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The desalination of waters in Algeria, a reality, a choice obligatory, but what processes? A. KETTAB (1); F. AMMOUR (2); S. OUSSEDIK (3); A. ABBAS (4) (1) Professor in NATIONAL POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL (E.N.P) - ALGIERS Director of Laboratory of Scientific Research of Water (LSR-Water) (2) Charg�e de cours ; ECOLE NATIONALE DE L�HYDRAULIQUE- BLIDA n (3) Charg� de cours ;Universit� de Blida ; Dpt. G�nie -chimique (4) Associate professor ; UNIVERSITY OF BAHREIN -CHEMICAL ENGINEERING DPT North Africa may be considered as a semi-arid or even an arid region. Algeria, in particular, suffers from large shortages in drinking, domestic, industrial and agricultural waters. A number factors have contributed to these shortages and increasing demands for water. They include rapidly increasing population, degradation of surface and ground waters, rapid industrialization as well as unfavorable climatic conditions; the average yearly rainfall in Algeria is less than 600 mm and it is not equally distributed. One solution to meeting the increasing demands for water is to resort to �non-conventional� water sources such as treatment and re-use of wastewaters and desalination of brackish and sea waters. The Algerian industry has over 30 years of experience in the desalination of seawater. Around 40 small to medium-size desalination units are currently in operation producing about 100000 m3/day. The use of desalination as a means of supplementing the natural water resources is gaining momentum and a number of large projects are currently under consideration. Further reductions in the production costs, technological advancements as well as improvements in harnessing the renewable energy sources (wind and solar) will definitely lead to the widespread use of water desalination in North Africa. The main objective of the paper is to present the following: Water requirements and current status of the water desalination industry in Algeria. The technical elements which will render a given process the preferred regional choice for desalination. Technical and economical studies of a number of desalination plants in Algeria.