Algeria's dam reservoirs have sustained comfortable water levels despite experiencing one of the hottest summers in years, marked by temperatures exceeding 48 degrees Celsius in numerous regions and an associated rise in water consumption. This outcome has been noted as a significant development, especially given prior expectations of potential water supply tensions. According to Abdesselam Malek, a doctor in hydrogeology and lecturer at the University of Tizi Ouzou, this resilience stems from substantial stored volumes at the beginning of the summer, levels not observed in four years, which provided a considerable safety margin following a more generous rainy season.<\/p>\n
Evidence of these maintained levels is reflected in various dam capacities. As of early August, the strategic Taksebt dam in Kabylie recorded over 80% of its volume, holding 140 million cubic meters, a notable increase from 25% a year prior. Koudiat Acerdoune reached 20% of its capacity, or 120 million cubic meters, up from less than 3% in 2025, while Kedara maintained 60%, accounting for 80 million cubic meters, compared to 20% in the previous year. Dams in eastern Algeria generally operate around 75% capacity, and those in the west, despite some regional imbalance, show improvement from 2025, reaching between 25% and 30%. Beyond dam storage, Algeria's water security is further bolstered by new desalination plants, which have achieved full operational capacity, providing 1.5 million cubic meters per day. These, combined with older facilities, ensure substantial water volumes, particularly for northern coastal areas, independent of climatic fluctuations. Underground water resources also contribute a significant, if less publicized, role in the nation's supply.<\/p>\n
Addressing common public concerns, Abdesselam Malek clarified that evaporation from dams contributes minimally to overall water loss. For instance, at the Taksebt dam, with a water surface area of 5 square kilometers compared to a 500-square-kilometer catchment basin, maximum daily evaporation of 10 millimeters results in approximately 40,000 cubic meters lost daily. Over the entire summer of 2026, Taksebt's evaporation is estimated at less than 4 million cubic meters, representing under 3% of its volume. The hydrogeologist emphasizes that the primary challenge lies not in summer heat-induced evaporation, but rather in the efficient capture and retention of winter rainfall, which often flows rapidly to the sea between November and April. He advocates for developing complementary strategic reserves, such as dikes across wadis and enhanced exploitation of groundwater, citing the successful recharge of the Mitidja aquifer in Blida as a scalable, cost-effective solution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Algeria’s dams have maintained comfortable water levels throughout a recent heatwave and period of increased consumption. This resilience is attributed to significant initial storage volumes, the full operational capacity of desalination plants, and effective overall water resource management.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":68750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","iawp_total_views":2,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-algeria"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=68751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/68750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=68751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=68751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=68751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}