The study will allow for the updating of drinking water needs by 2050 for the target urban and rural localities.
Projects: The scarcity of drinking water is one of the major problems currently facing Morocco. Several projects have been launched to preserve this vital commodity and secure its availability for the population, particularly in the most affected areas. Thus, the National Office for Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE) wants to strengthen the drinking water supply for urban and rural localities in the central Morocco zone, which includes the Casablanca-Settat region and the Beni Mellal-Khenifra region.
ONEE wants to strengthen and secure the drinking water supply for urban and rural localities in the central Morocco zone. To do this, it is currently working on the creation of a related master plan. This project covers the regions of Beni Mellal-Khenifra (including the provinces of Khouribga, Beni Mellal, Azilal, and Fquih Ben Salah) as well as the Grand Casablanca region (which houses, among others, the provinces of Settat, Berrechid, and Benslimane).
As ONEE explains, the drinking water supply for the study area is mainly provided from the surface waters of the Ain Asserdoune spring, which feeds the ONEE and RADEET treatment plants with nominal capacities of 260 l/s and 30 l/s respectively. "The guaranteed flows from these stations experience seasonal fluctuations (a source vulnerable to drought)," the same source specifies. The drinking water supply for the targeted area is also provided by water from the Afourer restitution basin, which receives water turbined from the Bine El Ouidane dam. "The raw water intake is carried out on the left bank of the restitution basin, which feeds the Afourer treatment plant with a capacity of 570 l/s. The extension study for said treatment plant is underway by ONEE for an additional flow of approximately 600 l/s," indicates the Office, noting that the Afourer centre is supplied from a treatment plant with a capacity of 20 l/s. In the same vein, the drinking water supply for the concerned area also comes from the waters of the Ahmed Al Hansali-Ait Messaoud dam complex (through the central Morocco treatment plant designed for a treated water flow of 1,600 l/s, with a demineralisation unit with a capacity of 330 l/s). According to ONEE, the extension study for the demineralisation unit is underway by the Office for an additional flow of 330 l/s, extendable to 660 l/s. The supply is also provided by water from the deep Tadla aquifers, water from the treatment plant built on the Tamesna dam for the AEP (Drinking Water Supply) of the Ben Ahmed-El Gara region, and other systems from local aquifers contributing to the drinking water service of localities in the study area such as the local resources of Bejaad, Oued Zem, Kasba Tadla, Ben Ahmed, and El Gara. Based on this context, said study consists of presenting the concerned area and analysing the current AEP situation. It also involves updating the drinking water needs by 2050 for the target urban and rural localities, carrying out an inventory and detailed analysis of all resources allocated to drinking water (equipped or not equipped), and making a comparison with the data appearing in the studies of the Integrated Water Resources Management Master Plan of Oum Er Rbia and Bouregreg.
Said study will also allow for the identification and analysis of risks related to water resources (impact of climate change, impact of overexploitation of aquifers, quality degradation, dam siltation, etc.). It will also allow for the establishment of a water resource security balance sheet with regard to meeting drinking water needs and taking into account other uses (irrigation, industry, etc.). This approach should include, among other things, a balance sheet of water needs in relation to resources and water needs in relation to production and transport capacity. "The study of water demand in the study area must be conducted on the basis of information available on the factors determining the ratios on which the calculation of needs at different horizons is based," explains ONEE. In this perspective, it is a matter of collecting and analysing as much information as possible from the identified areas. This aspect covers urban planning data, demographic data (including the results of the 1994, 2004, 2014, and 2024 population and housing censuses, and information available in relation to demographic movements). It also includes the assessment of access rates to drinking water in rural areas, or even existing projections of water needs for cities, urban centres, and rural communes in the study area. This project will also rely on any information available in relation to the factors determining the evolution of drinking water demand. The study of drinking water needs also covers data on future major industrial, tourist, and residential projects not included in the normal evolution of the studied centres.
At the level of the part concerning the census and analysis of resources allocated to drinking water, the desalination projects underway or planned by OCP for the AEP in the study area will be taken into account. In the same vein, a detailed analysis of water resources upstream of the Oum Er Rbia basin will also be developed. It will take into account the efforts to disconnect the AEP of cities downstream of the basin (Casablanca, El Jadida, Safi, Settat, Berrechid, Marrakech, and related communes) which will contribute to the significant improvement of the situation of surface resources in the Oum Er Rbia basin.
