The Coordination Unit of the North Western Sahara Aquifer System (NWSAS) Consultation Mechanism, organized in Tunis, the 13th session of its Permanent Technical Committee. In this context, it presented the balance sheet of its activities, as well as its financial statements. The representatives of the three countries sharing the North Western Sahara Aquifer System (Algeria, Tunisia and Libya) also examined the progress of the study on the analysis of needs in terms of transboundary cooperation and the options for improving it, as well as the advisability of setting up development projects.
It is worth reminding that the NWSAS Consultation Mechanism, shared by Algeria, Libya and Tunisia created in 2006, under the OSS leadership, continues efforts to support and strengthen cooperation between the three countries . It is one of the rare existing groundwater management mechanisms in the world.
Its program includes several joint scientific and technical activities, including mainly updating the database and monitoring management indicators of the resources shared by the three countries. The Mechanism is headed by a biannual rotating coordination unit, based in the OSS. Libya is currently securing the leadership of the Consultation Mechanism in the person of Dr. Hussein Talloua, for a two-year term (July 2019 - July 2021), and whose offices are located in the OSS headquarters in Tunis.
The North Western Sahara Aquifer System (NWSAS) covers a 1 million km2 area, and contains strategic water supplies to help meet domestic and agricultural needs and development of the region.