Water stress: Baraka’s umpteenth alert
«When it comes to water, we are in a state of emergency. It is true that in Morocco’s history, we have not experienced 6 successive years of drought. This is the first time in Morocco’s history that the temperature has been 1.8 degrees higher than in previous years. As a result, evaporation levels have risen to 1.5 million cubic meters per day».
Nizar Baraka told M.P.s during question time in the House of Councillors on Tuesday, June 25 about the constraints and achievements of the Government in the water sector. The Minister of Equipment and Water complemented this gloomy picture by pointing out that the snow cover this year was minimal, not exceeding 4,500 square kilometers, compared with 36,000 square kilometers in 2023. This shows the impact on the level of satisfaction of water needs, particularly in terms of groundwater recharge.
The Minister recalled the acceleration in the pace of completion of the eighteen dams, from 6 months to 3 years. «If water is available, we will be able to store it to guarantee 3 to 4 years of irrigation», said the Minister.
For Baraka, all efforts are converging on three pillars, one of which concerns water from dams. The second concerns seawater desalination and wastewater treatment. The third pillar concerns rationalizing and saving water use.
«For drip irrigation, we want to reach 1 million hectares by 2030, hence the extra effort required in this area. In addition, we have begun work to improve the profitability of piping for drinking water and agriculture «noted Baraka, «because we lose between 30 and 50% of water due to leaks in the pipes.»
The Minister emphasized the principle of solidarity. His department has embarked on an operation which shows that Morocco is a leader in terms of solidarity between coastal and inland cities. Thanks to the Office Chérifien des Phosphates (OCP), a new plant will be built in Safi to supply the cities of Marrakech, Benguerir, and Youssoufia. This year, the city of El Jadida will supply water to the city of Khouribga. In fact, the aim is to ensure the supply of drinking water to inland cities which have a deficit in this area.
The Minister noted a problem for Safi, saved by the OCP plant. Without it, the city would have had no water, as the El Massira dam has only twenty-three million cubic meters. Those quantities would not have been sufficient to bring water to the city of Safi.
Mohamed CHAOUI
