Morocco will cover half of its drinking and irrigation water needs with desalination plants
Desalination plants are Morocco's firm commitment to meet its increasingly pressing water supply needs for cities and agricultural crops
King Mohammed VI made it clear in his speech commemorating the 25th anniversary of his reign: ‘the challenges facing our country oblige us to redouble our efforts and vigilance, to design innovative solutions and to subject management models to the rules of good governance. One of these major challenges is the issue of water, which is becoming increasingly complex due to drought, the impact of climate change and the natural growth in demand’.
Mohamed VI is pushing for decisions to be taken to undertake the planned works, overcome the problems caused by the shared responsibilities for water in three ministries and demand operational and executive actions that will allow for the rapid tendering of the corresponding works with already contracted companies to meet the challenge of managing scarce water and to increase the capacity of desalination plants.
Water scarcity
The fact that the king specifically mentioned this issue in his speech shows the scale of the water problem. The data provided by the Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture do not paint a rosy picture: by 2050, drought will continue in the country, as rainfall is expected to fall by more than 11%, while the average temperature is expected to rise by 1.3%.
The situation today is very difficult: the average water level of the country's existing dams is barely 28 %. The country's second largest dam, Al Massira, with a capacity of 2.6 billion cubic metres of water, has decreased its reserves from 75 % in 2017 to just 0.4 % today.
The problem is not only social (towns and cities with increasing water shortages), but also economic, as 80 % of the country's water resources go to the agricultural sector, which employs a third of the working population, according to data from the Ministry of Equipment and Water.
Desalination plants
Given the seriousness of the problem, and taking into account that Morocco has some 3,500 kilometres of coastline between the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts, the country has opted for desalination plants as the best way to meet its water needs.
The most important is the Agadir plant of Abéngoa, now Cox Group, with the capacity to produce 275,000 m3 per day. The big news is that 60% of the water produced is used for irrigation. It has been in operation for 2 years and is being expanded to 400,000 m3 per day. However, the Government is caught up in a tangle of cross-competencies between three ministries (Equipment and Water, Agriculture and now with the novelty of the Interior) that delay the signing of the Agadir extension in an unusual and inconsistent way with the urgent need for water. A delay of 5 months since May 30th when it should have been signed.
To address the most urgent situations, the authorities are putting mobile desalination plants into operation, with the capacity to produce up to 3,600 cubic metres of water per day.
These facilities, which cost around US$1.3 million per unit, are the best solution to alleviate water needs in areas close to the coast. The desalinated water undergoes further treatment to add the necessary minerals and is transported in tanks for distribution to populations within a radius of up to 180 kilometres.
This has been done in Sidi Bouchta and other needy villages. By April 2023, 44 of these facilities have been commissioned and another 219 are in preparation, which will supply the water needs of up to three million rural residents.
Emergency situation
In some cases, the situation has required emergency solutions: the drought affecting the Al Massira press caused the city of Safi to run out of drinking water, so the authorities had to call on the state-owned Phosphate Company, which operates several phosphate plants in the area, to build a desalination plant to help solve the problem.
The plant was built in record time and began providing drinking water to the city in August 2023, partially, and from February 2024, at full capacity.
A possible extension of this plant is now being studied to supply the city of Marrakech, located 150 kilometres to the east, and the surrounding area, from 2026 onwards.
Construction has also begun on six new desalination plants, one of them in the country's economic capital, Casablanca, and construction is expected to begin on another eight, including one in Rabat.
To supply the water needs of Morocco's administrative capital, the government undertook the construction of a major canal, the Water Route, a 67-kilometre-long canal that transports water from the rainy Sebou region to Rabat, which became operational last September.
Aim: to cover more than half of water needs
In a recent speech, King Mohammed VI announced the goal that the new desalination plants will provide more than 1.7 billion cubic metres of water annually, which will cover half of the country's drinking water needs and irrigate large agricultural areas by the end of the decade.
The plan calls for the construction of 36 desalination plants between 2026 and 2027, as well as wastewater treatment plants. And this, while continuing to build new dams.
To this end, the government has earmarked a budget of more than 14 billion dollars, with the aim of linking the northern and southern river basins, ensuring that the flow of water circulates throughout the network and reaches every corner of the country.