 1876 2200 2400 2500 Ground water 2140 2140 1576 1818 1860 1900 1940 Total 4840 4640 2755 3694 4060 4300 4440 Mobilization rate (%) 59 80 88 93 96

Recent developments In 2003, the Ministry of Agriculture published the Water Master Plan for the water sector Two main strategic options were identified and implemented: the 10 years strategy of water resources mobilization (2001–2011) initiated for the 1st time in 1990, and the long-term strategy (2030).

In 2023, with the country in its fourth year of a drought, Sonede the state's water company has begun rationing water, cutting the main water supplies between 9pm and 4am.

Responsibility for water supply and sanitation

Policy and regulation The Ministry of Agriculture and Hydraulic Resources sets policies concerning conventional water resources in Tunisia, while the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development governs sanitation, wastewater and environmental planning. Its hydraulic works section, the Diréction Générale des Grands Barrages et des Grands Travaux Hydrauliques (DGBGTH), is responsible for the construction of major water resources projects.

Water resources management