Flow rainfall, increasingly recurrent episodes of drought, severe deficit of hydraulic basins, level of groundwater tables which recedes by 2 to 3 meters per year…: this is the panorama of the water situation in Morocco. A situation that is all the more alarming since the availability of water resources in the Kingdom has fallen from 2,560 m3 in 1960 to less than 620 m3 in 2022, i.e. a level below the shortage threshold set at 1,000 m3/inhabitant/year. And we are moving towards the threshold of 500 m3/inhabitant/year.
This is why the management of water resources has been made a national priority, as evidenced by the national program for the supply of drinking water and irrigation 2020-2027, which mobilizes investments of around 115.4 billion of dirhams. The problem of water currently crystallizes all the debates. Witness the Water Symposium, organized this Wednesday, October 5, 2022 by Finances News Hebdo, in partnership with the Ministry of Equipment and Water and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. Held under the theme “Water Efficiency and Security in Morocco: All Responsible!”, this important event brought together all the players in the ecosystem concerned by this issue.
It was broken down into three round tables which made it possible to address water stress in Morocco in all its dimensions. The first round table focused on “public policies for the protection of water resources and efficiency”; the second focused on “good practices in water governance and control”; and the last on “public-private partnerships in the management of water resources”. In his speech, the Minister of Equipment and Water, Nizar Baraka, immediately wanted to set the scene.
“Morocco is ranked 23rd in the world in terms of exposure to water risks”, he said, stressing that “2022, which is the 4th consecutive year of drought, has been particularly dry, with a drop of more than 80% in water supply. This year has also been very hot, with temperature levels that exceeded usual averages by around 1 degree. All this obviously affects the consumer and the farmers, in addition to threatening future generations”.
According to him, in the face of climate change over which governments have no control, there are two essential elements to which attention must be paid. The first concerns water protection, in other words protecting citizens against thirst, floods and lack of food products (as farmers are affected by drought). It is also a matter of protecting future generations, particularly in relation to groundwater. “This year we have had an even greater drop in water tables, which in some places has reached up to six meters against an average drop of 3 per year”.
The second element relates to water efficiency: which supposes “better consumption, better production and less reject, that is to say waste less. It is in this capacity that we have launched an important campaign entitled “”Stop the waste””, he notes. In this, the Minister points out, “we sometimes find ourselves with a lot of water at the level of the large dams that we are obliged to reject at sea in order to avoid the risk of destruction of these works following the floods which may occur”. Thus, he says, “1 billion cubic meters of water is discharged into the sea every year in Morocco. In 2022, despite the low rainfall and the drop in inflows, we released 500 million m3 at the Wahda dam”.
Multiplication des initiatives
Faced with the severe water deficit affecting Morocco, the public authorities are multiplying initiatives. Currently, no less than 16 dams are under construction. “We are also going to start a water transfer operation available from the Sebou and Bouregreg basins. In this way, cities like Casablanca can be more secure in terms of water,” says Baraka. The actions also relate to the desalination of seawater, the reuse of wastewater, a better connection between the different basins, a better use of water resources in the agricultural sector and in industrial areas, the protection of groundwater …
In this, “we are further in the process of mapping and listing the various groundwater tables. We are also considering the installation of meters at well level in order to rationalize their operation”, underlines the Minister, who wished to salute the efforts of the OCP Group in terms of promoting the water desalination technique, given that all of its industrial sites will eventually be supplied solely by dedicated desalination stations. For Baraka, however, public action is not enough to deal with this water problem, which will persist and is likely to get worse. This is why he calls for the mobilization of all citizens.
Emergency in the Casablanca-Settat region
Water consumption in Casablanca-Settat is the highest in the Kingdom. This region is very affected by water stress. “In 2025, a deficit of 330 million m3 is expected, which will be increased to 417 million m3 in 2030 if nothing is done”, warns Abdellatif Maâzouz, who calls for urgent action. The president of the region assures that he has taken the measure of the gravity of the situation, since “9 billion DH have been mobilized in this respect within the framework of the Regional Development Program”. Moreover, “a program of around forty small and medium-sized desalination stations has been launched for 1.4 billion dirhams”, he continues.
There is also talk of improving the drinking water distribution network to reduce losses currently estimated at 20%. Likewise, “we are in the process of setting up two large collectors which will enable the recovery and recycling of water. As such, a city as green as Rabat, which has a very efficient collector, represents, for us, a real example to be duplicated for our region”, considers Maâzouz, who concludes that “the problem of water is today seriously taken into account at central, regional and local levels”.
Desalination, the alternative
The water problem is not specific to Morocco, it is a global issue. For the Director General of ONEE, Abderrahim El Hafidi, “exogenous factors, such as climate change and drought, tend to show that our water management model has shown its limits, since it depends on factors on which we cannot ‘has no control’. Just for the production of drinking water, Morocco is 97% dependent on dam water and groundwater, he said. Hence the need to reduce this dependence vis-à-vis this variability of intake. For the boss of ONEE, the future of Morocco lies in innovative technologies. In other words, desalination. This is because Morocco has made “giant strides” in this area.
“Previously, the production cost per cubic meter was too high due to the price of energy (which accounts for 45% of the production cost per cubic meter). Currently, this is no longer the case, especially since with the advances made by the Kingdom in the field of renewable energies, the kWh is very competitive”. The words of Mohammed Jalil, hydrologist expert, go in the same direction: “climate variability will increase, and it is a global phenomenon”. “Climate change results in the risk of major crises for which Morocco must prepare”, he adds, hence the “need to place the issue of water variability at the center of national priorities”.
Si Mohammed Jalil adheres to desalination, he nevertheless notes that this technology has a certain effect on the explosion of energy costs. This is why he calls for “thinking more about the use of nuclear energy in order to be able to desalinate at a lower cost”. The facts are there: politicians, public authorities, private operators, experts…, all recognize that Morocco is in a situation of extreme water emergency. Everyone also recognizes that it is not only necessary to act on supply, but also on demand, in particular by raising the awareness of populations. Because, ultimately, the public policies deployed will only really have an effect if citizens adhere to them. This is one of the strong messages of this Water Symposium which was of high quality, the level of the debates having been raised by the quality of the speakers. The only downside, which however did not detract from the success of the event: the notable absence of the Ministries of Agriculture and Energy, despite being very much at the heart of this water issue.