Tunisia faces bottled water shortage amid heatwaves and power cuts

water shortage bottled water crisis heatwave power cuts Tunisia

Tunisia is facing a severe bottled water shortage driven by extreme summer heatwaves and infrastructure challenges. In July, packaged water consumption surged to four times its usual level, reaching an estimated 2.7 billion liters for the year 2025. This spike in demand has coincided with frequent power outages, which have disrupted both domestic water pumping systems and industrial bottling processes.

In response to the crisis, the Office national du thermalisme et de l’hydrothérapie (ONTH) mobilized over 3 million liters of bottled water daily for four days to supply the Grand Tunis area. However, critics have described this as a temporary measure that fails to address structural issues or provide support for rural regions outside major urban centers.

Retailers have reported significant shifts in consumer behavior, with bottled water accounting for 50% to 70% of supermarket distribution, compared to a normal rate of 20%. In some instances, bottled water sales have reached up to 90% of total supermarket activity. Despite public concerns regarding resource depletion, the Ministry of Agriculture clarifies that the bottled water sector accounts for only 0.19% of Tunisia's annual water resources, suggesting the crisis is a matter of distribution and production capacity rather than resource exhaustion.

Entities

Grand Tunis · Hungary · Judit Lannert · Kairouan · Ministry of Agriculture · Ministry of Commerce · Office national du thermalisme et de l’hydrothérapie · Tamás Totyik · Tunisia · Tunisian Company of Electricity and Gas · Tunisian Observatory for Weather and Climate

Claims

What the coverage asserts, and how many sources carry each claim.

[○ 1 SOURCE] Over 3 million liters of bottled water per day were mobilized for four days to supply Greater Tunis. www.leconomistemaghrebin.com
[○ 1 SOURCE] Bottled water currently represents between 50% and 70% of distribution in supermarkets, compared to 20% normally. www.webdo.tn
[○ 1 SOURCE] The bottled water sector accounts for only 0.19% of Tunisia's annual water resources. espacemanager.com
[○ 1 SOURCE] Packaged water consumption in July was four times higher than usual. www.webdo.tn
[○ 1 SOURCE] National water consumption for packaged water reached 2.7 billion liters in 2025. espacemanager.com
[○ 1 SOURCE] Tunisia has 30 operational industrial units for mineral and table water production. espacemanager.com