Morocco expands Water Highway to move water where it is needed

RABAT – Morocco is expanding its inter-basin water transfer network with a nearly 300-km link between the Sebou and Oum Er-Rbia basins, as the country seeks to manage persistent drought and growing pressure on water resources.

The new link will be capable of transferring up to 800 million cubic metres of water annually, strengthening drinking water supplies in Settat, Berrechid and southern Casablanca while providing irrigation water for about 176,000 hectares in the Oum Er-Rbia basin.

The project marks a new stage in Morocco’s Water Highway, a system designed to move water from areas with greater availability towards regions facing shortages or rising demand.

It builds on the first major inter-basin transfer between the Sebou and Bouregreg basins. The 67-km project began construction in December 2022 and started operating gradually in August 2023.

Its transfer capacity was initially capped at 3 cubic metres per second before rising to 15 cubic metres per second. Annual transfers from Sebou subsequently exceeded 560 million cubic metres, compared with initial estimates of 350 million to 400 million cubic metres.

The system helped replenish the Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah Dam, support drinking water supplies along the Rabat-Casablanca corridor and ease pressure on the Al Massira Dam.

Morocco now intends to expand the model on a much larger scale. A later extension towards the Al Massira Dam could raise the network’s overall transfer capacity to around 1.2 billion cubic metres annually.

The expansion forms part of the National Programme for Drinking Water Supply and Irrigation, which has an investment envelope of more than 130 billion dirhams.

Morocco’s water strategy also includes dam construction, seawater desalination, treated wastewater reuse and upgrades to distribution networks, reflecting an effort to diversify supplies as successive droughts and climate change put traditional sources under pressure.

The new infrastructure is intended to serve both urban and agricultural needs. While cities such as Settat and Berrechid are expected to gain additional drinking water supplies, the Oum Er-Rbia basin will receive resources to support irrigation.

Rachid Sari, head of the African Centre for Strategic Studies, said Morocco’s rivers and valleys were contained within its national territory, giving it considerable scope to manage resources internally and redirect water between basins.

He said such transfers could help prioritise agriculture, protect food security and limit the impact of water shortages on production, prices and purchasing power.

But infrastructure alone will not resolve the country’s water challenge. Greater efficiency in irrigation, lower losses in urban distribution networks and more careful selection of crops according to available water resources will remain essential.

The expansion of the Water Highway reflects a broader shift in Moroccan policy: rather than relying on rainfall or individual reservoirs, the country is seeking a more interconnected system capable of moving water between regions while combining conventional supplies with desalination and treated wastewater.

The strategy is increasingly aimed not simply at finding more water, but at ensuring that scarce resources can be moved and used where they are most needed.