The Moroccan government will adopt additional financial allocations in 2023 with an increase of 5 billion dirhams compared to last year; to fight off the difficult challenges caused by drought.
Abderrahim El Kasiri, the national coordinator of the Moroccan Coalition for Climate and Sustainable Development, said that raising the budget allocated to confronting drought was expected, noting that the way it will be distributed remains the key to benefiting from it.
El Kasiri told Hespress AR that the distribution should be carried out differently from a conventional way, emphasizing the necessity for appropriate soil distribution and a participative approach to investments, in collaboration with organizations and the private sector.
With 1.5 billion dirhams coming from the state to finance desalination projects and 1.4 billion dirhams in the form of projects to supply village centers and districts with potable water, the government has now set aside 4 billion dirhams to continue the construction of major and medium dams and the liquidation of properties connected to these dams.
The expert advised taking part in both small and large projects, allocating a portion of the budget to find solutions, and including the local community in the water management process to come up with collaborative action.
With the completion of the various structured projects listed in the main national water program for 2020–2027, the government believed that it had demonstrated the necessary efforts ever since taking over.
The implementation of projects for seawater desalination plants, the completion of planned dam construction, and water interconnection networks are among the top priorities in 2023.
Following the purchase of tanker trucks, the government was able to mobilize additional groundwater resources in the same context and provide drinking water to over two million people, including 700,000 residents of rural areas.
To address the need for drinking water in the dry areas, the government also purchased mobile units to desalinate seawater and remove minerals from brackish water from aquifers.
Aside from the programs outlined concerning the basins of Moulouya, Loukos, Tensift, Oum Er-Rbia, and the Draa-Tafilalet region, there will be restrictions on the illicit extraction of water.
The recent rains revived some dams at the national level, recording a slight increase in the percentage of their filling, as it moved from 24.5% at the end of last month to 25.5% now.
Regardless, the filling rate is still weak compared to last year, when it was estimated at 36.6%.
Up until the middle of last week, the estimated water reserves in Morocco’s different dams were four billion and 116.9 million cubic meters.
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