Rehabilitation Strategy for Water Supply Systems in Developing Countries Case Study: IWRM Oasis Béni Abbès, Algeria

Urban centralized water distribution systems in developing countries are facing various problems. For the population depending on the distribution systems, the impacts can be summarized to the inadequate amount and quality of disseminated water. Numerous technical and socio-economical deficiencies lead to an insufficient water supply. Amongst others, significant and strongly connected deficiencies are the lack of a central data management, the very complex network topology and the intermittent operation and supply. This article outlines the deficiencies and presents a strategy to improve existing deficient water distribution systems with such characteristics. The final objective of the strategy is the introduction of a continuous supply as a technical constraint for a sustainable water distribution and save supply. Apart from technical needs, a continuous supply is desirable in terms of equity in supply to customers and quality of life of customers. Further, an overview of a specially developed adapted integrated planning and analysis tool is given. The application of the strategy and the tool is shown in the context of the project IWRM for oases in Béni Abbès, Algeria.