The water highway is underway in Morocco. The titanic-sized work is responsible for transferring 400 million cubic meters of water every year over a distance of 66 kilometers to supply the primary asset to the metropolis of Casablanca and to the entire region which has 6 million people.
This is the result of an investment estimated at around 600 million dollars, financed almost entirely by the State and the Regions.
The work, which involves the transport of 15 cubic meters per second, was born from Moroccan engineering and begins from the town of Oued Sebou, north-east of the rural town of Sidi Yahia El Gharb, 80 kilometers north of Rabat.
According to those in charge - from what AGRICOLAE learns - it could be completed in September.
The Sebou and Bouregreg reservoirs interconnection project will transport water resources for the irrigation of more than 176,000 hectares of agricultural land, said Equipment and Water Minister Nizar Baraka.
This will mobilize 180 million m3 of water from the Bin El Ouidane and Ahmed El Hansali dams to irrigate 120,000 hectares in Doukkala and Bni Amir, as well as 56,000 hectares in Bni Moussa.
The Minister intervened a few days ago in response to an oral question in the Chamber of Councilors on "the interconnection of drinking water between cities", underlining the positive impact of this project on food security, prices and the protection of purchasing power of citizens.
The Minister also highlighted that the urgent interconnection operation between the Sebou and Bouregreg hydraulic basins should make it possible to face various limitations, in particular the reduction of water resources, the succession of years of drought and the pressure on the Al dam Massira, which supplies drinking water to several countries.
The past five years have seen nearly 6.5 billion m3 of water lost, including 700 million m3 in 2022, although this was the driest year since 1945, adding that since last year even 300 million m3 of water.
Baraka underlined the importance of this hydraulic work to address the water shortage that the cities of Rabat and Casablanca and their regions, whose population is estimated at nearly 12 million, could encounter, stressing that this project will allow the transfer of 'excess water estimated at between 200 and 300 million m3.
Lastly, the Minister noted that it is necessary to reduce the pressure exerted on the Al Massira dam which supplies water to the cities of Casablanca, Settat and Berrechid and whose basin is currently only 124 million m3, while its total capacity is around 2 .66 billion m3 .