In the locality of Aït Ourir, tap water was undrinkable in that it gave off an unpleasant odour and had a bitter aftertaste. The quality of the precious liquid was constantly pointed at by consumers who have suffered for a long time from a cruel lack of drinking water. This situation, described as deplorable by the population, has never ceased to provoke the wrath of the inhabitants who no longer knew which saint to turn to in order to solve this recurring problem.
Recently, the prayers of the population were answered and the inhabitants finally breathed a sigh of relief after decades of suffering. Indeed, the inauguration of a project to supply both the new urban centre of Chouiter and the centre of Aït Ourir with drinking water, from the Marrakech treatment plant, took place.
Led by the National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE), this ambitious project, with a total investment of 110 million dirhams, consisted notably of the installation of pipes 50 kilometres long. The second phase of this project, according to the head of ONEE-Marrakech, will focus on the supply of drinking water to the rural communes of Aït Faska and Aït Sidi Daoud.
Inhabitants of the said communes claim to have appealed, in vain and on many occasions, to the officials concerned about this problem. "We suffer from a lack of drinking water. It is a daily ordeal that we have endured for years in total indifference," they point out, noting that they are sometimes forced to travel kilometres to get supplies from wells or natural springs.
Faced with the cruel lack of this vital resource, the inhabitants have no other choice but to resort to this last practice or to fall back on peddlers to have fresh, drinkable water, specifies the same source.
With a view to remedying the flagrant lack of this precious commodity throughout the province
and to guarantee both its quality and its sustainability, the governor of Al-Haouz, Younès El Bathaoui, also proceeded to the inauguration, in Tahanaout, of a project to strengthen the production of drinking water, with a total cost of 25.5 million dirhams, financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB). According to local officials, other projects falling within the framework of the Drinking Water Supply Programme (AEP) and led by the ONEE are currently being carried out or will be launched shortly in the province.
