An innovative project has been key for Morocco’s success in fighting water scarcity, said Nizar Baraka, Minister of Infrastructure and Water, this week, to the House of Representatives, while also highlighting other proactive emergency measures taken to deal with the current situation of drought the country is facing, reported l’Agence Marrocaine de Presse MAP.
At the end of August, the country that has suffered five consecutive years of drought launched a project in order to guarantee the supply of water to two of Morocco’s largest cities: Rabat and Casablanca. The plan consisted of connecting two of the most important rivers, which could thus supply the Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah and El Massira dams explains the newspaper Atalayar.
The positive results
Baraka highlighted that just a few months after the project was inaugurated, the results were very positive: “Thanks to this urgent project, 115 million cubic metres of water have been injected, enabling the current rate of 19% to be reached and ensuring the supply of drinking water to the population of the city of Rabat and the northern region of Casablanca.”
This figure, 115 million cubic meters, is extremely high considering that the Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah dam has a total capacity of 180 million cubic metres. According to Atalayar, the project had a total cost of 6 billion dirhams and was developed by the Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with the Regional Office for the Development of Gharb under the name of "water highways" with a length of more than 66 kilometres.
Built in record time, the project has demonstrated Morocco’s ample capacity to anticipate the challenges of climate change, one of the biggest threats currently facing the kingdom, according to officials and analysts. It has managed to avoid a serious crisis for two of its largest cities and has attracted the attention of many neighbouring countries.
The country is also working on other relevant projects to tackle water scarcity including constructing 179 dams by 2027, as well as approximately 20 desalination plants by 2030. The intention is that by this year, 50 per cent of the country's drinking water supply will be provided by desalination, reaching a production level of 1.4 billion m3.
