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A sustainable water resource management requires the control of the component of hydrological balance. The evapotranspiration is the main factor of water loss in the area of Djelfa, with a semi arid climate. Several physical and empirical methods (Thornthwaite, Blaney- Griddle, Turc, Bouchet and the Penman-Monteith-FAO method) using climatic and meteorological data are now available to estimate potential evapotranspiration. Climatic data available in the meteorological station of the Djelfa area covers the period 1984/1985 to 2005/2006. They include temperature, relative humidity, wind speed values and sunshine. Reference evapotranspiration has been calculated by all the models above. Resultants from using the over reference evapotranspiration calculation methods were compared to those from piche evapotranspiration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]