Wilaya water directorates get new structure and wider duties

Executive Decree No. 24-275 of 13 August 2024, published in the Journal officiel no. 57 of 21 August 2024, changes the 2002 rules governing the wilaya water directorates. Each directorate may now be organised into five or six services, and the decree sets out the services for each case. The list includes water mobilisation, drinking and industrial water supply, sanitation and flood risk prevention, water policing and administration, with agricultural water added as a separate service in the six-service model.

The decree also gives the directorates new responsibilities. They are to take part in promoting the use of desalinated sea water, brackish water treated by demineralisation, and treated wastewater reuse, in line with sustainable development. They are also to supervise the investigation and recording of offences under the water law, and to help draw up and apply measures to prevent and fight attacks on the public hydraulic domain. In addition, the names of the former regional bodies are replaced throughout by the Direction de l'hydraulique de wilaya, the minister responsible for hydraulics and the hydraulics subdivisions.

The decree takes effect on publication, as the text itself gives no separate start date.