Drought Pressures Morocco’s Dams, Water Levels Decline
Recent official data released today indicates that water reserves in Moroccan dams have dropped to 32.1%, equivalent to 5,384 million cubic meters, highlighting the ongoing water challenges facing the kingdom, with significant disparities among different water basins.
According to the “Water Our Own” platform affiliated with the Ministry of Equipment and Water, the “Abir Rqraq” basin leads in fill rate at 63.3% (686 million cubic meters), with the “Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdallah” dam at 67%, followed by the “Tamsna” dam at 34%, the “Malah” at 24%, and the “Hamra” at 12%.
In the north, the “Loucous” basin reached a rate of 46.6%, or 891 million cubic meters, with the dams “Chefchaouen,” “Cherif El Idrissi,” and “Oued Mkhazni” recording high fill rates between 75% and 85%, while some other dams remained below 15%.
As for the “Sebou” basin, the fill rate stood at 41.9% (2,327.2 million cubic meters), with the “Allal El Fassi” dam at 97%, followed by the source “Sebou” at 80%, and “Bouhoud” at 74%, while the “Qansara” dam did not exceed 22%.
In the “Khir-Ziz-Guers” basin, the fill rate reached 48.4% (260.1 million cubic meters), distributed between the “Hassan Dakhil” dam at 58% and “Qdouassa” at 34%.
For the central basins, the “Tansift” recorded a fill rate of 38.6% (87.9 million cubic meters), with the “Sidi Mohammed Ben Slimane El Jzoulli” dam at 76%, and “Abou Abbas Al Sebti” at 53%, while the “Lalla Takarkoust” dam stood at only 20%.
In other basins, the “Drâa Wadi Noun” recorded 28.7%, and “Moulouya” 28.8%, despite some dams like “Oued Zaa” being filled to 100%. Meanwhile, the “Souss-Massa” basin remained the weakest at just 17.2% (126.2 million cubic meters), with major dams not exceeding 10%.
