Il sistema acquifero del Sahara Settentrionale. La gestione complessa di una risorsa strategica condivisa

The NWSAS in the main water re source in North Western Sahara. It is a huge aquifer shared between three States: Algeria, Libya and Tunisia. The authors have verified the critical situation of this aquifer in the frame of Hydraulic Commission works, set up by the Italian-Tunisian Cooperation in the aim of driving of the Project of rehabilitation and creation of date palmates in Rejim Matoug, in South Tunisia. The strategic importance of this water resource comes form its quantity as from its artesianism. Recent studies provided by the OSS have however demonstrated that its future utilization couldn’t be guaranteed for the next decades: if the exploitation rate keep on at the current value or even worse as expected for the next years, the water extraction cost could become unsustainable at 2050 horizon. International legislations, consumption data monitoring and cooperation among the interested countries, together with people awakening, seem to be the most effective ways to prevent some possible system collapse.