Rabat – Minister of Equipment and Water Nizar Baraka has reiterated Morocco’s commitment to speeding up measures to tackle the water crisis.
Baraka made his remarks in a new interview with Le Matin newspaper, where he cited projects seeking to accelerate safeguarding Morocco’s water resources.
Acknowledging the challenges Morocco faces, Baraka said the country adopted solutions to tackle the 2023-2024 hydrological year crisis, noting that this year is marked by a “severe impact of climate change on water resource availability and its impact on dam storage levels.”
The solutions include sweater desalination projects, allowing more water from dams to be allocated to inland and mountainous areas to meet their drinking water needs and irrigation.
The solutions also involve the reuse of treated wastewater for watering green spaces and golf courses.
For Baraka, interbasin water transfers is also part of the solutions to ensure the population’s drinking water supply and for irrigation.
Plans include setting up interconnection pipelines for hydraulic systems, and drilling and equipping water wells.
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Baraka also mentioned investments in the water sector, through the implementation of projects, including conventional and unconventional water resources mobilization to ensure the sustainable development of the water sector and the country’s water supply.
The project, which will require a budget estimated at MAD 115.4 billion, has been revised upwards to reach the amount of MAD 143 billion,he said.
Morocco has been facing several challenges linked to water scarcity and drought amid dry seasons in the past five years.
To address the situation, Moroccan provinces announced several measures to rationalize drinking water use, including an appeal calling for car washes and public hammams to stop operating three days a week.
This instruction comes, however, amid reports, highlighting the growing exports of water-thirsty crops like avocado.
Agriculture-focused website FreshPlaza said yesterday that Morocco exported 30,000 tonnes of avocados for the 2023-2024 season as of January 7, with experts expecting the country to export 60,000 tonnes of avocado this season.
