At this hour of toil in the fields, Ben Smim slumbers. A mosque, a school, a dispensary, houses made of adobe and brick. This village of 3,000 inhabitants, 70 km from Fez, contrasts with the surrounding lands, watered last autumn by rains that Morocco had not seen for thirty-five years. "This green is deceptive," warns Moulay Ali Tahiri, 72. This dean of the zaouia (religious and tribal community) of Ben Smim is, along with a dozen villagers, being prosecuted by the justice system for having opposed the construction of a water bottling unit at the spring.

Since the beginning of the work in 2006, popular demonstrations, repressed by law enforcement, have not prevented the factory from rising from the ground. Bulldozers are still active on the hillside, and operations should begin "by the summer," announces the Frenchman Nicolas Antaki, director of Euro-Africaine des eaux (EADE). Created in 2001, this Moroccan company signed a contract in 2005 with the kingdom, which holds 60% of the Ben Smim spring, and should produce around a hundred million litres of bottled water per year.

"What are we going to gain from it? In the summer, we hardly have a drop left to water the animals," laments Abdellah Adghoghi, between two strokes of a spade. Dependent on almost subsistence agriculture, in a country in a situation of water stress (700 m3 per inhabitant per year) whose majority of water resources is absorbed by agricultural exports, the inhabitants are worried. In Ben Smim, half of the land is fallow every other year. "Last season, we lost 15% of the livestock. Without water or grass, we had to sell animals at ridiculous prices to buy fodder," says Moulay Ali Tahiri.

"In Morocco, the peasant is nothing"

"The flow rate granted to us by the Sebou hydraulic basin directorate is 3 litres/second. However, the average flow rate of the Ben Smim spring is 80 litres/second, 20 in times of drought," reassures Nicolas Antaki. "The wolf is in the sheepfold. In Morocco, the peasant is nothing," warns economist Mehdi Lahlou, founder of the Moroccan Association for a World Water Congress (ACME). "The regulatory procedure followed guarantees transparency," believes for his part Mokhtar Bzioui, of the World Water Council, former official at the National Directorate of Hydraulics. "We don't trust it!" cuts in Moulay Ali Tahiri. "An investigation was done before the signing of the contract and everyone was in favour," retorts Nicolas Antaki, exasperated by the allegations that his company would be hiding high-placed interests. "I spent eight years following the administrative procedure, don't come and say that I am benefiting from special favours!"

In the village, people doubt the benefits of the factory for this region where unemployment nevertheless hits young people hard. "He spoke of 200 jobs. But everything will be mechanised! Twelve people will work there," ironises Moulay Ali Tahiri. "I refuse to play this game," retorts the investor. "But, for all industrial positions, I have no interest in bringing people from other regions at my own expense." A factory, the villagers have nothing against it, "but not if it just takes our water," says this woman in a pink djellaba. "It is sacred." "Our peas and beans are canned in Tangier, why not here?" asks Moulay Ali Tahiri to show that he has "nothing against development." Nicolas Antaki highlights the "10 million dirhams in taxes" (900,000 euros) that EADE should pay per year to the commune of Ben Smim. A windfall to finance projects. "Starting with the repair of this seguia (ditch) made of bits and pieces through which the farmers' water is transported, and which causes a majority of losses!"

Moulay Ali Tahiri refuses to see the local community, grouping 11 tribes opposed by "old rivalries," manage and share a budget that belongs to the only zaouia of Ben Smim, he asserts while brandishing an old dahir (royal decree) of Mohammed V, grandfather of the current sovereign. "Water belongs to the State, not to a community," retorts Nicolas Antaki. "That doesn't mean it can trade this public good," believes Mehdi Lahlou. The ACME association has filed a lawsuit. "It was dismissed by the administrative court of Meknes," concludes the entrepreneur. "A contract is a contract."

Cerise Maréchaud in Ben Smim