Currently all the investments in the water sector are public, i.e, from the national level. They are of two kinds:

• Funds given to the Ministry of Water Resources, in order to finance what are called the sector-based projects / dams, transfers, studies, important networks (drinking water and sewage), treatment plants, water treatments, irrigation areas. These funds are then allocated or distributed among the different structures (agencies) under the control of the ministry, depending on their own tasks
• Funds given to the local collectivities (wilayas and municipalities) to finance small networks at the local level.

Even though the private sector is officially allowed by the law to invest, it is not yet financially involved in the financing of projects.

During the last two years, there has been a vast thinking on the implication of foreign partners in the managing assistance of the Algerienne Des Eaux (ADE) and Office National d’Assainissement (ONA which is now in progression. For example, the experience of a private management is now working in Algiers.

Especially the field of economical analysis, economical measurements, and economical studies is facing a serious lack. The same thing is for institutional studies. For the moment, no general or important study has been made about investments or water pricing in the water sector, though the several attempts run in the past years.

Another problem is seriously encountered, for political reasons; the price of water for the industrial or agricultural use is far from the real cost (economical and environmental). This means a real financial charge for the companies managing the water distribution (most of them public), and thus, for the national budget.