As the country gets ready for another hot summer, it announced more strict rules about how water can be used.

In response to the worst drought in the country's history, Tunisia will cut off water to its people for seven hours each night, the state water distribution company SONEDE said.


As the drought-stricken country prepares for another hot summer, it put more restrictions on how water can be used. For example, potable water can't be used to water farms or green spaces or to clean public areas or cars.

On Friday, SONEDE said that the water will be turned off every night from 9pm to 4am, starting right away.

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Its head, Mosbah Helali, said that the drought in the country, which was caused by a lack of rain for four years in a row and which SONDE said was due to climate change, was the first of its kind and asked Tunisians to understand the decision.

He said that if the rules were broken, people could get fines or even go to jail.

Since the start of the fasting month of Ramadan, when many people stay up late, people in several parts of the capital have already complained that their mains supply has been cut off at night without warning.

"Years of drought and low water flow into reservoirs have hurt the country's water supplies, which are now at a level that has never been seen before," the ministry said.

The new decision could make things worse for people in a country where public services are bad, inflation is high, and the economy is weak.

The North African country has been going through years of drought, which has been made worse by pipeline leaks in an old distribution system.

Hamadi Habib, a senior agriculture ministry official, said that Tunisia's dams were only able to hold about one billion cubic meters of water, or 30 percent of their maximum capacity.

Farmers' unions are worried about the coming season, especially when it comes to grains. Since Russia invaded Ukraine early last year, the price of wheat on the international market has gone through the roof. This makes it harder for Tunisia to get enough flour.

Due to the lack of rain, the Tunisian Federation for Agriculture and Fisheries said that thousands of hectares of farmland were at risk of being left empty.

"The cereal season this year will be a disaster—there won't be a harvest," a spokesman named Anis Kharbech told Tunisian media. He said that the yields that were expected would not even be enough to make seeds for the next crop.

Usually, 10 percent of Tunisia's gross domestic product comes from agriculture (GDP).

Scientists have said that repeated heatwaves are a clear sign of global warming caused by humans, and that droughts around the world are likely to get more common, last longer, and be more severe.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES