The government of Morocco has launched the 2020-2027 national drinking water supply and irrigation program. This was announced by Abdelkader Amara, the Moroccan Minister of Equipment, Transport, Logistics, and Water.
Amara explained that the government of the North African country will begin the implementation of the program by constructing five large dams with a total storage capacity of 525 million cubic meters.
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The dams will be constructed in Loued Lakhdar (a small town and rural commune in El Kelâat Es-Sraghna Province of the Marrakesh-Safi region), Taghzirt (a town and rural commune in Béni Mellal Province, Béni Mellal-Khénifra), Tamri (a small town and rural commune in Agadir-Ida Ou Tanane Prefecture, Souss-Massa) and Alkhankro in Figuig, a province in the Oriental Region.
This phase of the program will require an investment of more than US$ 537m.
Aiming for 15 more dams in the future
Under the 2020-2027 national drinking water supply and irrigation program, the authorities of the Cherifian kingdom aim to build 15 dams in addition to the aforementioned.
This will bring the number of such water infrastructure in service in the North African country to 20 by the year 2027. All the installations will increase the capacity of the dams of the country from a total of 18 billion cubic meters to the equivalent of 27 billion.
The water reservoirs will be filled up, for the most part, with rainwater.
Exploiting non-conventional water resources
The Moroccan government also wants to exploit non-conventional water resources, from treatment plants to seawater desalination plants that will be built in the coastal areas of the North African Kingdom.
The second axis of the 2020-2027 national drinking water supply and irrigation program will focus on water valorization. Measures to reduce water consumption will also be implemented mainly in the agricultural sector which depends on irrigation.
The entire program will be financed by the government of Morocco to the tune of close to US$ 13bn.
