Desalination - the answer to the drought?

"The general belief that Morocco is spared from any possible water shortage, and that we can go ahead as if nothing has happened, is an erroneous and dangerous belief." - Minister Mohammed El Yazghi

Those who have been watching the ongoing debate over water shortages in Morocco will remember the Minister of Territory Development, Water and Environment, Mohamed El Yazghi, warning against complacency and the belief that water was in good supply. Minister Yazghi, a socialist, is one of the Moroccan politicians who works hard at his portfoilio and this week, back in his hometown of Fès, he took the opportunity to ram home his message about Morocco and drought.

Though possessing about a hundred storage dams, Morocco is not spared from drought or overexploitation of ground water tables and the resultant growing deficit in water resources. According to the Minister, the remedy should include desalination of seawater. He stressed that Morocco had to take advantage of the 3,500-km coasts (both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean) to secure an adequate supply of drinking water.

Desalination is not new technology for Morocco and there are already several desalination units in places such as Agadir and Tan Tan, but the minister pointed out that much could be learned from the Spanish experience, where they have boosted key-sectors such as agriculture and tourism through the development of the seawater desalination.

Morocco has also embarked on a plan to recycle water, rationalize consumption resource, preserve water quality and fight exploitation of ground water tables. A national program of liquid water sanitation and purification should be in place by 2020.

On Monday, the State Secretariat in charge of Water announced that the volume of water stored in Moroccan dams has reached 8.45 billion square meters, that is a filling rate of 53%, against 43% in the same period of last year, thanks to the recent rain-showers and snowfalls that occurred after months of drought.


Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news