Rabat – Morocco’s National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE) is set to commence construction on an ambitious $18 million project to secure the supply of drinking water in Casablanca.
The first phase of the project seeks to supply the city with drinking water from production facilities that treat the water from the Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah dam, said ONEE in a statement.
The large-scale project is part of Morocco’s National Program for the Supply of Drinking water and Irrigation (PNAEPI) 2020-2027, which aims to construct 120 dams by 2024, among other measures.
The new project in Casablanca also focuses on securing the drinking water supply to the southern zone of Casablanca, through the construction of a hydraulic link between the north and south of the city, to cope with the impact of the water deficit in the Oum Er Rbiaa basin.
With a budget of MAD 180 million ($18 million), the first phase involves installing a pipe of about 7.5 km, mainly made of coated steel with a two-meter diameter.
The pipe will connect the existing Bouregreg supply serving the north of the city of Casablanca, with the Mediouna distribution reservoir that is located south of the city.
It will allow the transit of 1550 liters of water per second in the first phase of the construction, and is expected to transfer an annual volume of about 80 million m3 from the north to the south of Casablanca.
In the first phase, ONEE aims to ensure optimal management of the available water resources at the Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah dam and the Oum Er Rbiaa basin.
ONEE is also establishing a booster station to increase the pipe’s capacity to 2500 liters per second for the second phase, for which work is expected to begin in June.
The second phase relates to the extension of the new pipeline to about 7.1 km to also serve the Bouskoura reservoir, and is set to also strengthen the booster station by increasing its capacity to 4000 liters per second.
The budget of the second phase is estimated at MAD 120 million ($12 million) and its commissioning is scheduled for July 2023.
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