Rabat – Morocco has recorded a significant turnaround in its water situation after weeks of sustained rainfall, with water inflows reaching 4.07 billion cubic meters between September and January 20, according to Equipment and Water Minister Nizar Baraka.
Addressing the House of Councillors on Tuesday, Baraka said that the bulk of these inflows, around 3.6 billion cubic meters, arrived during the past forty days, a period that reshaped dam levels across several regions.
Rainfall totals since September reached 121.5 millimeters, more than double the amount registered during the same period last year.
The figure also exceeds the long-term average recorded between 1990 and 2020 by nearly a quarter. Baraka described the data as encouraging after successive years of water pressure.
Snowfall also played a central role in this recovery. Snow-covered areas expanded to more than 55,000 square kilometers at their peak before settling at around 22,600 square kilometers, a level not recorded since 2018. These conditions helped raise national dam filling rates from 28% to 48% within weeks.
Several major river basins reported strong gains. In the Sebou basin, reserves climbed from 36% to 57%, with stored volumes reaching more than 3.1 billion cubic meters. Four large dams exceeded their capacity, which required controlled water releases.
The Oum Er-Rbia basin also saw a sharp improvement. Stored water rose from 250 million cubic meters last year to more than 1.17 billion cubic meters, with the filling rate moving from 5% to 24%. A number of dams surpassed their maximum storage level, including Aït Messaoud and Moulay Youssef.
One of the most striking recoveries appeared in the Bouregreg and Chaouia basin. Filling rates spiked to 95.5%, with total reserves exceeding one billion cubic meters. Several dams in the area released surplus water after reaching full capacity.
The Loukkos basin reached a filling rate above 64%, compared to 45% last year. Four dams exceeded their storage limits, reflecting the scale of recent rainfall in the region.
In Souss-Massa, reserves more than tripled to 382 million cubic meters, which secured an additional year of drinking water supply and extended coverage for parts of the region by two years. Several dams reached or exceeded full capacity.
The Tensift basin recorded a filling rate of 75.7%, a level last observed in mid-2017. In contrast, changes remained limited in the Drâa-Oued Noun basin, where levels stayed near last year’s figures, while the Moulouya basin remained stable despite excess water at several dams.
Morocco’s water gains
At the national scale, Baraka said these gains secured an average of one additional year of drinking water supply, with disparities between basins that range from one to three years.
The minister stressed the need to maintain momentum, particularly through faster dam construction. He cited the Tamri dam, where project timelines shortened by three years, with completion and initial filling expected by June.
Authorities also completed more than 4,200 exploratory boreholes, which now supply rural areas with additional resources. Rainwater collection projects and large storage cisterns also expanded across several regions.
Morocco continues to rely on basin interconnection projects to balance regional disparities. Water transfers from the Sebou basin toward Bouregreg already exceeded 950 million cubic meters, while a second phase now extends the network toward the Oum Er-Rbia basin.
Desalination remains a pillar of national water policy. Current output stands at 350 million cubic meters per year, with plans to reach 1.7 billion cubic meters by 2030. Several new plants are under construction, alongside additional projects planned in southern and northern coastal cities.
Wastewater treatment also moves forward, with treated volumes set to rise to 100 million cubic meters by 2027. These measures form part of the National Water Plan through 2050, which targets broader access to drinking water for urban and rural communities across Morocco.
