Drought tightens its grip on Morocco

Ouled Essi Masseoud, Morocco (AFP):

Morocco has been hit with a drought. No longer having access to potable running water, the villagers of Ouled Essi Masseoud rely solely on sporadic supplies in public fountains and from private wells.

The situation is critical, given the village’s position in the agricultural province of Settat, near the Oum Errabia River and the Al Massira Dam, Morocco’s second largest.

Its reservoir supplies drinking water to several cities, including the three million people who live in Casablanca. But latest official figures show it is now filling at a rate of just five percent. Al Massira reservoir has been reduced to little more than a pond bordered by kilometers of cracked earth.

Nationally, dams are filling at a rate of only 27 percent, precipitated by the country’s worst drought in at least four decades.

A July World Bank report on the Moroccan economy said the decrease in the availability of renewable water resources put the country in a situation of “structural water stress.”

Agronomist Mohamed Srairi said Morocco’s Achilles’ heel was its agricultural policy “which favours water-consuming fruit trees and industrial agriculture”.

He said such agriculture relies on drip irrigation which, although it can save water, paradoxically results in increased consumption as previously arid areas become cultivable.

The World Bank report noted that cultivated areas under drip irrigation in Morocco have more than tripled.

More than 80 percent of Morocco’s water supply is allocated to agriculture, a key economic sector that accounts for 14 percent of gross domestic product.