Morocco ranks 27th among the countries that face a high level of water stress each year, according to the international water stress rankings published by the World Resources Institute’s (WRI) Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas. “Water stress” measures the ratio of water demand to renewable supply. Morocco uses a high percentage of its available water supply, around 40%.
The non-profit organization reports that 25 countries face extremely high water stress each year, as they regularly use up almost their entire available water supply. These include Bahrain (ranking no.1), Kuwait (no. 3), Lebanon (ranked fourth), Oman (ranked fifth), and Qatar (ranked sixth).
WRI reports that at least 50% of the world’s population — around 4 billion people — live under highly water-stressed conditions for at least one month of the year.
The report sounds the alarm over this level of water stress which jeopardizes people’s lives, jobs, food, and energy security, calling for better water management.
Growing populations and industries like irrigated agriculture, livestock, energy production, and manufacturing demand can all affect the available water supply and then cause global water stress. The problem is compounded by a lack of investment in water infrastructure, unsustainable water use policies and increased variability due to climate change.
The institute projects that an additional 1 billion people will be living under extremely high water stress by 2050, as the global water demand will also increase by 20% to 25%, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Aqueduct’s tools use open-source, peer-reviewed data to map water risks such as floods, droughts, and stress. The tools include Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas, Aqueduct Country Rankings, Aqueduct Food, and Aqueduct Floods.
Morocco faces a continuing hydrological drought, and water shortages have become severe, leading to very large declines in surface water in Morocco.
As an agriculture-based economy, Morocco has earmarked additional funding of 143 billion MAD under its 2020-2027 National Program for Drinking and Irrigation Water Supply.
The program establishes measures such as stepping up the interconnection between the 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.
Given the current climatic and high water stress situation, King Mohammed VI has directed that the Program’s emergency measures be implemented to counteract the effects of drought.