The time has come to sound the alarm on the situation of water stress experienced by the Kingdom due to the current climatic conditions, and it is time to change behaviors vis-à-vis the uses and excessive consumption and irrational water wealth in Morocco, advised, on Monday, the head of government, Aziz Akhannouch.
In response to questions from deputies about the Kingdom’s water resources management policy, during the plenary session dedicated to oral questions, the head of government, Aziz Akhannouch, explained that despite his government’s progress in this area, the average water per capita has registered a significant drop.
The official details that the average share per year is estimated at 620 cubic meters, and it should decrease to 560 cubic meters in 2030 as a result of population growth, after being around 2560 cubic meters in the sixties of the last century.
The Chief Executive thus recalled that the Kingdom has faced several successive waves of drought, the most important of which is that recorded during the period between 1940-1945 and 1980-1985. He then clarified that Morocco experienced a period of drought in 2018 which continued throughout this year.
For Akhannouch, this is explained by the significant drop in precipitation of 50% at the national level compared to the normal precipitation rate. As for the regional variation in the rate of precipitation, the official indicated that 51% is concentrated in only 7% of the national surface, precisely in the Loukous and Sebou basins.
” Despite the many achievements of national water policies, there are still many challenges and constraints mainly related to the impact of climate change and the resulting scarcity of water and its tangible impact on the environment and human health, in light of the dizzying rise in temperatures that the world has witnessed in recent years“, lamented the chief executive.
Akhannouch took the opportunity to report overexploitation of groundwater, due to the spread of irresponsible consumer behavior. More than one million cubic meters of water from the Oum Rbia River are exploited daily in an unauthorized way, he said.
In addition, about 40% of water is lost due to its flow from water channels, in addition to the problem of river estuaries at sea, which requires finding means of collection in order to direct them to areas. most affected by water stress.
” Pending the completion of delayed projects, in particular the connection of the dam at the level of the Sebou basin to the Sidi Abdellah dam at the level of the Bouregreg basin, we hope that the latest rainfall will delay the threats of the decline of the drinking water supply which weigh on several cities like Marrakech, where the level of the Al Massira dam has reached alarming proportions“, he said.