Sfax-Gargour: First unit of seawater desalination plant comes on stream

Tunis: Seawater desalination plants, whether in Djerba, Zarrat (Gabes governorate), Sfax or Sousse, are part of the Tunisian government's policy for better management of climate change, said Minister of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries Abdelmonem Belati.He added on Monday, in a statement to the media on the occasion of the commissioning of the first unit of the seawater desalination plant at Gargour (Sfax), with a production capacity of 25 thousand cubic metres (m3) per day, that "good interaction in response to climate change does not lie solely in seawater desalination projects, but there are groundwater desalination plants which have become very saline due to successive years of drought.""To ensure better management in the light of climate change and successive years of drought, by providing water reserves in the Sahel, Greater Tunis and Sfax, the Tunisian government's policy is now based on what is known as water harvesting.This involves the installation of two water reservoirs in the regi ons of Kalaa and Saida, 85% and 95% of which have been completed respectively, as well as the construction of 4 dams which will soon come on stream," he pointed out.Central director of the Gargour seawater desalination plant Mohamed Zaara had previously told TAP that the other three units will be operational, successively, with the same capacity as the first unit, so that the total capacity of the Gargour seawater desalination plant in Sfax, with its four units, will rise to 100 thousand m3 per day from next September.Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse