Surroundings in Mauritania

Mauritania has a formal framework for the quality and safety of the everyday environment, while practical services remain uneven. The main local terms include cadre de vie for living conditions, salubrité publique for public cleanliness and health, and assainissement for sanitation. The legal framework recognizes a right to a healthy and balanced environment. A person or organization that causes environmental damage must repair it and remove its effects. Dumping, depositing or discharging waste outside designated sites is prohibited. Urban drinking-water supply is provided through SNDE. Rural supply uses ONSER, direct or delegated management and licensed private providers where a SAEP system or another network exists. AEP refers to drinking-water supply, while SAEP refers to a local water-supply system. Access depends on network availability; no universal household eligibility rule or standardized resident application route has been identified. The 2026 national tariff framework uses a fixed subscription or access component and a variable consumption component, with progressive domestic tiers. Exact end-user tier prices were not confirmed in the available material. The framework also provides for national tariff equalization, compensation for 2026–2027 and an ONSER solidarity surcharge of 1 MRU per cubic metre, estimated at about 20 million MRU per year in subsidy support. Tariffs are normally reviewed every three to five years, with exceptional review possible after a major economic or regulatory shock. Where a public sewer exists, building owners have a duty to connect to it. Where no sewer exists, regulated septic tanks and soakaways provide the fallback. Official targets for 2024–2029 include full rural potable-water coverage, connection of all urban agglomerations, more than 50% wastewater collection and treatment in Nouakchott and Nouadhibou, and improved latrine equipment for all targeted areas. No general household sanitation fee, application deadline or universal collection entitlement was identified. Waste producers and holders must dispose of or recycle waste themselves or hand it to a local authority or a state-approved company. Local authorities are responsible for suppressing illegal dumps. The rules cover household-related waste as well as biomedical, physicochemical and microbiological waste. Public-health facilities require immediate compliant collection, sorting, transport, storage and treatment. Liquid waste still requires treatment, septic systems or latrine solutions where a public sewer is unavailable. No nationwide household collection timetable, standard fee, pickup eligibility rule or public complaint portal was identified. The environmental administration, including DECE, controls water, air and soil quality, prevents pollution and nuisances, and carries out inspections. Facilities that discharge effluent need prior technical approval and environmental authorization. Sources of atmospheric emissions must reduce pollution that threatens health or the environment. Mauritania has no confirmed nationwide public air-quality index, noise limit in decibels, standard noise complaint route or resident compensation procedure in the available material. Projects likely to cause sensitive environmental effects require prior authorization by the responsible ministry based on an EIE, meaning an environmental impact assessment. The assessment covers the existing site, the proposed activity, affected surroundings, chemicals, alternatives, impacts including public health, mitigation measures, uncertainties and a summary. A public inquiry takes place before the decision. Government bodies, experts and interested persons or associations may submit comments. The decision should be written, reasoned and communicated to interested persons and groups, and it may follow no more than three months after the inquiry. The promoter selects the consultant, while DECE and the ministry review the assessment; CTED may give an opinion when the assessment is rejected. No filing fee or general submission deadline was identified. Urban green-space planning has a formal equivalent through the Service des Espaces Verts Urbains and local authorities. No general access entitlement, resident application process or maintenance standard was identified. Nouakchott's Priority Development Programme, with an approximate budget of 5.1 billion MRU, plans stormwater networks in low-lying areas, stagnant-water remediation, ecological lakes, new green spaces and roadside planting or reforestation. These are programme targets rather than a universal current entitlement. Flood and coastal risks receive separate public planning. Nouakchott is exposed to coastal erosion, submersion and flooding. The National Intervention and Response Plan for Risks and Floods supports monitoring and rapid response, and a ministerial committee for the 2026 rainy season was activated on 23 June 2026. SALN was created as a mixed company for protection and development of the Nouakchott coastline. No public emergency number, general resident eligibility rule, compensation route, relocation appeal procedure or standard application deadline was identified. Public-utility subdivision plans for Wompou, Taga and Bezoul Errahma aim to support regulated and more inclusive settlement, reduce flood and climate vulnerability and provide durable basic services. Electricity access follows a separate SOMELEC Guichet Unique or CUREMT process. The documented route is a written connection request, payment of the quotation and construction costs, contract signing, meter installation and energization. The request can require the address, transformer or subscribed power, contact details, proof of ownership or lease and a site plan. An official 2021 guide indicated eleven days in Nouakchott, but its current validity is unconfirmed and household low-voltage fees remain quotation-based. A 2026 rural-electrification programme targets 170 isolated localities in seven wilayas through 85 solar mini-grids, 36 network connections and solar-home systems in 20 localities; individual application rules were not published. Environmental officers and judicial police can record offences. Environmental associations and local authorities may initiate public action. Statutory fines stated in the law range from 3,000 to 200,000 ouguiya for illegal waste holding, abandonment or prohibited discharges; 5,000 to 500,000 ouguiya for failure to surrender waste, unauthorized discharges, water abstraction, wells or classified installations; and 10,000 to 1,000,000 ouguiya for obstructing controls or providing false mandatory data. There is no confirmed unified surroundings portal, resident grant, nationwide noise service, current household water or electricity tariff table, universal waste timetable or standard complaint deadline.