HE Water stress: How Casablanca manages scarcity

It is a fact that the water situation is critical across several watersheds in the Kingdom. Meeting the needs of a large city like Casablanca has become a major challenge. Indeed, the city consumes on average the equivalent of 500,000 cubic meters to 730,000 m3 per day. In 2021, the Lydec utility distributed more than 219 million m3 of drinking water. This water comes from two main sources, namely the Bouregreg Wadi (Sidi Mohammed ben Abdellah dam (107 million m3) and Oued Oum Er-Rbia (109 million m3). A minority contribution comes from 2 additional sources (Tit Mellil and Sidi Moussa Ben Ali). But the consumption peak is recorded between the months of April and October.
The water situation in the Oum Er-Rbia watershed is very critical given the low filling rate of dams, including the Al Massira dam (6.5%, according to the latest figures from the General Directorate of Water).
In order to avoid compromising the supply of drinking water to the southern area served by this watershed (Marrakech and its region), Lydec signed in 2020 a partnership agreement for the financing and implementation of the project to strengthen the supply of drinking water to the Greater Casablanca via the Bouregreg water supply systems, replacing part of the water from the Oum Er-Rbia area. Within the framework of this project, financed entirely by the Government, Lydec has undertaken to build a pumping station with a capacity of 1,000 liters/second and a discharge pipe between the «Mediouna 140» and «Merchich 240» sites.
The goal is to secure the supply of drinking water to the Southern part of the area under delegated management which is experiencing a very significant urban growth (Bouskoura, Ouled Saleh, Mediouna, El Mejjatia Ouled Taleb, Lahraouiyine …). The first phase of this important project aims to reduce the dependence of the drinking water supply of Greater Casablanca on the Oum Er-Rbia watershed, which is very heavily solicited and has a recurring water deficit, which has become structural.
The works consist in transferring drinking water from the existing ONEE facilities to the water storage tanks managed by Lydec and supplying the Southern area of Casablanca. They are currently being carried out in two phases: one entrusted to ONEE and another carried out by Lydec. «The works, whose cost amounts to 133 million MAD, are being finalized, and the commissioning is expected in the coming days», said the representative of the utility in charge of water/electricity, sanitation, and street lighting.
In addition, leak detection operations in the network have made it possible to save more than 10 million m3 of drinking water in 2021, i.e. the equivalent to the annual consumption of 1.2 million inhabitants.

Drinking water in figures

• 7,000 km of distribution networks
• 36 water storage tanks with a total capacity of 667,130 m3, i.e. an autonomy of more than 26 hours
• 19 pumping stations and 24 water boosters
• Daily consumption of between 500,000 and 730,000 m3.
• 219 million m3 of water distribu­ted in 2021
• 74 million m3 of water saved compared to 1997
• 98,900 bacteriological and physi­cochemical analyses performed in 2021;
• Overall compliance rate of drin­king water: 100%.
• 6.5 billion MAD invested since 1997.

Aziza EL AFFAS