Africa’s Largest Desalination Plant in Chtouka Aitbaha To Open In March

Rabat – Morocco’s largest desalination plant in Chtouka Aitbaha, near Agadir, is 98% completed and is set to finalize construction during this month. The seawater desalination plant expects to be operational by March.

Chtouka Aitbaha plant is set to increase the country’s seawater desalination capacity, focusing on improving the coverage of drinking water in Agadir and the Souss-Massa region.

The plant, which has been under construction since 2018 under a public-private partnership (PPP), required an investment of approximately MAD 4.48 billion ($478 million).

The desalination plant’s mission is to save underground water resources by producing 400,000 cubic meters of potable water per day using the reverse osmosis process.

Reverse osmosis desalination uses filters to separate drinkable water from salty “brine” in seawater. Sustainability-oriented firm Acciona describes reverse osmosis as “not only the most advanced desalination system in the world today, it is the most efficient and beneficial for the planet.”

Two intakes in the ocean will bring the seawater to a catchment basin from which it will be pumped, after pre-treatment, to the desalination plant.

“The resource will be shared equitably between drinking water and irrigation water, contributing to the preservation of agricultural activity in the region,” said Mohammed Sadiki, Minister of Agriculture, Maritime Fisheries, Rural Development and Water.

Sadiki noted that the plant intends to preserve “crops with high added value and high-water consumption (citrus, early vegetables), as well as the overexploited groundwater resource.”

Chtouka Aitbaha project will feature five pumping stations, reservoirs, a main pipeline of 18.4km, and a distribution network of 480km. It also aims to secure the irrigation of 15,000 hectares that will benefit around 1500 farms in the region.

“The rate of progress of the irrigation network is 90.3%,” the Moroccan minister added, detailing, “Currently, farmers supply from the water table to irrigate thousands of hectares of plantations, causing an annual deficit of about 60 million m3 of water.”

Morocco addresses water shortages, one of its most pressing future challenges, with a mission to build other desalination plants in Casablanca, Sidi Ifni, Dakhla, and Safi.

The North African country ranks 19th in the “Top 33 Water-Stressed Countries by 2040” listed by the World Resources Institute (WRI).

Last week, the Ministry of Equipment, Transport, Logistics, and Water allocated MAD 2.4 billion ($260 million) for the 2021-2022 national emergency plan to secure the drinking water supply across the country.

With Morocco experiencing annual rain deficits since 2015 and in an effort to rebuild and restore water availability across the country, the kingdom implemented the “National Water Plan (PNE)” with an action plan of investing around $40 billion (MAD 374 billion) into the water sector.

The funding of the PNE and its subset, the National Priority Program for Drinking Water and Irrigation (NPP), was approved in January 2020.

The NPP will cover the period of 2020-2027 with a budget amounting to $11 billion (MAD 103 billion), focusing on reducing climate impacts and guaranteeing water security across Morocco.