Government launches ambitious seawater desalination program for 1.4 billion cubic meters by 2030

Minister of Equipment and Water, Nizar Baraka, said, on Tuesday at the House of Advisors, that water desalination remains a priority for managing the water deficit, which has become structural, given the repercussions of global warming.

Responding to oral questions in Parliament, Baraka noted that by 2030, 50% of drinking water supply will be provided by desalination, pointing out that the government has put in place a plan to build several desalination plants in order to reach a production level of 1.4 billion m3 by that date.

The Minister also specified that OCP will be responsible for desalinating 560 million m3, stressing that 500 million m3 of water will be used for agriculture, while the remaining volume will be used to supply drinking water to citizens.

According to the government plan, coastal towns will be equipped with desalination plants, as part of a partnership between the public and private sectors, which means that they will not benefit from dam water that will be used to meet the needs of inland towns and rural areas, as well as for irrigation.

The Minister also explained that, to tackle the problem of water stress, the government has adopted an approach based on solidarity between coastal and inland towns, by extending drinking water supply channels and relieving pressure on dams, whose water will be destined for inland regions, the rural world and the agricultural sector.

A crucial investment amid worrying data

The water situation in Morocco is now alarming. The filling of hydraulic basins has fallen by 67%, affecting all the Kingdom’s hydraulic infrastructures, insisted the Minister.

Baraka explained that climate change is a reality, noting a one-degree rise in international temperatures compared to the 19th century.”This increase is far from the target set at the Paris Conference of not exceeding 1.5 degrees by 2050, posing a real problem on a global scale,” he said.

The second observation is that Morocco is one of the countries most affected by climate change,” continued the Minister. He cited as evidence that, over the past two years, the level of temperature rise has exceeded 2 degrees, reaching precisely 1.99 in 2022 and 2023.

“In 2023/2024, the temperature will reach 37 degrees, exceeding the global average. This situation is reflected, particularly where dams are concerned, in a daily evaporation rate of one and a half million cubic meters of water” he added.

As for the third finding highlighting the significant impact in Morocco, Baraka refers to annual water reserves amounting to 11.5 billion cubic meters between 1945 and 2023. However, over the last ten years, this figure has dropped to 7.2 billion cubic meters. Between 2017 and 2023, it fell further to 5.2 billion cubic meters, and over the last three years, the amount of basin filling has not exceeded 3 billion cubic meters, notes the official.

What’s more, “since September until today, 1.5 billion cubic meters of water have been recorded, but today only 500 million cubic meters have been added, representing a 67% drop that affects all water basins”, reveals Baraka.

Presenting quantitative indicators relating to the basins, he pointed out that the Loukkos dam, a large-scale water reservoir, recorded a fill of 282 million cubic meters the previous year, whereas this year, only 23 million cubic meters were recorded.

Similarly, the Sebou dam, which was once filled to 758 million cubic meters, recorded only 90 million cubic meters of water inflow. In addition, the Al Wahda dam, the largest in terms of available water capacity, received 400 million cubic meters in the first four months of the previous agricultural year, but only 11 million cubic meters this year. As a result, water inflows have fallen by between 60 and 90%, leading to a significant drop in the filling rate of dams, from 31.5% to 23.3%.

In addition, “we are seeing excessive exploitation of the water table, which is the future reservoir, and which has also seen a reduction. This year, for example, the water table in Tadla has fallen by 5 meters, in Beni Mellal by 4 meters, in Souss by 4 meters, in Berrechid by 3 meters, and in Chtouka by one and a half meters”, adds the Minister.

In addition to exploiting more than the annual quantity recharged, i.e. between one and one-and-a-half billion cubic meters per year, there is also the problem of sediment accumulation in the dams, also constituting an obstacle to their access, estimated at between 17 and 25 million cubic meters per year, with an annual average of 48 million cubic meters.

Baraka noted that it is essential to focus efforts on building dams, continuing to accelerate the pace of their completion, in parallel, “we need to pay greater attention to non-conventional water sources, focusing on seawater desalination and promoting the reuse of wastewater”.

For the official, it is also crucial to put an end to wastage and improve the efficiency of water use, promoting practices such as drip irrigation, among other fundamental measures, while preserving groundwater in order to guarantee the future of the country’s future generations and ensure sustainability.