Water cut off every night in the Sahel, all summer long

Water tower and nighttime cut-off in the Tunisian Sahel. — Sousse, Monastir and Mahdia under periodic distribution all summer long.

450 m³

fresh water per inhabitant per year, below the absolute-scarcity threshold (500 m³)

Against 850 m³ in 1996: the resource per inhabitant has almost halved in thirty years.

Context

Since the night of 5 to 6 July, SONEDE has activated an emergency periodic distribution protocol across the whole Sahel. In practice: a total cut-off from midnight to 5 a.m., every night, for the whole summer, in Sousse, Monastir and Mahdia.

The cause is an unprecedented crisis at the Nebhana dam, which supplies the region. The nighttime cut-offs serve to rebuild the reserves of the water towers to get through the day.

Why it matters

There has been much talk of a “respite” after the rains of winter 2025-2026 and dams back above 60%. But this respite is misleading.

The water crisis in Tunisia is not cyclical — a mere bad year — it is structural. The country has gone from 850 m³ of fresh water per inhabitant in 1996 to about 450 m³ today, below the absolute-scarcity threshold set at 500 m³. A good rainy season does not change this underlying trajectory.

Understand Water stress, explained