Morocco’s environment ministry has classified eight beaches as unfit for bathing this summer and warned that three others remain partly polluted, even as national compliance with the bathing water standard reached its highest level on record.
The six named beaches are Quemado and Sabadia in Al Hoceima, Likheira in Dakhla-Oued Eddahab, and Tangier City, Mohammedia and Oued Merzeg in Casablanca. Likheira is specifically cited for wastewater and industrial discharges. The ministry did not name the remaining two, saying only that they are on the Atlantic coast.
Tangier City, Mohammedia and Oued Merzeg remain partly affected by pollution.
Of 466 stations with sufficient data for classification under national standard 03.7.199.NM, 44, or 95.28 percent, met the bathing requirement, up from 88 percent in 2021. Twenty-two stations failed. The ministry attributed failures to uncontrolled wastewater discharges, inadequate sanitary facilities, summer overcrowding and proximity to river mouths and bays where land-based pollution accumulates.
Marine litter remains above acceptable levels despite a 25 percent drop in total waste collected this year. Plastic and polystyrene accounted for 87 percent of debris gathered across 64 monitored beaches.
Average density reached 525 items per 100 metres on the Atlantic coast and 473 on the Mediterranean, against a UN Environment Programme reference level of 369.
The ministry recommended banning random wastewater discharges into coastal drainage networks, reinforcing sewage monitoring, improving beach sanitation infrastructure and expanding waste collection. The national monitoring programme covers 204 beaches, up from 152 in 2015, and feeds into the Blue Flag certification process overseen by the Mohammed VI Foundation for Environmental Protection.
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