King Orders Additional Funding To Contain Water Crisis

King Mohammed VI chaired, Tuesday at the Royal Palace in Rabat, a working session on the 2020-2027 National Program for Drinking and Irrigation Water Supply, during which an additional funding was earmarked to reach 143 billion MAD.
Minister of Equipment and Water Nizar Baraka briefed the king on the water situation in the country and the challenge of water security.
The large-scale program lays down measures such as stepping up the interconnection between Sebou, Bouregreg, and Oum Er-Rbia basins, building new dams and refurbishing old ones to increase the storage capacity by 6.6 billion m3 of fresh water.
The measures also comprise the use of non-conventional water sources from seawater desalination and wastewater treatment plants, in addition to expanding the drinking water network to remote villages.
Given the current climatic and water stress situation, the Monarch also ordered to activate the Program’s emergency measures to address the side effects of drought.
The Sovereign urged the concerned departments to strive doubly hard to ensure the proper implementation of the said projects within the set deadlines.