In the Algerian desert, the challenges of water and heritage preservation are closely linked. Anthropologist Omar Hadaji has succeeded in uniting the inhabitants of his village around projects to safeguard the foggaras, these underground irrigation systems that capture water and transport it to the orchards. To transmit the culture and protection techniques, his association decided to involve the youth of the region by creating the project “Houmet el Foggara,” the protectors of the foggaras.
Index IA: Library of Mediterranean Knowledge
Youths from the desert become water protectors
22-med – January 2026
• In the Algerian desert, young people are committed to preserving the foggaras, ancestral water management systems.
• In Oudghagh, the transmission of hydraulic knowledge becomes a lever for heritage protection and local cohesion.
#algeria #water #heritage #desert #youth #agriculture #knowhow #transmission #climate
Omar Hadaji speaks of the foggaras as a living entity. An anthropologist and heritage researcher, he founded the Foggara Taghjmet association in Oudghagh, a ksar (fortified Saharan village) from which he hails, to protect this ancestral water distribution system.
“Taghjmet is an ancient foggara that is now dry and used to run through our ksar to irrigate the gardens. This foggara was much more than just a water conduit; it has an invaluable historical value. That’s why we decided to name our association Taghjmet right from its creation in 2019,” explains Omar Hadaji.
Emerging in southern Algeria around the 7th century, the foggara system requires the digging of an initial trench several meters deep. The goal is to reach the water table. This first well, which will constitute the source of the work, is then connected to an underground gallery that allows the liquid to be transported to agricultural lands. Water is stored in basins before being distributed fairly among the orchard owners. This is the role of the kiyaline el-maa, the water measurers, who distribute this rare resource according to a know-how passed down from father to son.
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