Domestic water conservation practices in Tlemcen City (Algeria)

Abstract

During the last three decades, citizens of an Algerian city are concerned with the problem of drinking water supply. Time discontinuation service became the rule. The central idea of the analysis based on interviews is to assess the role of water in the organization of the relationship between habitat and users. The fundamental question is how users, in particular women, incorporate water in their daily lives due to rationing. Having to deal with the discontinuous and frequent weak water supply, the inhabitants of the city of Tlemcen who are connected to the water supply system, as well as those connected to the water system of all Algerian towns, have developed an internal water storage system to sort out this problem. The imposed rationing has proved to be expensive for consumers. The water shortage pushed the consumers to invest in relatively expensive storage and pumping facilities to satisfy their domestic needs. As the frequency of the water supply is on a two times per week basis, the survey reveals a discrepancy in terms of volumes consumed and stored by each household. The use of water depends on the individual storage facility and the frequency of the supply. The life of the households, particularly that of the housewives, depends on the availability of water and thus on the schedules of the Company of Production of Water “Algerian Des Eaux’’ (ADE). This is particularly the case when they are supplied during the night.