Among the achievements is a substantial increase in the amount of drinking water supplied from reservoirs, long-distance water transfers and desalination at a low price to consumers, thanks to the country's substantial oil and gas revenues.

One of them is poor service quality in many cities outside Algiers with 78% of urban residents suffering from intermittent water supply.

There has also been insufficient progress concerning reuse of treated water, a government priority in this dry country.

[11] In Sétif in Northeastern Algeria water shortages have led to protests and clashes with the police.

[12] In contrast, in Algiers continuous water supply was established with the help of a French private company, SUEZ, in 2011.

Since rainfall is highly seasonal, surface water is stored in 72 reservoirs with a total production capacity of 7.4 billion m3 per year in 2009.

[14] In some parts of the country, such as in the valleys of El Oued and Ouargla, a rising water table due to seepage from septic tanks was a major problem.

Beginning in 2005 at a cost of almost US$1 billion sewers were laid, pumping stations and treatment plants were built to convey the reclaimed water to agricultural areas for reuse.

Major parts of the rivers Tafna, Macta, Chéliff, Soummam and Seybousse are polluted.

In the Constantine area the level of manganese and of chlorides in drinking water was close to those allowed by the WHO as of 2004.

In 2009 the first phase of a much larger plant with a capacity of 200,000 m3/day was put into production in Chatt el Hilal to supply Aïn Témouchent and Oran.

[7] According to government sources, in 2011 average water production was as high as 170 liter per capita and day.

80% of water distribution systems in Algeria are under the responsibility of Algérienne des Eaux (AdE), a state-owned company.

Both entities were created in 2001 and operate under the supervision of the Ministry of Water Resources that was established a year earlier.

The private sector operates the water supply and sanitation systems of three large cities, i.e. Algiers, Oran and Constantine, under management contracts with AdE and ONA.

However, many desalination plants are financed by foreign direct investment through Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) contracts.

The decree also defines three user categories: residential; administration and services; as well as industrial and touristic.

In 2005 this tariff was 6.3 Algerian Dinar per cubic meter or 9 US Cents in the Algiers, Oran and Constantine zones.

For residential users in the first block in the zones Algiers, Constantine and Annaba it is 2.35 Algerian dinar per cubic meter or 3 US cents.

It provided a grant of 30 million Euro in 2011 to support sanitation through a program called EAU II.

An earlier 20 million Euro grant called EAU I financed the updating of the National Water Plan, an operational plan for the Ghrib dam, an early warning and forecasting system for floods in Sidi Bel Abbès as well as an electronic documentation system for the Ministry of Water Resources.

[21] In 2011 the Société Wallonne des Eaux (SWDE) from Belgium and AdE signed a twinning contract to improve water quality monitoring.