Study: Only 9% of Moroccans see water as a priority despite damaging drought

A survey on drinking water and sanitation carried out across 39 African countries revealed that Moroccans are among the least concerned about water, and don’t see it as a priority. Only 9% of the Moroccan population see water as a priority, according to the recent Afrobarometer study.

Carried out between 2021 and 2023, the study reveals little progress towards the goal of universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation on the continent, as water supply ranks fourth among the most important issues Africans want their governments to tackle.

While only 38% of citizens rate their government’s public water and sanitation services positively, 56% of Moroccans say they are satisfied, ranking 4th after the Seychelles (87% satisfied), Tanzania (64%), Mali (59%) and Niger (57%).

Despite governments’ commitment to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the African Union’s Agenda 2063, most countries are far from achieving their goal of ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation.

Around one in four African citizens report that their homes have often lacked clean drinking water in the past year. Only a minority of Africans enjoy access to piped water and sanitation, with rural and poor populations suffering notable disadvantages, says the study.

In Morocco, where the country has been suffering from an unprecedented and worrying drought for over 4 years, and where water is essential to the country’s agriculture-based economy, only 9% of the population considers water to be an absolute priority and one of the most important issues facing the country.

This contrasts with most African countries, where the percentages range from 19% to 49%. Morocco thus ranks among the last countries whose population is concerned about water, seeing it as a priority, alongside Sudan (also 9%), Cape Verde (9%), Botswana (5%) and Tunisia (5%).

Over the past 12 months, 3% of respondents in Morocco said they had run out of water “several times or always”. The report indicates that at least 4 out of 10 citizens have suffered from frequent water shortages in Gabon (42%) and Congo Brazzavile (41%), for example. A further 7% said they had run out of water “a few times” and 12% “just once or twice” during the year, compared with 79% who said they had never run out of water in Morocco.

The same survey indicates that the Kingdom is one of only 5 African countries to have recorded progress of more than 3 percentage points in households always having sufficient clean water, with a 5% improvement, compared with 17% in Tanzania, 11% in Lesotho, 10% in Burkina Faso and 5% in Zambia.

In terms of sewage systems in the enumeration area studied, Morocco, alongside Tunisia and South Africa, are the top 3 countries with the best percentage.

Tunisia takes first place in the ranking with a percentage of 79%, followed by Morocco with 72% and South Africa with 69%, while the last countries in the ranking are Mozambique and Niger with 9% and Malawi with 5%.

As far as toilets are concerned, a third (34%) of Africans claim to have toilets or latrines inside their homes.
latrines inside their homes, while 39% have them outside their homes, but in the
but inside the compound.

One in five (19%) Africans say they have to use a toilet outside their home, and 8% say they have no access to a toilet or latrine. More than nine out of 10 households have toilets inside their homes in Tunisia (97%), Seychelles (95%), Morocco (95%) and Mauritius (94%).

Such facilities are rare in Madagascar (2%), Uganda (3%), Lesotho (3%), Malawi (3%) and Ethiopia (3%). Similarly, the survey indicates that households without access to toilets/latrines, even outside the concession, are most numerous in Namibia (28%), São Tomé and Príncipe (28%), Benin (25%), Niger (24%) and Togo (21%).

However, the scarcity of toilets at home does not necessarily go hand in hand with a general lack of access to sanitary facilities, points the study, since in some countries a very large proportion of the population uses toilets or latrines inside the concession rather than in the home, notably in Mali (80%), Lesotho (76%), Zambia (72%), Eswatini (69%) and Mozambique (67%).