Morocco to build Three Dams in Marrakesh neighborhood; Earmarks €111 Million for Water Projects in Southern Regions

Three dams with a total capacity of 367 million cubic meters will be built in Marrakesh region (central Morocco) within the frame of the National Drinking Water Supply and Irrigation Program worth €10.8 billion.

According to local officials, the three new dams will enhance drinking water supply in the region and help cope with the low rainfalls, which had affected water reserves and agriculture.

In another development, Morocco’s National Office for Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEEP) has allocated around €111 million (MAD 1.18 billion ) to carry out several water projects in the Guelmim-Oued Noun region, southern Morocco, announced the head of ONEEP’s agency in Guelmim, Ahmed Salem Benjimouaa.

The projects aim to strengthen and diversify drinking water resources, optimize the demand management, reinforce the drinking water supply in rural areas, and extend and rehabilitate distribution networks and wastewater treatment plants.

Benjimouaa made the announcement at a regional meeting about Morocco’s 2020-2027 national water plan, held on Wednesday Jan. 29, in Guelmim.

The newly unveiled projects are part of the national water plan, sealed lately at a ceremony chaired in Rabat by King Mohammed VI.

The plan aims at ensuring sufficient water supply in the Kingdom over the next seven years, and diversifying drinking and irrigation water supply notably through dam building, in a bid to bring up Morocco’s water storage capacity to 27.3 billion m3.

The program seeks to improve water management, increase supply to rural areas and build desalination plants to support the already operational plants in Laayoune, Boujdour, Tan Tan and Akhfenir.

Morocco is also planning the construction of 20 large dams, including a dam with a capacity of 1.35 billion m3 to meet needs of Tangier and Oujda.

The water plan also provides for exploring groundwater to mobilize new resources.

The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) projected a continued warming trend in Morocco. Every decade since 1970, the average temperature in Morocco has increased by 0.5 °C, exceeding the global average by 0.15 degrees.

Over the next 20 years, IPPC estimates Morocco will become more vulnerable to drought and other extreme weather events.

Reports note that temperatures in Morocco could keep increasing by up to 7 °C by 2100 unless serious preventive measures are taken.