Northern Morocco’s Dams Are 42% Full Due to Lack of Rain

The Moroccan region of Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima is seeing a drastic decrease in rainfall, which is directly affecting the filling rate of its dams at 42%, despite the area’s reputation for lushness and an abundance of water resources.

Rabat – The Moroccan region of Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima is seeing a drastic decrease in rainfall, which is directly affecting the filling rate of its dams at 42%, despite the area’s reputation for lushness and an abundance of water resources.

In a statement to the website Le 360, the head of the water resources management department at the Lockos Water Basin Agency, Tarik Dib, said that the area covered by this agency experienced a 34% rainfall deficit between September 2023 and February 2024, compared with the same period last year.

This comes as the 2023-24 water season has been marked by a severe rainfall deficit, making it a critical period for managing the region’s water resources.

While Morocco’s northern region recorded almost 360 mm of precipitation during the same period last year, it accumulated only 250 mm this year.

Even more concerning is that the 85% shortage in water inflows to the dams, of 500 million cubic meters throughout the period from September 2022 to February 2023, with just 86 million cubic meters recorded.

Due to this decline, the Lockos hydraulic basin’s dam filling capacity is now just 42%, down from 59% during the same period last year. As a result, the current total volume does not reach 715 million cubic meters, compared to the 1,015 million of the previous year.

Last month, Moroccan dams witnessed a steady drop in water levels amid the ongoing water crisis, with a filling rate of just 23%.

Records from the Ministry of Equipment and Water showed that the low rate represented a decline from the 31% record set a year earlier.

The Lockos Water Basin Agency covers an area of 12,805 square kilometers, almost the entire Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region. It has the Mediterranean Sea to the north for approximately 260 kilometers, the Atlantic Ocean to the west for 140 kilometers, the Sebou basin to the south, and the Moulouya basin to the east.

This space can meet the needs of 3.54 million people, meaning 10.5% of the Moroccan population.