Tunisia is in one of the world’s most water-scarce and dry regions. The Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) for Tunisia indicates that its economy, the population, and ecosystems are highly vulnerable to climate change (CC). The country is expected to see shrinking of agricultural land areas due to increasing water scarcity. The reduction of agricultural GDP as a result of declining yields is estimated at about 5 to 10% by as early as 20301.

Drinking water is a scarce and expensive resource in Tunisia and the pressure on already scarce resource are increasing. Considering the climate change, population increase and the demand for water, the SONEDE2 is searching for long-term solutions to address water scarcity, such as installation of desalination plants, water transfer, dams and other solutions. Many of the available options are highly energy-intensive thus causing high operational costs.

Tunisia has made water resources management and access to water for the population a national priority. Implementation of smart water networks is one way of supporting this national priority and is a core activity of this readiness proposal. The implementation of the proposed smart water network will on a long term horizon improve the management of the water resources in the whole of Tunisia, and on a shorter term in the Sahel district of Tunisia, which will be the target area of the activities of this project.

The main objective of the activities described in this readiness proposal is to demonstrate the benefits of a smart water supply network through application and testing in the selected pilot areas. The experiences gained will help testing technologies and their benefits in the specific areas, but will also assist the Tunisian authorities in developing an overall action plan for implementing smart water network that will help to:

• reduce and rationalize water consumption through smart meter installations
• reduce non-revenue water in the distribution network through hydraulic modelling and strategic installation of flow meters
• reduce energy consumption by optimizing water production and distribution management through hydraulic modelling and smart metering
• achieve smart management of local water resources.