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Algeria water landscape

Countries › Algeria

Water in Algeria

Doing business in Algeria? Read the Market Brief

Updated October 2026 ~9 min read

Overview

The Sahara covers most of Algeria, and the country draws on three sources of water: northern rivers stored behind dams, fossil groundwater in the Saharan aquifer system it shares with Tunisia and Libya, and, increasingly, the sea.1 2 Large seawater desalination plants along the coast now supply a growing share of its drinking water.3 Silt continues to reduce the dams’ capacity, while projections point to less rain in the populated north.4 5

In the Sahara, water has long come from underground. In the oases of Touat and GouraraTouat and Gourara Groups of oases in west-central Algeria, strung along the Wadi Messaoud west of the Tademait plateau, with Gourara to the north of Touat proper. Irrigated by foggaras, they produce dates, grains and vegetables. Source: Touat, Encyclopædia Britannica, underground galleries called foggaras bring groundwater to the surface by gravity.6 7 At each outlet, a comb-shaped kasria divides the flow, and a water measurer records each share, a skill UNESCO lists as in need of urgent safeguarding.7 8 The foggaras draw on the Continental IntercalaireContinental Intercalaire One of the two main deep aquifer layers, with the Terminal Complex, that make up the North-Western Sahara Aquifer System. The system covers over 1 million km², including 700,000 km² in Algeria, 250,000 km² in Libya and 80,000 km² in Tunisia. Source: The North-Western Sahara Aquifer System (Algeria, Tunisia, Libya): joint management of a transborder water basin, Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS), 2008, a deep aquifer.9 Today, deep wells in the same layer feed a 746 km transfer from In SalahIn Salah An oasis town in central Algeria, on the southern edge of the Tademait plateau, at the crossing of old trans-Saharan caravan routes. Its name means “good well”. Source: I-n-Salah, Encyclopædia Britannica to TamanrassetTamanrasset A town in southern Algeria, in the mountainous Ahaggar (Hoggar) region. It began as a military outpost guarding trans-Saharan trade routes. Source: Tamanrasset, Encyclopædia Britannica.10

This deep groundwater is barely renewed. The deep waters at In Salah are 19,000 to 35,000 years old.11 Abstraction from the Saharan aquifer system rose from about 0.6 billion m³ in 1970 to 3.2 billion m³ in 2018, against average recharge of only about 1 billion m³ a year.2 On the coast, Algeria has turned to the sea instead. It built its latest large seawater plants as a single programme, largely with domestic contractors, and inaugurated them in 2025.3 12 The state desalination company says they raised desalination’s share of drinking water to 42%.3 A new programme of seven plants is planned by 2030.13

5
desalination mega-plants (300,000 m³/day each) inaugurated in 20253

Snapshot

47.4 M14
people (2025) · +1.3% a year
10,96115
million m³ total water withdrawal a year (2022)
25315
m³ total renewable water per person a year, including inflows from upstream (2023)
53
new 300,000 m³/day desalination plants inaugurated in 2025
69.0%14
of people use safely managed drinking water (2024)

Baseline water stress16

3.87of 5
High (40–80%)

Against the scarcity line

25315m³ per person / year

Total renewable water per person, including inflows from upstream (2023): below the 500 m³ absolute-scarcity line. Falkenmark thresholds: water stress below 1,700, water scarcity below 1,000, absolute water scarcity below 500 m³ per person per year.17

Key institutions

  • Ministry of HydraulicsMinistry
  • AGIREResources agency
  • Algérienne des Eaux (ADE)Utility
  • SEAAL (Algiers and Tipaza)Utility

Financing & PPP

  • PPP frameworkPPP law in draft (reported March 2025); 2022–25 desalination plants state-built
  • Tracked projectsUS$ 6.6 bn disclosed value in our projects register, none of it in projects not yet operating
  • Active fundersSovereign budget. AfDB has financed earlier water projects, including the Koudiat Acerdoune dam
  • Climate adaptation planIn preparation (GCF support approved 2023; adoption planned for 2026)

Key challenges

  1. 01Rainfall concentrated in the narrow north
  2. 02Rapid urban demand
  3. 03Energy intensity of desalination
  4. 04Ageing distribution networks

Developments to watch

  1. 01Skikda desalination plant, 140,000 m³/day, under construction since July 2026
  2. 02Three 300,000 m³/day plants at Chlef, Mostaganem and Tlemcen in the state programme
  3. 03Five more dams due to enter service from 2026, taking the total to 86
  4. 042024 consultation agreement with Tunisia and Libya on shared Saharan groundwater
Sources and notes

Population: World Bank WDI, 2025.
Total water withdrawal: FAO AQUASTAT, 2022.
Total renewable water per person: FAO AQUASTAT, 2023.
Desalination plants: Algerian Desalination Company.
Drinking water: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP), 2024 estimates, via the World Bank WDI.
Baseline water stress: WRI Aqueduct 4.0 country rankings (2023), baseline water stress, all sectors, 1979–2019: total water demand as a share of available renewable surface and groundwater supply, scored 0–5 and averaged over the country weighted by water demand.
Against the scarcity line: FAO AQUASTAT, 2023.

Sources: Water use by sector, total water withdrawal, supply by source, desalination and reuse shares: FAO AQUASTAT (2022; reuse 2017), FAO AQUASTAT Dissemination System, retrieved 7 October 2026. Population and GDP: World Bank WDI, latest year (shown on each tile). Other figures: FAO AQUASTAT / national reports, latest available, approximate.

Water map

One interactive map of Algeria's water, built from real geodata. Climate & drought maps the aridity gradient (WorldClim) with warming projections. The Water risk layer's WRI Aqueduct indicators, covering overall water risk, water stress and flood risk (plus groundwater decline where the trend is significant), shade every river sub-basin by its 0–5 risk score. Demand shows where the population, and the water demand, concentrate. Infrastructure brings the physical system together: rivers, dams (FAO AQUASTAT), treatment plants, desalination and the major conveyors. Shared waters outlines the transboundary river basins and aquifers that Algeria shares with other countries, each drawn in full across the border; hover an outline for the countries that share it. Hover any sub-basin or marker for detail; sources are cited under each view.

Switch layer
Water projectDamRiverConveyance
Sources and notes

Interactive map: switch views, hover or focus a marker, and use the +/− controls (or double-click, then drag) to zoom and pan. Geometry and data from the MENA Water Review library.

Geography & climate

Algeria covers about 2.4 million km², most of it Sahara.18 The coast and mountain massifs cover only 4% of the country and the high plateaux about 9%.19 North of the Saharan Atlas lies a semi-arid belt of coastal strip, interior plains and high plateaux. It held more than 90% of the population in 1992.18 The country is divided into five hydrographic basins, and the Saharan basin alone covers about 2 million km².19

From 1,600 mm to almost nothing

Winter rains on the coast and mountains are violent and erosive. They reach 1,600 mm a year on the highest relief and vary sharply from year to year.19 The high plateaux get 100–400 mm and the Sahara less than 100 mm.19 FAO puts the national average at 89 mm a year, while the ERA5 reanalysis below gives about 70 mm.19 Potential evapotranspiration runs from 800 mm in the north-east to more than 2,200 mm in the south-east.19 In north-eastern Algeria, rainfall at northern stations shows strong and persistent coherence with the North Atlantic Oscillation.20

In the World Bank Climate Change Knowledge Portal’s ERA5 reanalysis, averaged over the whole of Algeria, about 70 mm of rain falls in a year (1991–2020). Station records and national averages use other sources and baselines, so their figures can differ (the text cites 89 mm a year, FAO’s national average). About 33% of the rain falls in October, January and March, and 3 months average less than 5 mm. Average rainfall in 1993–2022 was about 15% lower than in 1951–1980, and single years swing widely around that.

The year in rain and heat

Monthly rainfall (bars, mm) and mean temperature (line, °C), country average 1991–2020

0.02.55.07.510.013°23°34°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Heat, drought and fire

Summers on the high plains regularly exceed 30 °C, and Saharan days can reach or pass 50 °C.5 Ouargla recorded 51.3 °C on 5 July 2018.21 Algeria warmed by 0.49 °C a decade between 2000 and 2023, against 0.37 °C globally.5 Rainfall fell across most of North Africa between 1971 and 2000, before a return to normal or wetter conditions in Algeria since 2000.22 Drought still bites. In the early 2000s rainfall deficits reached 50% in the centre and 60% in the east.23 Wildfires burned nearly 310 km² a year in 2010–2019.5 Fires in northern Algeria in August 2021 killed at least 90 people, including 33 soldiers.24

The same reanalysis gives a mean temperature of 23.7 °C for 1991–2020 and a warming of about 0.48 °C a decade over 1971–2022. Station records and national reports use other sources and periods, so their warming rates can differ (the text cites 0.49 °C a decade over 2000–2023 from the IEA).

Show

Annual rainfall, 1950 to 2022

Country average, mm

0501001502001960197019801990200020101950202243 mm

Annual mean temperature, 1950 to 2022

Country average, °C

20222426281960197019801990200020101950202224.7 °C

Projections

The IPCC projects that meteorological droughts over Mediterranean North Africa will lengthen from about two months to about four by 2050–2100 under a high-emissions scenario.22 At 2 °C of global warming and above, mean rainfall declines, most in the north-west.22 The IEA expects steep rainfall declines in the densely populated north, raising the risk of drought and wildfire. The desert may see more extreme rain and flash floods.5 Under high emissions, warming could reach 5.6 °C above pre-industrial levels by 2100.5

Projected change for Algeria

The table gives the CMIP6 multi-model median from the same World Bank portal, as change against 1995–2014. Projections cited in the text may use other models, scenarios or baselines, so their figures can differ.

ScenarioTemperature, 2040–2059Rainfall, 2040–2059Temperature, 2080–2099Rainfall, 2080–2099
Middle of the road (SSP2-4.5)+1.8 °C−3%+2.8 °C−8%
High emissions (SSP5-8.5)+2.3 °C−8%+5.7 °C−19%
Sources and notes

Source: World Bank Climate Change Knowledge Portal, retrieved September 2026. ERA5 0.25° reanalysis for the annual series (1950–2022) and the monthly climatology (1991–2020); CMIP6 0.25° multi-model ensemble median for the projections, as change against 1995–2014. These are national averages, which hide the gap between wet highlands and dry interiors, and reanalysis rainfall over deserts carries wide uncertainty.

Water resources

Algeria draws on three waters. Erratic northern surface flows sit behind some 80 dams (see Infrastructure), and coastal aquifers around Algiers and Annaba suffer seawater intrusion linked to over-abstraction.25 The North-Western Sahara Aquifer System's fossil water irrigates the southern oases and supplies Hassi Messaoud's oil economy. Reuse remains small, and the state's wager is squarely on the sea.

Algeria’s resources were estimated at 19.1 billion m³ a year in 1992. In the north, 1.5 of 1.8 billion m³ of available groundwater was already exploited.18

The Saharan south

Abstraction from the North-Western Sahara Aquifer System, shared by Algeria, Tunisia and Libya, rose from about 0.6 billion m³ in 1970 to 3.2 billion m³ in 2018. Average recharge is only about 1 billion m³ a year.2 About 470,000 ha were irrigated in the basin in 2014, 270,000 ha of them on its water, mostly by surface methods.2 The deep waters at In Salah are 19,000–35,000 years old and barely renewed.11 Around El Oued, water tables rose from the 1980s and drowned palms. Since the 2010s irrigation has pulled them below 9 m, drying the traditional Ghout gardens.26 27

Supply by source

On the supply side, the largest source is groundwater, about 77% of the total, with the balance from surface water (16%), desalination (6%), treated wastewater, direct use (under 1%), according to FAO AQUASTAT’s figures for water withdrawal by source (2022)15.

Where the water comes from

Supply mix, MCM per year

  • Groundwater8,492 MCM
  • Surface water1,800 MCM
  • Desalination627 MCM
  • Treated wastewater, direct use42 MCM

The main rivers

The table ranks the rivers of Algeria by the largest natural flow they reach inside the country. Natural flow is the modelled long-term average before any withdrawals. For a heavily used river it measures what the river could carry, not what arrives today.

RiverAlso flows throughLength in Algeria, kmNatural flow, m³/sFree-flowing
Chélif–415550%
MedjerdaTunisia57–25%

The dams on these rivers, from the FAO AQUASTAT inventory, are listed river by river under Infrastructure.

Sources and notes

Sources: Grill, Lehner, Thieme et al. (2019), Mapping the world’s free-flowing rivers, Nature 569, dataset under CC BY 4.0, for length, natural flow (WaterGAP, 1971–2000) and free-flowing status, meaning the share of the river’s length inside Algeria still classed as free-flowing. No flow figure is given below 20 m³/s, where a global model is too coarse to rank small rivers. The same rivers are drawn on the water map above under Rivers & lakes.

Water use

In 2000 withdrawals reached 6.07 billion m³, of which irrigation took 65%, households 22% and industry 13%.19

Irrigation

By 2017, FAO’s AQUASTAT put the area equipped for irrigation at 1,365,000 ha, 16% of the cultivated land, with groundwater supplying 62% of it; these are FAO estimates, and 2017 is the latest count FAO holds.28 In 2001 Algeria had equipped 569,418 ha, 7% of its cultivated land, and groundwater supplied 69% of the area under full or partial control.19 The large public schemes fared worst. Of 149,860 ha equipped, only 33,763 ha were irrigated in 2001, as drought struck and water went to drinking supply instead.19 Small and medium farms relied on boreholes and wells, and FAO warned that their growth threatened aquifers that were mostly overexploited already.19

Use by sector

Agriculture is the largest user of water in Algeria, at roughly 67% of total water withdrawal; the full split is agriculture (67%), municipal (31%), industry (2%), in FAO AQUASTAT’s figures for total water withdrawal (2022)15.

Withdrawals by sector

Million m³ a year, FAO AQUASTAT, 2022

10,961MCM / yr
  • Agriculture7,391 MCM · 67%
  • Municipal3,389 MCM · 31%
  • Industry181 MCM · 2%

Withdrawals over time

FAO’s AQUASTAT estimates put Algeria’s freshwater withdrawals at 2.0 billion m³ in 1970 and 10.3 billion m³ in 2022. Agriculture’s share of the total moved from 74% in 1984 to 67% in 2022.

145%
of available freshwater resources withdrawn (SDG 6.4.2, FAO estimate for 2023)29
US$ 20.1
of GDP per m³ withdrawn, constant 2015 dollars (SDG 6.4.1, 2022)
3.3%
of agricultural land irrigated (2019)

Freshwater withdrawals, 1970 to 2022

Total, billion m³ a year

0510152019801990200020101970202210.3 billion m³
Sources and notes

Source: FAO AQUASTAT via the World Bank World Development Indicators, retrieved September 2026. AQUASTAT revises national figures irregularly and fills the years between surveys, so a jump between two adjacent years usually marks a new national estimate rather than a change on the ground. Water stress (SDG 6.4.2): FAO, the custodian agency for the indicator. FAO. 2026. AQUASTAT Core Database. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Database accessed on 2026/10/20.29 FAO gives 145% for 2023, flagged E: an estimate calculated or identified from official values or from an AQUASTAT estimation, in FAO’s definition. This figure is carried forward, not a new measurement: it repeats the value FAO gives for 2022. Algeria’s total freshwater withdrawal, from which the indicator is calculated, has not changed in AQUASTAT since 2022; FAO flags it imputed (carried forward) from 2023.

Water for farming

FAO’s estimate for 2017 is 1,365,000 ha equipped for irrigation in Algeria, 62% of it on groundwater.28 In 2012, FAO reports, boreholes served 41% of the equipped area, wells 26% and springs 2%; dams supplied 19%.30 The large public schemes depend on dams, but in 2012 they were equipped for 229,907 ha and irrigated 97,310 ha, 42%, because of water shortage and degraded networks and soils.30 Small and medium schemes grew on wells, pumping and springs, at the expense of aquifers.30 In the first half of 2021 the Mitidja plain received no dam water for irrigation and relied on boreholes.31 The ministry’s counts are larger: 1.5 million ha irrigated in 2021 and 2.1 million ha of irrigated perimeters in March 2025, to reach 3 million ha “in the coming years”.32 33 The sources do not say how the ministry counts. National supply and withdrawals are under Water resources and Water use.

Sources and notes

Sources: FAO AQUASTAT country profile for Algeria (2015 edition, with data for 2012), the AQUASTAT database, the national synthesis on reuse of wastewater in agriculture prepared for the COSTEA programme (Hamamouche and Hartani, March 2022), statements by ministers and officials as reported by the Algeria Press Service (APS), Algerie Eco, TSA and Radio Algérienne, an Afrik21 report on a parliamentary commission’s session (February 2024), and a 2026 chapter on irrigation in the Algerian Sahara (Hartani, Idda and Bouras). The table gives FAO’s 2012 estimates beside its 2017 official values for the three methods; the shares are calculated here. AQUASTAT repeats the 2017 values, flagged imputed, to 2023; they are not newer counts. The equipped area of 1,365,000 ha, the 62% on groundwater and the 78% of equipped area actually irrigated are FAO estimates for 2017, also repeated to 2023. Do not read a trend across the two vintages for water supply: AQUASTAT’s withdrawal series changes sharply between 2012 (surface water 4.8 and groundwater 3.0 billion m³) and 2015 (1.7 and 7.2), and neither FAO document read explains the change, so this section gives the 2012 shares of the equipped area by source only as that year’s picture. The area counts also differ in kind: FAO’s 1,229,907 ha equipped in 2012 (1,064,578 ha irrigated), FAO’s 1,365,000 ha for 2017, a ministry official’s 1.5 million ha irrigated in 2021 and the minister’s 2.1 million ha of irrigated perimeters in March 2025; the ministry statements do not define their terms. Reported reuse figures vary within the sources themselves: the COSTEA synthesis gives 16,000 ha irrigated with treated water in 2021 and, in another passage, about 8,000 ha and about 6 million m³ for direct reuse, and its volumes per hectare do not match the 6,000 m³ per hectare it uses elsewhere; AQUASTAT has 1,200 ha (an FAO estimate for 2012, repeated to 2023) and 42 million m³ (an FAO estimate for 2022). The reuse targets for 2030 are different statements by different speakers, not revisions of one another, and the sources read do not reconcile them. The Afrik21 phrase “60% of the water used for irrigation” is the journalist’s reading of a programme to reuse 60% of treated wastewater in agriculture; the parliamentary text itself was not found. The 66,000 ha for state strategic-crop farms is a planned allocation. The 150,000 ha cultivated in the south is the President’s figure in a trade-fair speech and is undefined. Two Saharan figures come from ministers via the press: 450,000 ha transferred to the Saharan agricultural development office (June 2024) and 15,000 drilling permits since 2021, which are permits, not completed boreholes. Water-use figures in the 2026 chapter on the Sahara are the authors’ estimates from assumed per-hectare rates, not metered. Moved here from the text: FAO gives 663 million m³ allocated to the large public schemes in 2013; FAO put the pressurised share of irrigation at 49% in 2014, and its 2015 profile said the target of 977,000 ha with water-saving equipment in 2014 looked hard to reach when 478,000 ha were equipped in 2012; the COSTEA synthesis counts 11,000 ha irrigated with treated water in 2018 and a ministry figure of 18 million m³ for 11,494 ha in 2020; AQUASTAT records 1,200 ha equipped for reuse, an FAO estimate for 2012; the targets for 2030 are 100,000 ha irrigated with unconventional water in the national review quoted by COSTEA and 400,000 ha according to the water minister in March 2022;34 the Annaba project in the 2024 reuse programme would supply 30,000 m³ a day to irrigate more than 2,300 ha around El Hadjar.

Methods

The pressurised share of irrigation (sprinkler and drip) rose from 42% of the equipped area in 2012 to 55% in 2017.30 28

Method2012 (ha)Share, 20122017 (ha)Share, 2017
Surface irrigation686,90058%596,00045%
Sprinkler270,00023%409,00031%
Localised (drip)220,00019%307,00023%
Total under full control1,176,9001,312,00028

Policy and the Sahara

The expansion is centred on the south. In June 2024 the agriculture minister said 450,000 ha had been transferred to the office for industrial agriculture on Saharan land, which a month later he announced would be followed by 500,000 ha to be developed within three years; in June 2025 the President said the south had barely 150,000 ha against a target of 1.5 million.35 36 In January 2026 the hydraulics minister reported nearly 15,000 drilling permits since 2021 for large farm investments and said that more than 70% of the water mobilised each year would go to agriculture.37 A 2026 chapter on the Timimoun wheat programme, 36,000 ha under centre pivots, counts 8,444 ha cultivated and notes that it relies on non-renewable groundwater.38 The fossil aquifers are under Water resources.

Treated wastewater

Reported figures vary. AQUASTAT records 42 million m³ of treated wastewater used directly (FAO estimate for 2022).28 The COSTEA synthesis counts 17 of 200 plants in 2021 supplying irrigation, with 16,000 ha irrigated that year, and names secondary-only treatment and plants built downstream of the plots as the main obstacles.31 A reuse programme adopted by a National People’s Assembly commission in February 2024 aims at 60% of treated wastewater in agriculture by 2030.39 In November 2024 the state company for strategic crops (DCAS) agreed with the sanitation and irrigation offices that treated water would irrigate 66,000 of its 114,000 ha.40 Plants are covered under Infrastructure; irrigation dams and reuse plants across the region are on the Agriculture & Food hub.

Infrastructure

Dams hold most of Algeria’s surface storage. In 1992, 45 dams supplied an average of 2.2 billion m³ a year.18 By 2000 there were 48, with an initial capacity of about 5 billion m³ that silt had cut by more than 25%.19 The dams agency managed 80 dams in 2024, and five more are due to enter service from 2026, bringing the national total to 86.1 41 Beni Haroun in Mila is the largest.42 Silt is a constant drain: about 4,000 tonnes of soil per km² reach the dams or the sea each year.4 After heavy rain, dams were close to 60% full in May 2026.43

Tracked projects

Asset classProjectsDisclosed valueLargest by value
Desalination15US$ 3,692 mMagtaa SWRO
Wastewater and reuse6US$ 96 mEl Kerma Wastewater Plant
Conveyance, storage and dams6US$ 2,799 mIn Salah–Tamanrasset Water Conveyance

Open the project database for Algeria

Transfers

The dams agency runs seven transfer systems, among them Beni Haroun, Taksebt, Koudiet Acerdoune and the Mostaganem–Arzew–Oran corridor.1 Beni Haroun is the largest. It was designed for 504 million m³ a year, later revised to 475 million, to supply six eastern wilayas and irrigate 41,223 ha. Its first phase opened in September 2007.44 Taksebt secures supply to Algiers across three wilayas.45 In August 2026 the ministry agreed in principle to take Beni Haroun water to Biskra and El Kantara.46 In the far south, a 746 km transfer carries fossil water from In Salah to Tamanrasset.10

Conveyors and transfers in the registerLength (km)Flow as statedStatusAward or startCommissioned
In Salah–Tamanrasset Water Conveyance746100,000 m³/day designOperating20082011
Beni Haroun Dam and Transfer–pumping station rated 23 m³/sOperating2002–
Taksebt Dam–treatment works rated 450,000 m³/dayOperating––

Register records only, not a complete national inventory.

Sources and notes

Source: the MENA Water Review major projects register. Ranked by length in km as each record states it; a figure the record gives only in another unit is shown as written and not ranked. Each name links to the project record and its sources.

Desalination

Desalination began in industry. In 1980 a 57,600 m³/day plant at Mostaganem, built for a paper factory, was the world’s largest reverse-osmosis plant.23 An emergency in 2002–03 brought 21 small plants to coastal towns. In 2004 the ministry planned 28 large plants along the 1,300 km coast.23 Cap-Blanc near Oran opened on 20 February 2025, the first of five 300,000 m³/day plants.12 The state desalination company says the five lifted capacity from 2.2 to 3.7 million m³/day.3

The coast now carries a fleet of large seawater plants. In the west, Honaine, Mostaganem and Ténès each produce 200,000 m³/day.47 48 49 Cap Djinet II in Boumerdès and El Tarf each produce 300,000 m³/day.50 51 Fouka 2 reached its full 300,000 m³/day in July 2025.52 Three more 300,000 m³/day plants, at Chlef, Mostaganem and Tlemcen, are among the state desalination company’s projects.53 Construction of a 140,000 m³/day plant at Skikda began in July 2026.54 Estimates of desalination’s share differ. It is 16% of the national utility’s production on that utility’s own figures, but 42% of drinking water on the desalination company’s.55 3

Largest desalination plants in the registerCapacity (m³/day)StatusAward or startCommissioned
Magtaa SWRO500,000Operating20082014
Cap Blanc SWRO300,000Operating20222025
Fouka 2 SWRO300,000Operating20242025
Cap Djinet 2 SWRO300,000Operating20242025
Béjaïa SWRO300,000Operating20222025
El Tarf SWRO300,000Operating20252025
El Hamma SWRO200,000Operating20052008
Souk Tlata SWRO200,000Operating20072011
Beni Saf SWRO200,000Operating20052009
Mostaganem SWRO200,000Operating20052011
Honaine SWRO200,000Operating20052010
Ténès SWRO200,000Operating20092015
Fouka 1 SWRO120,000Operating20082011
Skikda SWRO100,000Operating20042009
Cap Djinet 1 SWRO100,000Operating20052012

Register records only, not a complete national inventory.

Sources and notes

Source: the MENA Water Review major projects register. Ranked by capacity in m³ a day as each record states it; a figure the record gives only in another unit is shown as written and not ranked. Each name links to the project record and its sources.

Networks and sanitation

The national water utility ADE delivers 5.5 million m³ a day to more than 28.5 million people through 83,407 km of pipes.55 It manages 1,019 of Algeria’s 1,541 communes.56 Distribution networks lost about 40% of their water, the World Bank reported in 2004, against a target of 25%.23 SEAAL, which manages water and sanitation services in Algiers and Tipaza, supplies drinking water directly or indirectly to about 5 million people across five wilayas.57 Flooding takes 70% of the annual disaster-response budget, about US$255 million a year.5

Wastewater output was put at 820 million m³ a year in 2002.19 In 1992 the World Bank judged reuse for coastal irrigation not viable because of pumping costs.18 The sanitation office ONA runs 190 treatment plants with a nominal capacity of 1.9 million m³ a day, and 72,228 km of sewers.58 By November 2025 Algeria had 230 treatment plants, the water minister said.59

Largest wastewater treatment plants in the registerCapacity (m³/day)StatusAward or startCommissioned
Baraki Wastewater Plant300,000Operating20092009
El Kerma Wastewater Plant270,100Operating20062009
Annaba Wastewater Plant83,620Operating––
Béni Mered Wastewater Plant51,560Operating20212021
Béni Messous Wastewater Plant250,000 population equivalentOperating––
Réghaïa Wastewater Plant400,000 population equivalentOperating––

Register records only, not a complete national inventory.

Sources and notes

Source: the MENA Water Review major projects register. Ranked by capacity in m³ a day as each record states it; a figure the record gives only in another unit is shown as written and not ranked. Each name links to the project record and its sources.

Dams and reservoirs

Largest dams in the FAO AQUASTAT inventoryRiverCompletedStorage (million m³)
Beni HarounKebir2003963
Koudiat AsserdouneIsser (Asif n Yesser)2006640
GargarRhiou1988450
Djorf TorbaGuir1968350
TabelloutDjen Djen–294
GhribCheliff1938280
Main riverDams in the inventory · storageLargest reservoir
Chélif3 · 384.9 MCMGhrib (1938), 280 MCM
Medjerda1 · 82 MCMAin Dalia (1987), 82 MCM
Sources and notes

Sources: FAO AQUASTAT regional dam inventories (CC BY 4.0), which list large dams with a published capacity and can lag recent construction; the MENA Water Review major projects register, where each record cites its source on the project page. The database follows large contracted projects, not the whole asset base. Dam capacities are shown to one decimal where the record has a fraction. In the table by river, a dam is counted against the river its inventory record names, with French, Arabic, Persian and Turkish spellings of the same river treated as one; a record that gives no river is matched by its coordinates to the nearest river reach, so an unnamed dam on a tributary close to a main stem can be counted against the main stem. Records that give neither a river nor usable coordinates cannot be matched, so some rivers show fewer dams than they have. The rivers are the main rivers given under Water resources. For Algeria, Beni Haroun is shown at the 963 million m³ its builder gives, the figure the projects register also uses; the inventory records 1,000.60 The desalination value includes US$ 1,980 m of a programme total not allocated to any one plant, which is not counted as a project.

Water quality

Around 2005, 44% of Algeria’s inventoried waters were rated good, 44% satisfactory and 12% poor.19 Long stretches of the Tafna, Macta, Chéliff, Soummam and Seybouse were polluted. Pollution in the Chéliff threatened drinking water for the valley’s two million people.19 On the coast, over-pumping causes irreversible saline intrusion around Oran, Algiers and Jijel. Nitrate pollution has been recorded in the Mitidja aquifer.19 In Oued Souf, shallow groundwater reaches a conductivity of 18,680 µS/cm and is unfit to drink.61 Between 2000 and 2023, typhoid and dysentery fell by nearly 98%.62

Cholera, 2018

Before 2018, Algeria’s last confirmed cholera case dated from 1996.63 In August 2018 an outbreak spread across seven wilayas, with more than half of early confirmed cases in Blida.63 Of 21 water sources tested, 10 were unfit, and one tested positive and was condemned.63 By 27 September, 291 suspected cases had been reported, 97 of them confirmed.64 Investigators confirmed V. cholerae in two wastewater samples and one stored-water sample.64

The reported indicators

69%
of people use safely managed drinking water (2024)
76%
of domestic wastewater safely treated (SDG 6.3.1, 2024)

Drinking water services

Share of the population, %

025507510020052010201520202000202469 Safely managed92 At least basic

On the latest values each country reports for SDG indicator 6.3.1, Algeria’s 76% (2024) ranks joint 7th of the 17 countries covered here that report it; years differ by country. The regional comparison is in the wastewater and reuse dashboard.

Sources and notes

Sources: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme via the World Bank; SDG 6.3.1 and 6.3.2 from the UN Statistics Division SDG database, retrieved September 2026. Safely managed drinking water means an improved source on the premises, available when needed and free from faecal and priority chemical contamination. SDG 6.3.2 rests on each country’s own monitoring network, so a high share can mean few water bodies were assessed, and values move when methods change between reporting rounds.

Shared waters

Algeria shares the Medjerda with Tunisia and the Tafna, Guir, Dra and Daoura with Morocco.18 It is not a member of the Lake Chad Basin Commission or the Niger Basin Authority.19 65 Surface-water cooperation is thin. Formal frameworks with Tunisia for the Medjerda were still to be defined in 2025, IUCN noted.66 Morocco’s Kaddoussa dam on the upper Guir has been in service since 2021.67 In late July 2026 Algeria and Libya agreed a roadmap for cooperation on irrigation and water resources, with talks covering desalination.68

The Saharan aquifers

The North-Western Sahara Aquifer System covers more than 1 million km², and Algeria holds 68% of it.69 The Sahara and Sahel Observatory launched a joint study in 1999. Its first phase, to 2002, built a shared hydraulic model and began a consultation mechanism.2 On 24 April 2024 Algeria, Libya and Tunisia signed an agreement in Algiers on consultation over the shared groundwater. Tunisia ratified it in January 2025.70 71

The record

7
international river basins with a significant share in Algeria
12
transboundary aquifers mapped by IGRAC/UNESCO (2025)
58%
of transboundary basin area under an operational arrangement (SDG 6.5.2, 2023)

Shared river basins

BasinShared withBasin area, km²In AlgeriaModelled natural flow, largest riverAgreements
NigerBenin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria2,132,2478%216.4 km³/yr18
Lake ChadCameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Libya, Niger, Nigeria, Sudan2,596,8663%32.8 km³/yr (Chari)4
GuirMorocco108,73356%2.9 km³/yr (Oued Saoura)0
DraMorocco94,17822%7.6 km³/yr (Oued Drâa)0
DaouraMorocco49,69033%2.0 km³/yr (Oued Ziz)0
MedjerdaTunisia23,17533%2.4 km³/yr0
TafnaMorocco7,26497%n/a0

The register also lists Algeria as a riparian of the Oued Bou Namoussa basin (2,763 km² in all), with no area, modelled flow or agreement recorded for Algeria there.

The agreements

None of the 22 agreements the database records for these basins (river-basin treaties to February 2023) was signed by Algeria.

Shared aquifers

Algeria shared waters in the Transboundary Waters Atlas
Sources and notes

The register also places small areas of Algeria in the Oued Bon Naima basin, too little to carry here.

Source: Master Treaties Database of the Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database (February 2023 edition), via the Transboundary Waters Atlas. Titles as recorded, with spelling normalised. They are listed on the Transboundary Waters Atlas pages for the Niger and Lake Chad basins.

Source: IGRAC and UNESCO, Transboundary Aquifers of the World. Data reliability is IGRAC’s own assessment of the information behind each outline.

Credit: Product of the Transboundary Freshwater Diplomacy Database, College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University (transboundarywaters.science.oregonstate.edu). The database is not copyrighted; due credit is appreciated.

Governance & institutions

Algeria’s water administration grew from a state secretariat for hydraulics in 1971 into a full Ministry of Water Resources in 2000.72 73 By 2023 the ministry was known as the Ministry of Hydraulics.74 Delivery sits with public companies. ADE, created in 2001, supplies drinking water, and ONA, also created in 2001, runs sanitation.56 58 The dams agency ANBT and the irrigation office ONID took their current form in 2005.75 76 A national agency for integrated water management, AGIRE, followed in 2011, with the basin agencies as its branches.77

Law and tariffs

Law 05-12 of 4 August 2005 is the legal base. It creates a national water plan and a master plan and basin agency for each hydrographic unit.78 It allows an autonomous regulator for water services. It also lets the state delegate their management to public or private operators, through competitive tender.78 Decree 05-13 of January 2005 sets progressive tariffs across five territorial zones.79 The base rate in Algiers, Oran and Constantine is DA 6.30 per m³, and households pay up to 6.5 times that in the top block.79

SEAAL, created in 2006, runs water and sanitation for Algiers and Tipaza.57 In 2021 Algerian managers took over its management.57

Key sector institutions

Sources and notes

Institutions compiled from the FAO AQUASTAT institutions database and national sources. Responsibility lines summarise this report and the organisations directory. Website links are the official sites verified for that directory; for a group of bodies, the link is one member’s site.

Challenges & outlook

Algeria has bet on the sea, and the bet is being delivered. The next test is running the fleet. The plants planned at Chlef, Mostaganem and Tlemcen (see Infrastructure) each depend on energy and maintenance budgets.52 Dams will not close the gap alone: silt keeps cutting their capacity, and projections point to less rain in the populated north.4 5

Three questions will shape the decade. Can networks be fixed as fast as plants are built? Will tariffs set in 2005 ever move toward cost?79 And can the Saharan aquifers shared with Tunisia and Libya be pumped at a pace the 2024 consultation agreement can manage?70

Sources

79 references

Principal sources: Ministry of Hydraulics; ADC/ADE public data; OSS (NWSAS studies); FAO AQUASTAT. Figures approximate.

  1. ANBT, home page (archived December 2024).
  2. Almulla et al. (2020), Sustainability 12(17): 7043, doi:10.3390/su12177043.
  3. Algerian Desalination Company (ADC), programme overview.
  4. Hadidi, Rémini et al. (2023), H2Open Journal, doi:10.2166/h2oj.2023.067.
  5. IEA, National Climate Resilience Assessment for Algeria, July 2025.
  6. Boutadara, Y., Remini, B. and Benmamar, S. (2018), “The foggaras of Bouda (Algeria): from drought to flood”, Applied Water Science 8: 162.
  7. Idda, S., Bonté, B., Kuper, M. and Mansour, H. (2021), “Revealing the foggara as a living irrigation system through an institutional analysis: evidence from oases in the Algerian Sahara”, International Journal of the Commons 15(1): 431–448.
  8. UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, “Knowledge and skills of the water measurers of the foggaras or water bailiffs of Touat and Tidikelt”, inscribed 2018 on the List in Need of Urgent Safeguarding.
  9. Remini, B. and Achour, B. (2016), “The water supply of oasis by Albian foggara: an irrigation system in degradation”, Larhyss Journal 26: 167–181.
  10. Algérienne des Eaux, Transfert In Salah–Tamanrasset.
  11. Cherchali et al. (2021), Isotopes in Environmental and Health Studies, doi:10.1080/10256016.2021.1875221.
  12. The North Africa Journal, report on the opening of Cap-Blanc, 25 February 2025.
  13. Algeria, nationally determined contribution (CDN 3.0), UNFCCC, June 2026.
  14. World Bank, World Development Indicators and country water-sector reporting. data.worldbank.org.
  15. FAO, AQUASTAT — Global Information System on Water and Agriculture: country water resources, withdrawals by sector and dam register. fao.org/aquastat. Latest country values as compiled at build.
  16. World Resources Institute, Aqueduct 4.0 Water Risk Atlas (2023) — the sub-basin risk, stress and groundwater-decline layers on the interactive maps. wri.org/aqueduct. Country baseline water-stress category: Aqueduct 4.0 Current and Future Country Rankings (16 August 2023), indicator bws, all sectors, 1979–2019.
  17. White, C. (2014), “Understanding water scarcity: definitions and measurements”, in Grafton, Wyrwoll, White and Allendes (eds), Global Water: Issues and Insights, ANU Press, p. 161, giving the Falkenmark et al. (1989) thresholds.
  18. World Bank (1992), Algeria: Water Resources Development Strategy Paper.
  19. FAO (2005), L’irrigation en Afrique en chiffres: Algérie (archived).
  20. Zerouali et al. (2025), Scientific Reports, doi:10.1038/s41598-025-29840-3.
  21. WMO, “July sees extreme weather with high impacts”, 2018.
  22. IPCC AR6 WGII (2022), chapter 9: Africa.
  23. World Bank (2004), Seawater and Brackish Water Desalination in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia, annex 1: Algeria.
  24. IFRC, report on the August 2021 forest fires in Algeria.
  25. British Geological Survey, Hydrogeology of Algeria, Africa Groundwater Atlas.
  26. Barkat et al. (2022), Water 14(9): 1415, doi:10.3390/w14091415.
  27. Faci, Oubadi and Madi (2025), Agricultural Research.
  28. FAO. 2026. AQUASTAT Core Database. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Database accessed on 2026/10/20. Values for the variables named in the text, read from the AQUASTAT Dissemination System with FAO’s flag on each: official value, estimate (calculated or identified from official values or from an AQUASTAT estimation) or imputed (carried forward or interpolated).
  29. FAO. 2026. AQUASTAT Core Database. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Database accessed on 2026/10/20. Variable “SDG 6.4.2. Water Stress” (indicator 6.4.2, level of water stress: freshwater withdrawal as a proportion of available freshwater resources; FAO is the custodian agency), read from the AQUASTAT Dissemination System.
  30. FAO (2015), AQUASTAT Profil de pays: Algérie.
  31. Hamamouche and Hartani (March 2022), Chantier COSTEA REUSE: Réutilisation des eaux usées en agriculture, rapport de synthèse Algérie (AFEID).
  32. Algerie Eco (20 July 2022), report quoting an agriculture ministry official to APS on the irrigated area.
  33. Algerie Eco (17 March 2025), Agriculture : L’Algérie vise 3 millions d’hectares de périmètres irrigués, reporting the Algeria Press Service (APS).
  34. Algerie Eco (11 March 2022), report on the water minister’s statement to the Council of the Nation, via APS.
  35. Algerie Eco (2 June 2024), report on the agriculture minister’s statement on Saharan land, via APS; and TSA (2 July 2024), L’Algérie veut transformer 500 000 ha en terres agricoles dans le Sahara.
  36. TSA (27 June 2025), L’Algérie veut multiplier par 10 les surfaces agricoles dans le Sahara.
  37. Radio Algérienne (7 January 2026), report on the hydraulics minister’s hearing before the National People’s Assembly agriculture committee, via APS.
  38. Hartani, Idda and Bouras (2026), From Water Stress to Food Security: The Remarkable Greening of Neo-Irrigated Saharan Areas in Algeria, IntechOpen.
  39. Afrik21 (13 February 2024), Algeria: the country wants to irrigate 60% of its land with treated wastewater by 2030 (archived).
  40. Algerie Eco (7 November 2024), Agriculture : Deux conventions pour sécuriser l’irrigation des cultures stratégiques, reporting APS.
  41. APS, five new dams to enter service in 2026, 3 February 2026.
  42. Marouf and Rémini (2019), Journal of Water and Land Development, doi:10.2478/jwld-2019-0070.
  43. APS, dam filling close to 60%, May 2026.
  44. ANBT, Béni Haroune transfer system (archived).
  45. ANBT, Taksebt transfer system (archived).
  46. APS, agreement in principle to supply Biskra and El Kantara from Beni Haroun, August 2026.
  47. Algerian Desalination Company, Honaine station.
  48. Algerian Desalination Company, Mostaganem station.
  49. Algerian Desalination Company, Ténès station.
  50. Algerian Desalination Company, Cap Djinet II station.
  51. Algerian Desalination Company, El Taref station.
  52. WebManagerCenter, “Stress hydrique : ce que la Tunisie peut apprendre de l’accélération algérienne”, 17 August 2026.
  53. Algerian Desalination Company, Chlef station, January 2026.
  54. APS, Sonatrach launches construction of a desalination plant in Skikda, July 2026.
  55. Algérienne des Eaux, presentation.
  56. Algérienne des Eaux, home page.
  57. SEAAL, company presentation (archived).
  58. Office National de l’Assainissement, about ONA.
  59. ANBA, report on desalination’s share of Algerian drinking water, 21 November 2025.
  60. Dragados, Beni-Haroun Dam.
  61. Boukhallat et al. (2026), Water Environment Research, doi:10.1002/wer.70523.
  62. Benikdes et al. (2026), Water Environment Research, doi:10.1002/wer.70284.
  63. WHO, Disease Outbreak News: cholera, Algeria, 14 September 2018.
  64. Benamrouche et al. (2022), Emerging Infectious Diseases 28(6).
  65. GIZ, Support to the Niger Basin Authority.
  66. IUCN, BRIDGE water-diplomacy dialogues on the Medjerda, 5 May 2025.
  67. Finances News Hebdo, the Moroccan water minister’s statement on new dams, 15 October 2025.
  68. Libya Observer, report on the Libya–Algeria water cooperation roadmap, 29 July 2026.
  69. FAO (2016), AQUASTAT country profile: Libya.
  70. Libya Observer, report on the tripartite groundwater agreement, 25 April 2024.
  71. Libya Observer, report on Tunisia’s ratification, 12 January 2025.
  72. Ministry of Water Resources, history: Secrétariat d’État à l’Hydraulique (archived).
  73. Ministry of Water Resources, history: Ministère des Ressources en Eau (archived).
  74. Ministry of Hydraulics, home page (archived).
  75. Journal officiel no. 21 (2005), executive decree 05-101 on the ANBT.
  76. Journal officiel no. 36 (2005), executive decree 05-183 on the ONID.
  77. Journal officiel no. 43 (2011), executive decree 11-262 creating AGIRE.
  78. Journal officiel no. 60 (2005), Law 05-12 on water.
  79. Journal officiel no. 5 (2005), executive decree 05-13 on water tariffs.

Numbered references are linked from the superscript markers in the text. Figures without a marker come from the sources above as compiled in the site methodology.

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