Morocco’s situation is symptomatic of a worsening freshwater shortage
HIBAPRESS-RABAT
Morocco’s situation is symptomatic of a worsening freshwater shortage, amplified by demographic pressure. From services to agriculture, from industry to tourism, all sectors of activity are threatened.
The numbers speak for themselves. The Kingdom is entering its sixth consecutive year of drought, a critical phase the country has never experienced before. Dams are filled, on average, to only a quarter of their capacity, while groundwater levels are falling.
Today, the annual water supply per capita in the Kingdom is slightly more than 600 m3, i.e. four times less than 60 years ago.
Water stress in Morocco is increasingly frequent and intense. The Kingdom is facing an emergency situation.
Fortunately, the Moroccan government recognized the scale of the problem several years ago, and is redoubling its efforts to address this challenge. The country is implementing numerous projects to strengthen and secure access to water, accelerating the construction of dams and seawater desalination plants, and investing in the reuse of wastewater as well as in water-saving projects for drinking water and irrigation networks.
Today, the partnership continues and is gaining momentum. A new avenue is being explored: interconnecting the basins and creating a water transfer network to ensure equitable distribution of the resource between the regions.
Thus, in the event of a shortage in a territory, water can be transferred from surplus basins to those with the greatest deficit.
