Rabat – According to figures announced by Morocco’s Ministry of Equipment and Water, the percentage of dams’ filling amounted to 28.6% across the country, while it was estimated at 29.1% just a week ago.
The indicators mean that the water filling rate witnessed a drop of around 1/2 percentage point.
Successive heat waves also put additional pressure on the water stock due to the high evaporation rate, which is a major factor in the rapid erosion of a number of dams.
The figures published indicate the dams’ growing declining water reserves, as the excessive heat witnessed in many regions across Morocco is an additional factor that increases the rate of the country’s loss of its water resources.
According to climate and environmental expert Mohamed Benabou, “the dams experience a noticeable and continuous decline in the summer, and this is normal because this period of the year sees a great demand for water, whether for bathing or for other uses.”
The decline of the dams’ stock is mainly linked to “other factors related to the climate,” Benabou told a Moroccan outlet, stressing that “muddyness also plays a major role in the decline of the dams’ reservoir because today we are talking about a situation that is declining year after year, and there are no solutions that go in parallel with the water stress that Morocco suffers from.”
Read also: Morocco: Dams’ Filling Rate Reaches Nearly 33%, Similar to 2022 Levels
He further pointed out that this issue “is known because at this time of the year, the Kingdom of Morocco experienced a significant decline in water resources, especially at the level of major water basins.”
In concluding his comments, Benabou highlighted that, with the exception of the Loukkos and Sebou basins, which have recorded less than 50%, all other basins recorded a filling rate ranging from 20 to 30%.
As for the basins that have a very high population rate, such as the Bouregreg and Umm Ar-Rabi basins that feed the two sides of Rabat- Sale-Kenitra and Casablanca-Settat, the significant water decline recorded therein awaits the start of work on water channels between water basins to reduce the burden of climate change on large cities.
While “it is possible to protect the dams through afforestation or carrying out a set of operations to protect them and preserve what is there,” the expert argued, “we are recording relative progress compared to what was last year, but the citizen’s share of water is constantly declining.”