Draft water code to be submitted to HPR within one month (Abdallah Rebhi)

The Water Code, which has been under preparation for several years, will be submitted to the House of the People's Representatives (HPR) in one month, said Secretary of State for Water Resources and Fisheries Abdallah Rabhi.

"We have accelerated the achievement of the water code, which will replace the promulgated code, in 1975, this operation have become a necessity," he said in a statement to TAP, on the sidelines of a political forum on "participatory management of water resources in the context of climate change in Oued Rmel (Zaghouan) or Bewater".

He added that the new code, which is characterised in particular by the importance given to the governance aspect in the water sector, has already been submitted to the Prime Ministry and a cabinet meeting will discuss the code.

The draft Code stipulates the creation of regional water boards in order to establish the basis for a participatory approach to water management and promote the establishment of a new relationship with water management groups, which represent a basic link but suffer, nevertheless, from several failures.

This code, he said, aims to decentralise water management, put an end to the overexploitation of water reserves, preserve the water resources from pollution, take into account the contribution of civil society to the governance of water.

Sihem Jebari researcher and project coordinator reminded that the BeWater approach tries to promote the relationship between science and society in the Oued Rmel (Zaghouan) watershed.

The project identified six challenges to be addressed: water quantity, water quality, agricultural development, human resources, employment and forest management, in addition to the identification of 19 options for water management and watershed management, she said, citing, in this regard, improved wastewater treatment and better governance of forest resources.

Besides, the development of new techniques for water and soil conservation (CES), in addition to using water-saving techniques in the agricultural sector, reducing the pressures on forests and stakeholder involvement in all stages of decision-making.

The Oued Rmel watershed, Jébari said, is representative of the semi-arid zones with rainfall that does not exceed 450 millimeters, representing the annual average of most cities.

The cost of this project (October 2013 / March 2017) is estimated at 3.5 MD (2.9 MD mobilised by the EU and 0.06 MD by the participating countries) and covers 4 countries of the Mediterranean basin (Tunisia, Spain, Cyprus, Slovenia).

 The amendment to the Water Code started in 2009 but was hampered by the Revolution before being re-launched in a participatory manner between the structures of the Ministry of Agriculture, researchers and civil society.

source: TAP