Water safety plan at the Saharawi refugee camps in Tindouf (Algeria)

• Main Authors: R. García, R. Blanco, J. Anta, A. Naves, J. Molinero
• Format: Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Universitat Politecnica de Valencia 2018-01-01
• Series: Ingeniería del Agua
• Subjects: sahara; refugiados; plan de seguridad del agua gestión de sistemas de abastecimiento; calidad de agua; sistema de información geográfica
• Online Access: https://polipapers.upv.es/index.php/IA/article/view/7998

Since 1975, about 165,000 people from Western Sahara are living as refugees in the Sahara Desert near Tindouf (Algeria). Available water resources come from deep boreholes located up to tens of kilometers away from the settlements of the population, bulk water is treated in reverse osmosis plants and by chlorination systems and, after, distributed through a network of taps and water tankers. Water supply system complexity and extreme conditions force the elaboration of a Water Safety Plan, aiming to guarantee appropriate provision and quality of water. The plan follows a risk assessment methodology and establishes control mechanisms to minimize risk impacts, which are compiled in six action protocols for infrastructures and water quality monitoring. As a novel contribution, the proposed methodology developed in the refugee camps incorporates besides the conventional water quality assessment concepts, the analysis of the volume of supplied water, linked with some water-washed diseases. Since the end of 2014, those protocols have begun to be applied obtaining results that have a positive effect on the life quality of refugees.