Rabat — The level of reserves in dams for agricultural use reached, up to Monday, around 3.71 billion m³, representing a filling rate of 26%, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Rural Development and Water and Forests, Ahmed El Bouari, said.
Speaking during question time at the House of Representatives, the Minister pointed out that 70% of these reserves are concentrated in the Sebou and Loukkos basins, adding that 722 million m³ of water was allocated to support large-scale irrigation networks.
He also reported that irrigation had begun in Loukkos, Gharb, Moulouya, Tafilalet and Ouarzazate, with reduced intensity in Tadla, which represents almost 52% of the total surface area of the large-scale irrigation schemes, noting that in the Doukkala, Al Haouz and Souss-Massa schemes, the situation remains dependent on improving the reserves of their dams to determine an irrigation program.
The Minister stressed that, faced with the scarcity of water resources in several irrigated areas, the Ministry had implemented a series of measures to rationalize water use and optimize its exploitation to ensure the success of the current agricultural campaign.
In this respect, he recalled that, in line with the High Royal Guidelines, the construction of several seawater desalination plants has been programmed and accelerated to mobilize more than 1.7 billion m³ of desalinated water by 2030, with a view to supplying coastal towns and alleviating pressure on conventional water resources to devote them to agriculture.
He pointed out that a number of plants are currently under construction, including the Dakhla plant, with a capacity of 37 million m³ per year and a progress rate of around 70%, and the Casablanca plant, with a capacity of 300 million m³, 50 million of which will be used for irrigation.
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The planned stations include those in the Oriental region, with a production capacity of 300 million m³ to improve drinking water quality and supply 160 million m³ for irrigation, the Tangier station with a capacity of 150 million m³, the Rabat station with a capacity of 300 million m³, and the Oum Er-Rbia and Tensift stations, also with a capacity of 300 million m³ for irrigation.
A new station is also planned for Souss-Massa, with a capacity of 350 million m³, 250 million of which will be used for irrigation, in addition to other medium-sized stations in Boujdour, Tan-Tan and neighbouring regions.
With regard to water basin interconnection projects, the Minister highlighted the completion, in a record time of 10 months, of an urgent phase of the Sebou and Bouregreg interconnection projects, which has enabled the transfer of over 580 million m³ of water per year.
There is also a project to interconnect the Oued El Makhazine dam with the Dar Khrofa dam to ensure a supply of 100 million m³ per year. This project, which is in its final stages, will irrigate an area estimated at 21,000 hectares in Dar Khrofa.
