An assessment recently released by the EU funded project SWIM-Support Mechanism (SWIM-SM) identifies the conditions under which specific investments aimed to reduce the degradation of the Seybouse River Basin in Algeria become effective and profitable in the long-term.
Based on 2012 data, the costs of environmental degradation of the Seybouse River Basin is estimated to be equivalent on average to 0.2% of Algeria’s (non-oil and gas) National GDP, and is particularly attributable to water resources degradation (73.1% of total costs in the Seybouse River Basin) including, in order of importance, water quantity, water-borne diseases and water quality sub-categories.
Other major causes of degradation are the following:
· Poor waste collection and
· Health impacts due to air pollution in the Annaba region.
Based on the cost-benefit analysis of different scenarios related to the three identified priorities for action, namely irrigation efficiency, the provision of water and sanitation in rural areas, and landfill management systems, the following is anticipated:
- Concerning irrigation efficiency, the profitability of large-scale interventions to reduce technical water losses is certain and could have a positive return on investment after only 4 years, where the investment costs were compared to benefits accruing from increased productivity in terms of vegetable and tree crop yields.
- Investments in the provision of sanitation in rural areas – with or without the supply of drinking water - are profitable over a 20 year time span and would reduce both water-borne diseases and the pollution of water resources.
- For solid waste management and after considering different scenarios (including a combination of: ensuring a transfer station, segregation, recycling, composting and landfilling), only the landfilling alternative coupled with electricity generation in cells is by itself profitable. Although segregation and recycling alternatives are too costly, it is suggested to support decision making through a more in depth analysis focusing not only on cost-benefit criteria but also on economies of scale (regrouping other Wilayas) criteria, social criteria, such as employment creation, poverty reduction, etc., which might justify such interventions.
The assessment also proposes four intervention areas to achieve an integrated management of water resources in the Seybouse Basin, based on economic performance and degradation’s costs considerations:
a. The prioritization of interventions aiming at reducing the technical and financial losses of drinking water supply and irrigation services, further also likely to improve water management. These include for example the rehabilitation of drinking water, sewage and irrigation networks, structural changes (incentives, tariffs, users’ awareness, conservation, governance, etc.) and the choice of technology for greater efficiency (in economic, financial and environmental terms).
b. Focusing primarily on efficient investment for domestic pollution control in rural, peri-urban and industrial areas which have been neglected in the past.
c. Set up an information network for decentralized observation, follow-up, monitoring of the environment and natural resources of the basin in partnership with water and environment institutions.
d. A horizontal action for integrated water management in the Seybouse catchment areas that would take into account the economic, environmental and social issues, as well as an improvement of the knowledge base, of information systems and good analysis tools.
The assessment’s outcome was discussed with Algerian relevant institutions and stakeholders during a National consultation in Algiers, on 26 November 2013. The feedback received in that occasion has been integrated in the final version of the assessment that is available in the SWIM website in its integral form in French, while an executive summary is also available in English. Moreover, a policy note is also available in English and French.