Violent riots broke out last weekend in a drought-stricken Algerian desert town, after months of water shortages left taps dry and forced residents to queue for water for their hearth.
In Tiaret , a central Algerian town of fewer than 200,000 inhabitants located 250 km southwest of Algiers, hooded protesters set tires on fire and erected makeshift barricades to block roads to to protest against water rationing , according to photos and videos circulating on social networks.
These disturbances follow requests from President Abdelmajid Tebboune to remedy this situation. At a Cabinet meeting last week, he implored his cabinet to implement "emergency measures" in Tiaret. Several government ministers were then sent to "demand an apology from the population" and promise that access to drinking water would be restored.
These riots come as Mr. Tebboune is expected to seek a second term at the head of this oil-rich country, the largest in Africa by area. North Africa is one of the regions in the world most affected by climate change . A multi-year drought has dried up critical reservoirs and reduced the amount of precipitation that traditionally filled them.
The region, located on a semi-arid desert high plateau increasingly plagued by extreme heat, draws its water from three reservoir dams that shrink as temperatures rise and rainfall decreases. The reservoirs have become less functional due to a “death of volume” and are reduced to 20% of their capacity, said agricultural engineer Said Ouarad.
Groundwater in the region has not been able to recharge for years due to lack of rain, he added.
The long-term solution for Algeria would be to bring water from the large dams further north and south of Tiaret and switch to other sources of supply, including desalination plants in which the country has heavily invested.
But in the meantime, authorities are trying to import water from nearby sources. Cosider, the state-owned company responsible for the region's water infrastructure, hopes to complete construction of new pipelines by July to carry groundwater to Tiaret from wells 32 km away. In the meantime, the company is trucking large tanks of water into the city, a company official who was not authorized to comment on the matter told The Associated Press.
“Tiaret and three surrounding communities suffered from this water shortage for months,” he said. “Calm has returned but the situation remains tense.”
News of the tensions spread on social media, but received little attention in Algeria, where many newspapers and television channels depend on state advertising revenue. Press freedom in the country is increasingly restricted, and in recent years journalists have been imprisoned.
Long-term solutions remain critical.
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