··

Tunisia News

Tunisia · Europe · Geopolitics: the daily brief
Background

Tunisia's water crisis

The agriculture ministry put Tunisia's dams at 60 per cent in late June 2026 and called the level very reassuring. The taps stopped anyway: of the 608 citizen alerts the Tunisian Water Observatory logged in July, 549 were unannounced cuts.

People in Borj Erras had no water for weeks, then protested. The Tunisian League for Human Rights and the Mahdia bar say the protesters were investigated for conspiracy and under article 72 of the penal code, which carries the death penalty.
Tunisia's water crisis

The agriculture ministry says the stock is not the problem. Fayez Meslem, its director general of dams, told the TAP news agency at the end of June 2026 that the dams stood at 60 per cent of a capacity of about 2.3 billion cubic metres, a level he called very reassuring. There is no published series to set that against: ONAGRI, the ministry's own observatory, has issued no daily dam bulletin since 10 October 2025, when the national fill rate was 27.4 per cent.

The Tunisian Water Observatory, which is independent, logged 201 citizen alerts in January 2026 and 608 in July, 549 of them unannounced cuts. Nabeul led the July count with 65, then Monastir with 62 and Mahdia with 51. Its annual report for 2025 counted 3,064 alerts, 2,666 of them cuts and disruptions in supply. The report's first recommendation was a comprehensive and independent evaluation of the quota system that shares out the water, which the observatory says keeps running with no published scientific evaluation of its effectiveness.

Abdelhamid Mnaja, who runs the water utility SONEDE, told Jawhara FM on 17 July 2026 that the disruptions came mainly from the pumping stations. About 1,500 of those run on electricity, and SONEDE is the biggest customer of the state power company STEG. In parts of Mahdia, Sousse and Monastir the taps were shut from midnight to five in the morning from 5 July 2026, and Mnaja said the schedule would hold until new plants open. One is a treatment plant at Kallâa Kebira, due in December 2026.

Water is also lost before it arrives. Houcine Rhili, a water resources expert, told L'Économiste Maghrébin on 6 August 2026 that 20 to 25 per cent of the drinking water in the pipes disappears, 120 to 130 million cubic metres a year, and that a fifth of the country's pipes are over 50 years old. He dates the state's retreat from financing water infrastructure to 1995 and 1996. In the medina of Sfax, a SONEDE project funded by Japan brought losses there down from 50 per cent to 26.

The cut at Borj Erras had run close to 20 days by 14 August 2026, the Mahdia governorate said; the area's member of parliament said it had been more than a month. Residents protested. Lawyers appointed by the Tunisian League for Human Rights said those held were mostly minors and were freed that evening. The league and the Mahdia bar say the file rests on conspiracy, on article 72 of the penal code, which carries the death penalty, and on article 24 of decree-law 54, used against those who filmed.

2012026-013172026-022042026-032242026-043022026-054232026-066082026-07
Citizen water alerts logged by the Tunisian Water Observatory, 2026 · alerts · Source: Observatoire tunisien de l'eau
January, February, March, April and June are the figures the Tunisian Water Observatory lists in its own report for June 2026, which is the source cited here. May is from its report for May 2026 and July from its report for July 2026. All are alerts received through its own platform.
”Since 1995-1996, the state has progressively withdrawn from the financing of water infrastructure”
Houcine RhiliWater resources expert

The numbers

Dam fill reported by the ministry, late June 2026
60 percent, late June 2026
Fayez Meslem, director general of dams and major hydraulic works, told the TAP news agency at the end of June 2026 that dam fill had reached 60 per cent of a total capacity put at about 2.3 billion cubic metres. He called that level very reassuring next to recent years.
Al-Quds Al-Arabi
The last national dam bulletin ONAGRI published
27.4 percent, 10 October 2025
The daily dam bulletin archive of ONAGRI, the agriculture ministry's observatory, ends with the edition of 10 October 2025, and lists nothing for any date in 2026. That edition's national total is a fill rate of 27.4 per cent and a stock of 649 million cubic metres.
ONAGRI
Pumping stations that depend on the electricity supply
About 1,500
SONEDE's chief executive Abdelhamid Mnaja said on 17 July 2026 that supply disruptions were principally linked to the operation of the pumping stations, that about 1,500 of them run on electricity, and that SONEDE is the main customer of the electricity utility STEG.
La Presse de Tunisie
Drinking water lost in the networks, on one expert's estimate
20 to 25 percent, 120 to 130 Mm3 a year
Houcine Rhili, a water resources expert, told L'Économiste Maghrébin on 6 August 2026 that 20 to 25 per cent of the drinking water put into the pipes disappears before it reaches consumers, equal to 120 to 130 million cubic metres a year, and that 20 per cent of the country's pipes are over 50 years old.
L'Économiste Maghrébin
Water losses in the medina of Sfax, before and after a renewal project
SONEDE and the Japanese cooperation agency JICA closed their non-revenue water project for Greater Sfax on 24 April 2026. Losses in the pilot zone, the medina of Sfax, had fallen from 50 per cent to 26 per cent. The stated aim is to bring the whole Greater Sfax urban area below 20 per cent.
La Presse de Tunisie
Citizen alerts logged by the Tunisian Water Observatory in July 2026
The Tunisian Water Observatory logged 608 citizen alerts in July 2026: 549 unannounced cuts and disruptions, 34 protest movements, 13 leaks and 12 on water quality. Nabeul led with 65, then Monastir with 62, Mahdia with 51 and Sousse with 49.
Observatoire tunisien de l'eau
What the Tunisian Water Observatory counted in 2025, and what it asked for
The observatory logged 3,064 alerts in 2025, of which 2,666 were supply disruptions and cuts and 170 were protest movements. Gafsa led with 376, then Sfax with 230 and Ben Arous with 219. Its first recommendation was a comprehensive and independent evaluation of the quota distribution system, which it says continues without any published scientific evaluation of its effectiveness.
Observatoire tunisien de l'eau
What the governorate said about Borj Erras
The Mahdia governorate's services told the TAP news agency on 14 August 2026 that the cut had lasted close to 20 days, and that SONEDE would begin supplying Borj Erras the next morning for an hour and a half to two hours a day, a rhythm it should keep for more than a week. They named the delay in commissioning the Sidi Abdelhamid desalination plant at Sousse as one of the main causes.
La Presse de Tunisie
The articles the Borj Erras case was opened under
The Tunisian League for Human Rights and the Mahdia regional bar association condemned the judicial proceedings against the water protest movement: an investigation opened on conspiracy, on article 72 of the penal code, and on article 24 of decree-law 54 of 2022, the last used against people who filmed and circulated the protests. Article 72 carries the death penalty; article 24 carries five years in prison and a 50,000 dinar fine.
Al-Quds Al-Arabi
Who was held in custody, and how long the taps had been dry
Lawyers instructed by the Tunisian League for Human Rights said those held in custody in Mahdia, most of them minors, were released on the evening of Friday 14 August 2026. The area's member of parliament confirmed the release, said the water had been cut for more than a month, and asked the health ministry for psychological support for the children.
Kapitalis

What the comparison shows

Where they agree

Nobody here traces the cuts to an empty dam. The agriculture ministry points at how full the dams are and calls that reassuring, SONEDE at the pumping stations and the power they need, and Houcine Rhili at pipes that lose a fifth to a quarter of what is pumped into them. All three explanations put the failure between the dam and the tap.

Where they split

Fayez Meslem says the water in the dams covers what the country needs for the summer. Houcine Rhili puts the loss further down the system: a fifth to a quarter of the drinking water put into the pipes never reaches a tap, on his estimate, and the state stopped paying to renew those pipes in 1995 and 1996. Abdelhamid Mnaja names another cause, the pumping stations and the electricity they depend on, and says SONEDE is matching supply to what it can produce rather than cutting it.

What nobody is saying

Nobody has published an evaluation of the quota system that shares out Tunisia's water. The Tunisian Water Observatory asked for a comprehensive and independent one in its report for 2025, and says the system runs on with no published scientific evaluation of its effectiveness. Nobody has said when Borj Erras gets normal supply back either. The Mahdia governorate promised an hour and a half to two hours a day from 15 August 2026 for more than a week, and gave no date for the return to normal service, nor for the Sidi Abdelhamid desalination plant at Sousse, whose delay it calls one of the main causes.

Who says what

Fayez Meslem, Director general of dams and major hydraulic works, ministry of agriculture

He says the stored water covers the country's needs for the summer, and that the stock should ease the pressures that pushed Tunisia into periodic cuts in earlier years.

”المطمئن جدا مقارنة بالسنوات الأخيرة التي شهدت تراجعا حادا في الموارد المائية”very reassuring compared with recent years, which saw a sharp decline in water resources
Source: Al-Quds Al-Arabi · Monday, 3 August 2026
Abdelhamid Mnaja, Chief executive, SONEDE

SONEDE is not cutting water, he says, but matching supply to what it can produce. The night-time cuts, which he calls an adjustment, last until new plants open. He expects the coastal regions to escape major disruption the following summer, once the Kallâa Kebira plant is running.

Source: La Presse de Tunisie · Friday, 17 July 2026
Houcine Rhili, Water resources expert

He says SONEDE's condition is the result of decades of public choices that did not keep up with need. He dates the state's retreat from financing water infrastructure to 1995 and 1996, and argues that renewing the networks would recover large volumes more cheaply than building new production.

”Depuis 1995-1996, l'État s'est progressivement retiré du financement des infrastructures hydrauliques”Since 1995-1996, the state has progressively withdrawn from the financing of water infrastructure
Source: L'Économiste Maghrébin · Thursday, 6 August 2026

Our coverage