Desalination, the way forward for Morocco to mitigate drought

Desalination is the way forward for some of Morocco’s water stressed regions such as Agadir which faced the specter of thirst after its dams run out and its ground water depleted due to shortage of rainfall and unsustainable agriculture.

The completion of a desalination plant in Agadir came at about time when the city was rationing water in 2020 as irrigation came to a halt.

But since summer 2021, a new desalination station restored hope pumping at 150,000 cubic water of drinking water daily, enough to cover the needs of Agadir metropolitan area.

The 260-million-dollar project directs the rest of its desalinated water – out of a current capacity of 275,000- to irrigate the nearby farms of Chtouka, a key farming region that produces most of Morocco’s tomatoes and carrots.

The success of this plant has encouraged the launch of similar projects to supply Casablanca with drinking water while Morocco’s phosphates producer OCP is building two plants to supply Safi and El Jadida.

Water minister said works to build the Casablanca desalination plant would kick off in 2023.

Morocco, which has faced prolonged droughts, reported a dam filling rate of 30% in December, with dams in the middle and south of the country dropping to critical levels.