The Cherifian kingdom has undergone a serious drought for over forty years. In the 1960s, water availability was four times higher than today.
Le Monde with AFP
“Seeing villagers every morning at La Fontaine or a neighbor to recover water makes you want to cry,” says Mohamed Sbaï, who abandoned agriculture because of the successive droughts that strike his isolated village, 140 km from Casablanca.
Village with formerly fertile lands, Ouled Esssi Masseoud is now touched by the water stress that threatens all of Morocco. Deprived of current drinking water, this locality located at the foot of hills is only purchasing in public fountains or in private wells. “The fountains are only operational only two days a week, the wells are starting to dry up and the river next to it dries up more and more,” Sbaï, former peasant, told AFP. “The rarity of water makes us suffer,” continues the sixties, on the way to recover water from neighbors.
The situation is critical with regard to the geographic position of Ouled Esssi Masseoud, located in the agricultural province of Settat, close to the Oum Errabia river and the Al-Massira dam, the second largest in Morocco. The filling rate of this reservoir – which supplies with drinking water several cities, including the Moroccan economic capital Casablanca and its 3 million inhabitants – reaches only 5 %, according to the latest official figures. On site, the extent of the disaster is spectacular. The Al-Massira tank is only a pond bordered by a few kilometers of cracked earth, strewn with small shells.
“structural” stress
At the national level, dams combine a filling rate of only 27 %. A disturbing situation precipitated by the worst drought that has been going through Morocco for at least forty years. With 600 m 3 of water per capita and per year, the country of North Africa is already largely under the threshold of the water shortage, estimated at 1,700 m 3 per inhabitant and per year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). By way of comparison, the availability of water in the 1960s was four times higher, at 2,600 m 3 .
This gives place the Cherifian kingdom in “situation of structural water stress”, according to a recent report from the World Bank on the Moroccan economy. Faced with the emergency, the authorities reacted by rationing water consumption.
The Ministry of the Interior ordered local authorities to restrict water distribution when necessary and prohibits watering green spaces and golf courses with drinking water. Samples from wells, sources or rivers are also prohibited. In the longer term, Morocco has programmed the construction of twenty seawater desalination stations by 2030 which should provide a good part of its drinking water needs, according to the Ministry of Equipment.
“We are in crisis management rather than in anticipated risk management”, underlines the expert in water resources Mohamed Jalil, who also considers effective monitoring of measures taken by measures taken by measures taken by the authorities “.
” Aquavore arboriculture “
The other Achilles heel of the country is its agricultural policy “which favors a fruit arboriculture aquavore and marginalizes small producers”, underlines the agronomist Mohamed Srairi. According to Mr. Srairi, this agriculture puts on drip irrigation, which paradoxically leads to increased consumption of water, to make cultivable arid areas.
Morocco “tripled” its irrigated surfaces with this technology and this may “have changed cultivation decisions so as to increase rather than decrease the total amount of water consumed by the agricultural sector”, according to the bank global. In fact, more than 80 % of waters in Morocco go to agriculture, a key sector of its economy, which represents 14 % of GDP.
Not far from the Al-Massira dam, Mohamed, a nonagenarian, is posted in front of a small lean of dry land. “We no longer plow because there is no more water, he breathes, adding that we must” accept adversity all the same because we have no choice. “The young generations of the village seem less resilient.” With drought, we live in a precarious situation “, lets go in a sorry tone, a 14 -year -old out -of -school shepherd, looking at the dam.” I have the impression That it will still get worse in the future. “