The sea water desalination needs of Tunisia after the year 2010

The supply of drinking water for north and central Tunisia is guaranteed from surface water resources in the north and other subsurface resources. These resources will satisfy the water demand in this region until the year 2010. In the south of Tunisia, the water supply comes from local subsurface resources, including the lake water of the chotts. Maximum exploitation of these lakes, whose average salinity exceeds 2 g/L, has already been reached. Therefore, non-conventional resources such as desalination have become unavoidable if the water quality is to be improved and the resources are to be maximized. The needs of this region will reach 60,000 m3/d by the year 2010. This deficit can only be met by the desalination of sea water. At present, about 45,000 m3/d of water is desalinated using the reverse osmosis process and electric energy. (author)