Rabat – Morocco’s National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE) is launching a local drinking water project aimed at contributing to water infrastructure development throughout the country.
According to a recent press release, the director general of ONEE, Abderrahim El Hafidi, and the governor of Guercif province, Hassan Belhami, launched a project under the National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water to provide Guercif residents with a clean drinking water supply by 2022.
Totaling MAD 95 million ($9.8 million), the project includes the construction of four new boreholes that will pump 80 liters of water a second into the city’s pipes from the “Targa” or “Madi” dam. As well, project designers involved a plan to construct a water tank with a capacity of 6,000 cubic meters, with its pipes stretched across 32 kilometers.
In addition to strengthening the water distribution network, the project could help reduce the country’s 35% drinking water production deficit and significantly improve quality of life for the city’s 143,200 inhabitants.
The provincial authorities of Guercif, relevant companies, and other stakeholders involved are collaborating with ONEE to carry out the project — a critical effort to promote health and hygiene while mitigating the negative impacts of drought.
Following the height of the COVID-19 crisis, the government notes the need to continue securing clean drinking water, liquid sanitation services, and electricity to protect the population from contagions such as the novel coronavirus.
The endeavor also addresses Morocco’s general need for water infrastructure development and addresses the critical need for sustainable socio-economic development within the region.
In the Western side of the Oriental region, Guercif is the capital city of Guercif province. Like many residing in rural Morocco, residents of the less-developed town struggle to access clean drinking water. In August 2019, the World Resource Institute ranked Morocco 22nd on their National Water Stress Rankings.
On the same timeline as the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal number 6, calling for the sustainable availability and management of clean water and sanitation for all by 2030, Morocco’s Minister of Energy Aziz Rabbah announced on June 30 that ONEE investments in the water and electricity sectors are set to reach MAD 25 billion ($2.6 billion) by 2030.
