Libya is currently securing a two-year term (July 2019 - July 2021) as head of the Consultation Mechanism in the person of Dr. Hussein Talloua, who took over and whose office is located in the OSS new headquarters in Tunis.
Mr. Talloua served as Database Manager (NWSAS) and Piezometric Network and Water Quality Monitoring at the General Water Resources Authority (GWRA).
The Mechanism's program includes several joint scientific and technical activities, mainly updating the database, setting up the aquifer monitoring network and defining the data exchange protocols between the three countries.
The consultation mechanism of the Northern Sahara Aquifer System (SASS, shared by Algeria, Libya and Tunisia) was created at the technical level in 2006, and then evolved to a political level in 2008, with a Technical Unit based at the OSS, led by a biennial rotating coordination.
This internationally recognized mechanism is being replicated for the Iullemeden - Taoudeni- Tanezrouft Aquifer System (Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Nigeria), whose involved countries adopted in March 2014 in Abuja, a draft protocol for the water management of this Aquifer System.