Marrakech – Greater Marrakech is set to begin receiving desalinated seawater from the coastal city of Safi by the end of July, marking one of Morocco’s most ambitious water infrastructure projects to date.
The project, carried out by the Société Régionale Multiservices (SRM) of Marrakech-Safi and now in its final phase, will pump approximately 100 million cubic meters of desalinated water per year from a desalination plant built by OCP Green Water, the water subsidiary of phosphate giant OCP Group, in Safi to Morocco’s top tourist destination through 185.3 kilometers of steel adduction pipelines.
Mohamed Meziani, provincial director of the SRM Marrakech-Safi in Safi and director of the transfer project, told Morocco’s state-owned news agency MAP that the initiative represents “one of the most important projects carried out at the national level” in terms of securing drinking water supply. He confirmed that technical trials are set to launch imminently to validate the optimal transfer of water to Marrakech.
The infrastructure carries a price tag of MAD 4.2 billion ($420 million), financed through the state’s general budget and the Ministry of Interior. It is designed to deliver a continuous flow of 3.2 cubic meters per second from Safi to Marrakech.
The Marrakech-Safi region has ranked for several years among Morocco’s most water-stressed areas due to recurring drought cycles and mounting pressure on conventional water resources. That reality made unconventional solutions not just desirable but imperative.
The transfer system relies on four major technical components: three pumping stations and a regulation reservoir located near Centre 44 Oulad Dlim in the prefecture of Marrakech.
Hicham El Haou, head of the drinking water works service at the SRM of Marrakech-Safi, explained to MAP that this reservoir receives water from the pumping stations at a rate of 3.2 cubic meters per second before channeling it by gravity toward Marrakech through a steel pipeline leading to a distribution chamber that feeds the city’s broader network.
From that chamber, two steel pipelines branch out. The first supplies the RamRam reservoir, situated northwest of Marrakech, with a capacity of 30,000 cubic meters.
A new 60,000-cubic-meter reservoir is currently under construction at the same site to accommodate the incoming desalinated volumes. The second pipeline, stretching roughly 35 kilometers, feeds the Route d’Ourika reservoirs, which hold 85,000 cubic meters and serve the wider city.
Meziani detailed additional storage capacity within the system: a 20,000-cubic-meter reservoir, two reservoirs of 10,000 cubic meters each, and a 10,000-cubic-meter surge tank from which water flows to Marrakech by gravity alone.
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The project follows a broader national model of transferring water resources from production zones along the coast to inland regions facing structural deficits. Cities such as Settat and Khouribga already receive desalinated water for their drinking supply through similar arrangements.
Morocco’s annual desalination capacity currently stands at 420 million cubic meters, with plans to scale it to 1.7 billion cubic meters, according to Minister of Equipment and Water Nizar Baraka, who presented the figures last May before the Chamber of Advisors.
A new desalination plant in Tiznit, with a capacity of up to 350 million cubic meters, is expected to break ground by the end of next year.
In parallel, Morocco is advancing major basin interconnection projects, including the linking of the Bouregreg and Oum Er-Rbia basins set to begin in December, with a future extension connecting Oued Laou to the Sebou basin.
Together, these interconnections are projected to transfer between 1 and 1.2 billion cubic meters annually to water-deficit provinces, serving both drinking water needs and irrigation across the Doukkala and Chaouia agricultural regions.
For Marrakech, the stakes extend beyond residential consumption. The city’s position as Morocco’s leading tourist hub, combined with steady demographic growth, has driven a sharp rise in demand that conventional sources can no longer meet on their own.
Meziani noted that the project was executed entirely by Moroccan expertise. Once operational, the pipeline is expected to provide Greater Marrakech with a permanent supplementary water source unaffected by drought conditions, reinforcing the city’s distribution network and reducing its vulnerability to the cycles of water scarcity that have defined the region for years.
