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55
INBO Newsletter n° 21 - April 2013
The Mediterranean
The new Algiers-Hodna-Soummam
River Basin Committee (ABH-AHS)
was installed on 27 February 2012 at
the Ministry of Water Resources and
chaired by Mr. Messaoud Terra, in the
presence of Mr. Mekki Abrouk, Director
General of the River Basin Agency
(ABH) and Mr. Maouche Lounis,ABH’s
Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Regarding the tasks assigned to the
Basin Committee, the main innovation
concerns the examination of the draft
Master Plan for Water Resources
Development
which is the instrument
for the long-term planning of water
resources development in the basin, an
essential part of
the National Water
Plan.
Among its other missions, the Basin
Committee is expected to decide on the
programs initiated by the ABH, regar-
ding information and awareness of the
water users, which are of strategic
importance in the context of scarcity of
resources and with the continued growth
of the water demand in Algeria.
The composition of the Basin Com-
mittee was expanded from 24 to
29 members representing the cen-
tral Government, local Authorities,
water management bodies and the
civil society respectively.
This expansion especially concerns
professional organizations and associa-
tions working on issues related to water
uses and water resources protection.
N.Boukari
In charge of the Water Taxes Department
Algiers-Hodna-Soummam River Basin Agency
North-Western Sahara Aquifer System (NWSAS)
Algiers-Hodna-Soummam River Basin Agency
NWSAS covers an area of approxima-
tely 1,000,000 km
2
;
it is shared by
Algeria, Libya and Tunisia.
It is loca-
ted in a very arid area with small
recharge but with a large stored
volume, estimated at between 20,000
and 31,000 km
3
.
Since 1970, the abstracted water
volumes have been multiplied by four,
leading to major risks of water saliniza-
tion, reduction of the artesian condi-
tion, depletion of natural outlets, redu-
ced piezometry, increased drawdowns
or interferences between intake areas of
the different countries, etc. This will
ultimately threaten the sustainability of
the socioeconomic development
undertaken throughout the area.
A collaborative process was initia-
ted in 1998 under the auspices of
the Sahara and Sahel Observatory
(OSS) in partnership with the insti-
tutions in charge of water resour-
ces in the three countries.
This led to an agreement on a study in
several phases: hydrogeological cha-
racterization of the aquifer system and
its modeling, identification of the envi-
ronmental risks and inclusion of the
socioeconomic aspect in development
scenarios.
The modeling of the system should
allow considering different scenarios
for the exploitation of the resource,
while taking into account the develop-
ment prospects of each of the 3 coun-
tries.
The risk index of conflict over trans-
boundary waters is digitally assessed,
based on the combination of several
indicators (degree of dependence on
transboundary waters, of meeting
needs, geopolitical background, geo-
graphical context and water gover-
nance,etc.).
The conflict risk index obtained for
NWSAS seems to properly reflect cur-
rent situation. Comparing this result
with those obtained for transboundary
waters in the Jordan River Basin (high
risk) and in the Guarani Aquifer System
(low risk) reinforces the value scale
adopted in this method.
Menani Mohamed Redha
University of Batna – Algeria
The Orontes (El-Assi) River Basin
is shared among Lebanon, Syria,
and Turkey.
Its waters are a critical
resource for these co-riparians and are
heavily developed in Syria and Turkey
for irrigation and industrial water uses.
To this date there is no basin-wide
agreement between all the co-ripa-
rians.
Between Syria and Lebanon, negotia-
tions restarted in 1999 and were
concluded with an agreement signed in
2001. The UN Convention of 1997 on
the Law of the Non-navigational Uses
of International Watercourses served as
a guide to the negotiation process of
this agreement and generated a “win-
win” situation. Lebanon, the upstream
country, was given the right to build
two dams on the Orontes with total sto-
rage of 65 Million cubic meters.
The University of Texas at Austin propo-
sed a mathematical optimization
method to allocate water of the Orontes
River among the three riparian coun-
tries using the factors relevant to equi-
table and reasonable utilization men-
tioned in article 6 of the UN convention
such as:
l
Geographic, hydrographic, hydro-
logical, climatic, ecological and
other factors of a natural character;
l
The social and economic needs of
the watercourse States concerned;
l
The population dependent on the
watercourse in each State;
l
The effects of the river uses in one
State on other riparian States;
l
Existing and potential uses of the
watercourse;
l
Conservation, protection, develop-
ment and economy of use of the
water resources of the watercourse
and the costs of measures taken to
that effect;
l
The availability of alternatives, of
comparable value, to a particular
planned or existing use.
This method was optimized using
obtained data from the Lebanese share
of the basin and current precipitation
information.
Georges Comair & Daene McKinney
Center for Research in Water Resources
Austin, Texas, USA
/
Allocating the waters of the Orontes River Basin
Algeria
The Orontes River
