No power, no water: SONEDE explains why the taps are running dry

SONEDE chief executive Abdelhamid Mnaja said the disruptions to drinking water are largely a knock-on effect of the electricity cuts: the utility runs some 1,500 electrically powered pumping stations and is STEG's single largest customer, so every round of load-shedding halts production. He described the measures as adjusting supply to demand rather than cuts as such, with night-time rationing continuing in the Sahel until the Kallâa Kebira treatment plant comes on line in December 2026. The chain running from a generation shortfall to dry taps is what turns the summer's energy problem into a governance problem: two state monopolies, both starved of investment, failing together in a heatwave.

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