Minister says 60% of Morocco's water will be supplied by desalination

Rabat, the capital of Morocco, is accelerating investment in renewable energy-powered desalination plants, and plans to increase its supply of drinking water by 60% by 2030. This will be up from 25%.

It is vital to maintain a steady supply of water and the status of Morocco as a major producer and exporter fresh produce in an era of climate change. Droughts have dried up many of its water reservoirs, and underground resources are depleted.

Nizar Baraka, speaking on the sidelines at the World Water Congress held in Marrakech on Thursday, said that the North African country intends to produce 1.7 million cubic metres of desalinated drinking water per year by 2030.

The largest plant, with a planned investment of approximately 10 billion dirhams (about $1 billion), will be located 615 km (382 mi) south of Rabat. The plant will have a 350 million cubic metre capacity and will serve both urban areas in the food basket of Morocco as well as farms, said he.

Baraka stated that "studies are being conducted as part of the preparations for a plant's tender to be announced mid-next year."

Baraka stated that in addition to the northern cities Nador and Tangier plants were also planned for Rabat, in partnership with French company Veolia, and in Tantan where the government was considering building a green port dedicated to ammonia and hydrogen exports.

Morocco operates 17 desalination facilities that produce 345 million cubic meters of water annually. Four more plants with a combined capacity 540 million cubic meters are currently under construction and scheduled to be completed by 2027. One of these is in Casablanca, which is the most populous city in Morocco.

Baraka stated that "all new desalination plant will be powered by renewable energies".

Morocco also experienced rising temperatures, which exacerbated the evaporation of dams. According to the Minister, to combat this, floating solar panels were installed on a dam in Tangier. This will reduce the evaporation which is responsible for the loss of 30 percent of the surface water of the country.

Baraka stated that the experiment would be expanded to include other dams in mountainous and southern regions. Reporting by Ahmed El Jechtimi, Editing by Emelia S. Sithole-Matarise

(source: Reuters)