Tunisia’s Water Crisis: Where Does Development Money Go, and What Changes on the Ground?
An Investigative Report on Water, Climate and Development Finance
1. The Central Question
Tunisia is entering a new phase of water stress. The issue is no longer simply a matter of rainfall or drought. It has become an economic, social and development challenge affecting food security, agriculture, health, employment and the continuity of essential services.
In March 2026, the World Bank approved two new projects with a combined commitment of US$332.5 million to improve potable water services, modernize irrigation and support rural livelihoods. The financing forms the first phase of a broader Water Security and Resilience Program with a total financing envelope of US$700 million over ten years.
But the most important journalistic question is not simply: How much money will be spent?
The question is: What happens when this development financing reaches the ground? Who benefits, and will Tunisia actually become more water-secure?
2. Tunisia Faces Growing Water Stress
World Bank documents describe Tunisia as one of the world's water-stressed countries, with climate change increasing water scarcity and uncertainty.
The Water Security and Resilience Program documents indicate that, under current trends, water supply could meet only around 75% of projected demand by 2050. The World Bank's climate analysis also warns that growing water insecurity could have direct consequences for economic growth and poverty.
Water scarcity is therefore no longer only an environmental issue.
It is a development issue.
3. Where Is the Development Money Going?
The first phase of the program contains two major investments.
The first is the Irrigation Water Security, Resilience and Value-Addition Project, financed at US$124 million.
The second is the Potable Water Security and Resilience Project, financed at US$208.5 million.
These investments create an important development opportunity, but they also create a major accountability responsibility.
The investigation therefore follows the chain:
Finance → Project → Infrastructure → Beneficiaries → Service → Results → Impact.
4. Potable Water: Millions of People Targeted
The potable water project aims to improve the quality and resilience of water services and strengthen the operational performance of Tunisia's national water utility, SONEDE.
Among its activities is the expansion of the Zarat seawater desalination plant in Gabès from 50,000 to 100,000 cubic metres per day, the deployment of 100,000 smart meters, and the rehabilitation of distribution networks in Sfax, Tozeur and Kebili.
The project is expected to benefit approximately 2.3 million people through more reliable and sustainable potable water services. This includes 224,000 people expected to gain continuous water supply and 440,000 people expected to benefit from improved water quality.
But the investigation must ask a simple question:
Will people actually feel this improvement at home?
5. From Project to Household Tap
A modern desalination plant can be built. Distribution networks can be rehabilitated. Smart meters can be installed.
But citizens measure success differently.
Does water arrive regularly?
Have interruptions decreased?
Has water quality improved?
Has the duration of outages fallen?
Has access become more equal between communities?
Have leaks and service failures decreased?
This is the distance between project completion and development impact.
6. The Problem Is Not Only Water Scarcity
Water scarcity is only part of the problem.
World Bank project documents indicate that approximately 23% of potable water and 30% of irrigation water in public irrigation schemes may be lost through leakage before reaching consumers. Groundwater is also being overexploited, with exploitation estimated at around 133% of available renewable resources in the relevant assessment.
This raises a fundamental investigative question:
Can Tunisia solve its water crisis simply by producing more water, or must it first stop losing so much of the water it already has?
7. Irrigation: The Other Battle
The water crisis is not limited to cities.
Agriculture accounts for a major share of water use, making irrigation reform essential for both water security and food security.
The new US$124 million irrigation project aims to improve irrigation water services, strengthen irrigation operators and increase crop yields in public irrigation schemes. It covers the governorates of Jendouba, Béja, Bizerte and Siliana.
The project is expected to directly benefit nearly 4,000 farmers through improved irrigation water services and another 9,000 farmers through agricultural extension and value-addition support.
But the central question is:
Will new investment produce more agricultural value with the same amount of water, or simply encourage greater water consumption?
8. Water and Poverty
Water insecurity does not affect everyone equally.
A wealthier household may be able to purchase storage tanks, pumps or temporary alternatives.
A poor rural household may have no such options.
Water insecurity can therefore become an additional driver of poverty.
Rural women may also carry a disproportionate share of the burden when water shortages affect domestic work, care responsibilities, agriculture and livestock.
Water investment must therefore be evaluated not only in technical terms, but also through the lens of social equity.
9. Water and Climate Change
Climate change makes water management more difficult.
Rising temperatures, declining rainfall, longer droughts, floods and other extreme events are changing the conditions under which Tunisia's water systems operate.
The World Bank's Tunisia Country Climate and Development Report identifies water scarcity, flooding and coastal erosion among the country's major climate challenges.
A water project is therefore not merely infrastructure.
It is also a climate adaptation investment.
10. Desalination: Solution or Part of the Solution?
Tunisia is increasingly turning toward non-conventional water resources, including seawater desalination.
The expansion of the Zarat plant is an important example.
But desalination requires energy, capital, maintenance and long-term operational and financial management.
The investigation should therefore ask:
How much does each cubic metre cost?
Who ultimately bears the cost?
Is the service financially sustainable?
Can this model be expanded to other regions?
11. Smart Meters
The installation of 100,000 smart meters could become an important tool for better demand management.
But technology alone does not solve a structural water problem.
The investigation should examine whether smart meters actually help detect losses, improve billing, reduce inefficient consumption and strengthen the relationship between citizens and the water utility.
The journalistic question is:
Will the smart meter become a tool for better service, or simply another technology project?
12. Water and Jobs
Water investment is also an employment issue.
The World Bank expects the first phase of the program to contribute to thousands of jobs, including around 3,400 permanent and 7,000 temporary jobs associated with the irrigation project, and approximately 600 permanent and 6,000 temporary jobs associated with the potable water project.
This creates another investigative question:
How many of these jobs will actually reach young people in the regions where the projects are implemented?
Will they be temporary construction jobs, or will the investments create lasting employment in water management, maintenance, agriculture and technology?
13. Who Pays for Water?
Water security requires sustainable financing.
But financing does not only mean international loans and grants.
There are also operating costs, maintenance costs, energy costs, human resources and future investment requirements.
This creates a difficult policy question:
How can Tunisia achieve financially sustainable water services without placing an excessive burden on poorer households?
Water services cannot become financially sustainable at the expense of vulnerable families.
At the same time, water institutions cannot continue indefinitely with financially unsustainable services.
14. Who Is Responsible for Results?
When an international development project finances infrastructure, responsibility does not end when construction ends.
There must be clear mechanisms to measure:
quality;
continuity;
cost;
maintenance;
water losses;
number of beneficiaries;
citizen satisfaction;
impact on farmers;
and impact on poverty.
This is where development journalism moves from tracking projects to tracking results.
15. The Big Question: What Happens After Financing?
Hundreds of millions of dollars can be invested.
But what happens five or ten years later?
Will the networks still operate efficiently?
Will institutions be able to maintain them?
Will desalination plants remain operational?
Will water losses decline?
Will farmers' incomes increase?
Will Tunisia be better prepared for drought?
These questions are more important than simply announcing that a project has started.
16. A Proposed Field Investigation
This investigation can become a strong field report by selecting several beneficiary areas and comparing conditions before and after implementation.
The investigation should collect:
financing documents;
procurement and construction contracts;
implementation indicators;
water consumption data;
interruption rates;
leakage rates;
citizen testimonies;
farmer testimonies;
local institutional data;
and information on jobs created.
This methodology connects the official document to the human story.
17. Five Stories That Could Reveal the Reality
The investigation could follow five cases:
Case 1: A rural household whose drinking-water service improved.
Case 2: A household that continues to face interruptions despite major investment.
Case 3: A farmer who benefited from improved irrigation and increased productivity.
Case 4: A farmer facing higher water costs or shortages because of drought.
Case 5: A young person who obtained employment linked to a water project.
These stories would not replace statistics. They would make the statistics understandable and accountable.
18. A Project Scorecard
Journalists can establish a clear scorecard:
Finance: How much was committed?
Implementation: How much was completed?
Service: Did service quality improve?
Water: Did losses decrease?
Agriculture: Did productivity increase?
Poverty: Did vulnerable households benefit?
Women: Did their economic situation improve?
Youth: Were jobs created?
Climate: Did resilience to drought increase?
Sustainability: Can institutions maintain the results after external financing ends?
19. Financing Is Not the Result
The central problem this investigation seeks to expose is the confusion between money and results.
Financial resources are an input.
A project is a means.
A service is an output.
But the real development impact is the change experienced by people.
The most important number is therefore not always the value of the loan.
It may be:
How many more days did households have reliable water?
Or:
How much water was saved?
Or:
How many farmers increased their income?
Or:
How much water was recovered from leakage?
20. Conclusion
Tunisia is entering a decisive period in the management of its water resources.
The new investments represent a major opportunity to address part of the country's water crisis. But they also create a greater responsibility for government institutions, implementing agencies and development financiers to demonstrate that financing is converted into measurable results.
The final question of this investigation is not:
How much did Tunisia spend?
It is:
What did citizens, farmers and vulnerable households actually receive in return for these investments?
If interruptions decline, water quality improves, losses fall, agricultural productivity increases and rural communities become more resilient to drought, development financing will have produced measurable impact.
But if a gap remains between money, projects and results, the journalistic question will remain:
Where does development money end, and where does its real impact begin?
Methodological Note
This is a document-based investigative journalism project. Financing figures, project objectives and beneficiary targets are based on official World Bank documentation. Announced targets should not automatically be presented as achieved results.
The next stage of the investigation should compare targets, implementation, actual results and the lived experience of citizens and farmers.
The investigation should clearly distinguish between:
official information, reported results, independent data, citizen testimony and independently verified findings.
Primary Sources
World Bank, Tunisia: Major Push to Strengthen Water Security and Resilience, 2026.
World Bank, Tunisia – Irrigation Water Security, Resilience and Value-Addition Project, 2026.
World Bank, Potable Water Security and Resilience Project, 2026.
World Bank, Tunisia Country Climate and Development Report.
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