Water in Morocco

Morocco’s rain and surface water are concentrated in the north-west and the mountains, and rainfall varies strongly from year to year.^1 2 Since 1967, the country has built its water supply around large dams, while irrigation accounts for most of its water demand.^3 4 1 Seven consecutive years of water deficit drained the reservoirs to record lows, and groundwater is overexploited in every basin.^5 6 Morocco is now turning to seawater desalination and to transfers between river basins.^7 8

Marrakech was built on groundwater. Founded by the AlmoravidsAlmoravids A confederation of Berber tribes from the Sahara whose religious zeal and military campaigns built an empire in north-western Africa and Muslim Spain in the 11th and 12th centuries. They made Marrakech their capital. Source: Almoravids, Encyclopaedia Britannica in 1070–1072, the city began drawing water in the early 12th century from khettaras, underground drainage galleries dug for drinking water and irrigation.^9 10 In 1157, the AlmohadAlmohads A Berber confederation that created an Islamic empire in North Africa and Spain (1130 to 1269). Under Abd al-Mu'min they brought down the Almoravid state in 1147 and captured Marrakech, which became their capital. Source: Almohads, Encyclopaedia Britannica caliph Abd al-Mu’min built the great basin of the Menara, also fed by khettaras.¹⁰ In the mid-20th century, colonial inventories counted more than 600 khettaras in the HaouzHaouz The fertile, irrigated plain in central Morocco at whose centre Marrakech lies, south of the Tennsift River. Source: Marrakech, Encyclopaedia Britannica of Marrakech, 500 of them working and irrigating 20,000 ha.¹¹ Modern pumping then overexploited the aquifers, and between 1950 and 2000 almost all of these galleries dried up.¹¹ Meanwhile, a national dam policy launched in 1967 set out to irrigate one million hectares, a target reached in 1997.³

Dams have not ended the pumping. Groundwater withdrawals of about 5 billion m³ a year exceed recharge by 1.1 billion m³.⁴ The reservoirs, by contrast, rise and fall with the rain: after seven dry years, rain in 2025–26 lifted them, and the national fill rate stood at 67.5% on 1 September 2026.^5 12 Morocco is responding by moving water between basins and desalinating seawater. Between October 2023 and October 2025, the Sebou–Bouregreg link moved 871 million m³ towards Rabat and Casablanca.^6 8 Desalination capacity reached 324 million m³ a year at the end of 2024, against a target of 2.2 billion m³ by 2030.⁷ The Casablanca plant is scheduled to start in February 2027.¹³

One interactive map of Morocco's water, built from real geodata. Climate & drought maps the aridity gradient (WorldClim) with warming projections. The Water risk layer's WRI Aqueduct indicators, covering overall water risk, water stress and flood risk (plus groundwater decline where the trend is significant), shade every river sub-basin by its 0–5 risk score. Demand shows where the population, and the water demand, concentrate. Infrastructure brings the physical system together: rivers, dams (FAO AQUASTAT), treatment plants, desalination and the major conveyors. Shared waters outlines the transboundary river basins and aquifers that Morocco shares with other countries, each drawn in full across the border; hover an outline for the countries that share it. Hover any sub-basin or marker for detail; sources are cited under each view.

Morocco’s relief shapes its water. The Rif rises in the north, and the Atlas system of the Middle, High and Anti-Atlas peaks at Toubkal, 4,165 m.¹ Coastal plains run the length of the country, narrow on the Mediterranean and wide on the Atlantic. Desert plateaus lie south-east of the Atlas.¹ The Loukkos, Sebou and Oum Er-Rbia basins in the north-west hold 71.5% of surface water resources.¹

Rainfall

Average rainfall is 346 mm a year, from about 700 mm in the far north-west to 25 mm in the south-east.¹ The mountains can receive up to 2,000 mm, mostly between October and May.¹ Rain comes in two seasonal peaks, in winter and spring, and varies strongly from year to year, especially in the north.²

In the World Bank Climate Change Knowledge Portal’s ERA5 reanalysis, averaged over the whole of Morocco, about 285 mm of rain falls in a year (1991–2020). Station records and national averages use other sources and baselines, so their figures can differ (the text cites FAO’s national average of 346 mm a year). About 35% of the rain falls in October, November and March. Average rainfall in 1993–2022 was about 17% lower than in 1951–1980, and single years swing widely around that.

Record heat, long drought

Morocco has warmed by about 0.2 °C a decade since the 1960s.¹⁹ On 11 August 2023 Agadir recorded 50.4 °C, the first reading above 50 °C in the country.²⁰ That year was the driest in at least 80 years, with a rainfall deficit of about 48%.²⁰ 2024 was the hottest year on record, 1.49 °C above the 1991–2020 average, and the sixth consecutive year of drought.²¹ The drought persisted, punctuated by extreme rainfall. In late August and early September 2024, rain of centennial rarity fell on the eastern Atlas slopes and Tata.²¹ A World Weather Attribution study found that extreme one-day rainfall over a zone including northern Morocco has intensified by an estimated 23–49%.²²

The same reanalysis gives a mean temperature of 18.4 °C for 1991–2020 and a warming of about 0.46 °C a decade over 1971–2022. Station records and national reports use other sources and periods, so their warming rates can differ (the text cites about 0.2 °C a decade since the 1960s from the World Bank).

Projections

Morocco’s fourth national communication projects warming of 2–3 °C in the south and south-east by 2050 under a high-emissions scenario.² Rainfall could fall by up to 25% in some regions by 2050, against 1961–1990.² Surface water potential could drop by 3.5 billion m³ in an optimistic scenario and by 5 billion m³ in a pessimistic one.² The IPCC projects runoff declines of 10–63% by mid-century in Morocco and Tunisia. It names Morocco among the Mediterranean countries most exposed to sea-level rise.²³ More than 65% of the population and 90% of industry sit on the coast.¹⁹

Projected change for Morocco

The table gives the CMIP6 multi-model median from the same World Bank portal, as change against 1995–2014. Projections cited in the text may use other models, scenarios or baselines, so their figures can differ.

Dams first

Surface water dominates the ledger. The dam network irrigates the great perimeters and supplies the cities, but inflows have fallen well below historic averages. Average surface inflow over 1979–2018 was 15 billion m³, against 18.4 billion over 1945–2018.⁴ Storage and fill levels through the drought are under Infrastructure.

Groundwater

Groundwater use grew in response to the late-1970s drought and now supplies about 35% of agricultural water.⁴ Withdrawals of about 5 billion m³ a year exceed recharge by 1.1 billion m³, on the World Bank’s figures.⁴ Measured against exploitable levels instead, the Court of Accounts found groundwater overexploited in every basin, with mobilised volumes more than 1 billion m³ above those levels.⁶ In the El Guerdane citrus area of the Souss, the water table fell by more than 2 m a year from the 2000s. About 200 ha of orchards were abandoned each year.¹ The Chtouka aquifer, in a zone exporting 90% of Morocco’s tomatoes, runs a deficit of 58 million m³ a year.²⁴ The Saïss aquifer’s deficit is estimated at 100 million m³ a year.²⁵ Aquifer contracts (contrats de nappe) have been launched in Chtouka, Boudnib, Berrechid and the Saïss.⁴ Contracts have been signed for the Souss-Massa (2011),¹ Berrechid,²⁶ Meski-Boudnib (October 2022)²⁷ and the Saïss (April 2025, a joint management contract between the water and agriculture ministries);²⁸ one for Chtouka was in preparation, the ministry said in 2022.²⁶

The new coast line

Desalination capacity reached 324 million m³ a year at the end of 2024, against a target of 2.2 billion m³ by 2030.⁷ The plants are described under Infrastructure.

The main rivers

The table ranks the rivers of Morocco by the largest natural flow they reach inside the country. Natural flow is the modelled long-term average before any withdrawals. For a heavily used river it measures what the river could carry, not what arrives today.

The dams on these rivers, from the FAO AQUASTAT inventory, are listed river by river under Infrastructure.

Morocco’s renewable water per person fell from 2,560 m³ a year in 1960 to about 620 m³ in 2020.⁴ Irrigation dominates demand. In 2010 it accounted for 13.2 of 14.6 billion m³ of water demand, more than 90%, FAO reported; FAO’s withdrawal figure for that year, the one charted below, is lower.¹

A million hectares

In a speech in Tangier on 18 September 1967, King Hassan II launched a dam policy. Its goal was one million irrigated hectares by the end of the century. The target was reached in 1997.³ Irrigated land grew from 90,000 ha in 1961 to 1.46 million ha in 2004.¹ Nine regional agricultural offices, created in 1966, run the large public schemes, which cover 682,600 ha.¹ The dams built for them are described under Infrastructure.

Drip and the rebound

A national irrigation water-saving programme began in 2008 under Plan Maroc Vert. It aimed to convert about 550,000 ha to localised irrigation.¹ Plan Maroc Vert invested about US$10 billion between 2008 and 2018, 40% of it public.⁴ Localised irrigation covered about 794,000 ha by the end of 2023, nearly half of irrigated land, up from 9% in 2008.⁶ The Court of Accounts found that this had not stabilised irrigation demand.⁶ Groundwater use is set out under Water resources. Génération Green, launched in February 2020, aims to double water efficiency.²⁹

Drought allocations

Morocco’s guiding principle is to meet water demand in all sectors except agriculture, whose allocations are adjusted to availability, and some irrigation perimeters received no water in 2022.⁴ Transfers and desalination now back up the cities (see Infrastructure).

Use by sector

Withdrawals over time

FAO’s AQUASTAT estimates put Morocco’s freshwater withdrawals at 9.0 billion m³ in 1975 and 10.6 billion m³ in its latest estimate (2010). Agriculture’s share of the total moved from 89% in 1994 to 88% in the latest estimate (2010). For 2010 AQUASTAT itself now gives 10.4 billion m³ as the total of the three sectors charted above, against the 10.6 billion m³ in the World Bank copy.

Irrigation covers 19.4% of Morocco’s cultivated area but accounts for about 45% of agricultural value and 75% of agricultural exports.³¹ The table shows how irrigated land was organised at the end of 2011; the large perimeters are described under Water use.

Methods and programmes

In July 2024 the agriculture minister told parliament that 850,000 ha were equipped with drip systems, with irrigation technology to reach one million hectares by 2030.³⁵ The Court of Accounts count is under Water use. Beside the water-saving programme, the ministry names three more: extending irrigation downstream of dams on 130,000 ha, rehabilitating small and medium schemes, and public-private partnerships for irrigation water services.³³ The Court of Accounts reported 39,020 ha achieved under the extension programme and called for its targets to be revised to the water that can be mobilised.⁶

Crops and costs

Since 11 July 2022 the state has withheld its aid for localised irrigation on new plantations of avocado, watermelon and citrus; replanting an orchard with the same species stays eligible. The agriculture ministry said the aim was to stop the growth in water-hungry crops, and the water minister called the rule an adjustment of Génération Green to the water constraint.³⁶ The Court of Accounts asked for regular evaluation of how restrictions on water supply to irrigated perimeters affect productivity, farm income and jobs.⁶

Treated wastewater

Farms use very little. The Court of Accounts found in 2024 that agricultural use was insignificant, for lack of arrangements to share costs between treatment-plant operators and farmers and of norms for the quality of reused water;⁶ a year later it added an outdated legal framework, users’ distrust of quality and the cost of further treatment.⁷ The World Bank programme ties part of its disbursements to a revised bylaw on norms for reuse in irrigation, due in 2026.³¹ Reuse volumes and targets are under Infrastructure; irrigation dams and desalination plants with an irrigation allocation are listed with other countries’ on the Agriculture & Food hub.

Dams are the backbone. Between 1967 and 2020 the number of large dams rose from 20 to 146, and storage from 2 to 19.1 billion m³.⁴ In June 2025 Morocco had 154 large dams with a total capacity of 20.7 billion m³, plus about 150 small and medium dams. Sixteen more large dams were under construction.³⁷ Al Wahda, completed in 1996 and inaugurated in 1997, is the largest reservoir, with 3.73 billion m³ of design capacity, about 3.45 billion m³ after siltation.^38 39 40 Al Massira follows at 2,760 million m³.³⁹ The Tamri dam near Agadir, holding 204 million m³, was about 90% complete in March 2026.⁴¹ Silt costs 58.3 million m³ of storage a year, and 10 dams are now below half their original capacity;⁴² nearly 20 reservoirs are expected to fill with sediment by 2040.⁴

Tracked projects

Open the project database for Morocco

Storage through the drought

Dams were 23.22% full in January 2024, down from 34.2% in January 2022.⁵ Rain in 2025–26 lifted the national fill rate to 70.7% on 18 February 2026⁴³ and to about 76% on 18 May 2026. It stood at 67.5% on 1 September.¹²

Transfers and desalination

Water is increasingly moved and made. The Sebou–Bouregreg link, costing 6 billion dirhams, entered service at the end of August 2023 and carries water from the north-west toward Rabat and Casablanca.⁶ It moved 871 million m³ between October 2023 and October 2025.⁸ A nearly 300 km extension towards the Oum Er-Rbia basin was planned, with construction due to start at the end of 2026;^44 45 that Sebou–Oum Er-Rbia link would carry up to 800 million m³ a year further south.⁴⁴ A 185.3 km pipeline from Safi was reported in June 2026 as set to bring about 100 million m³ a year of desalinated water from OCP Green Water’s plant to Marrakech.⁴⁶ The Chtouka plant near Agadir, in service since 2022, produces 275,000 m³ a day, including 125,000 m³ for irrigation, and can be expanded to 400,000 m³ a day.^47 48 The Casablanca plant, under construction since June 2024, is scheduled to start in February 2027 at 200 million m³ a year. A second phase takes it to 300 million m³, the minister said in July 2026.¹³ ACCIONA’s May 2025 release gave 2028 for completion at 300 million m³ a year, with the plant powered entirely by wind.¹⁴

Networks and floods

ONEE’s 2026–2030 plan earmarks MAD 42.1 billion for drinking-water infrastructure.⁴⁹ Floods test the system. In February 2026 torrential rain and dam releases forced 154,309 people to evacuate in the north.⁵⁰ The national disaster fund had agreed 367 risk-reduction projects worth MAD 4.89 billion between 2015 and June 2026.⁵¹

Wastewater and reuse

In 2010 more than 90% of municipal wastewater, then 640 million m³ a year, was discharged untreated.¹ Treatment capacity grew from 50,000 m³ a day in 2000 to 900,000 m³ in 2016. Only 54% of the population was connected to treatment plants.⁴ Tertiary treatment capacity reached 231 million m³ a year in 2023, but 194 million m³ of that capacity went unused.⁵² Reuse remains marginal. The volume reused reached about 37 million m³ in 2023, against a target of 100 million m³ a year by 2027.⁶ Reuse capacity was about 52 million m³ a year at the end of 2024; treated wastewater is mainly reused for green spaces, golf courses and some industrial activities.⁷ The Court of Accounts’ 2024–2025 annual report said that treated and reused wastewater represented only 7% of urban wastewater, and that nine implementing texts of the 2016 water law, including rules on reuse, had not been published by the end of 2024.⁷

Dams and reservoirs

Moroccan water quality is broadly acceptable or good but declining, the World Bank finds. Most industrial sewage goes untreated into the environment. Farming adds about 1,200 tonnes of nitrogen and 500 tonnes of pesticides a year.⁴ Nearly 10% of the area of the main aquifers exceeds 50 mg/L of nitrate, and nearly 20% is at 25–50 mg/L.¹ In Chtouka, nitrate tops 50 mg/L around Belfaa and along the Massa river.⁵⁵ Sampling of 22 wells in the Saïss plain in 2017–18 detected 27 pesticides.⁵⁶ Soil salinisation affects about 500,000 ha.¹

The Oued Fès, a tributary of the Sebou, is a pollution hotspot. Cadmium there reached 850 µg/L and copper 690 µg/L, far above international standards. Researchers also found Vibrio cholerae at the sampling sites.⁵⁷ Near Boudnib, downstream of the Kaddoussa dam on the Guir, conductivity exceeded 1,400 µS/cm at all 15 stations sampled in November 2023.⁵⁸

The reported indicators

On the latest values each country reports for SDG indicator 6.3.1, Morocco’s 75% (2024) ranks 9th of the 17 countries covered here that report it; years differ by country. The regional comparison is in the wastewater and reuse dashboard.

Morocco’s big rivers rise and reach the sea within its borders. The shared basins lie in the east, where Morocco and Algeria share the Tafna, Guir, Dra and Daoura.⁵⁹ Morocco’s Kaddoussa dam on the Guir, near Boudnib, has been in service since 2021.^8 58 A study not yet peer reviewed projects rainfall in the Guir watershed falling from about 380 mm to about 280 mm a year by 2100 under high emissions.⁶⁰

Regional cooperation has been technical. From 2014 to 2022 Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia took part in a €5 million Sahara and Sahel Observatory project on sustainable water management in the Maghreb.⁶¹

The record

Shared river basins

Shared aquifers

• Angad-Maghnia Unconfined Aquifer; Jbel-Hamra Confined AquiferAlgeria · data moderate
• Aïn Béni MatharAlgeria · data moderate
• Chott Tigri-LahouitaAlgeria · data limited
• Errachidia Aquifer SystemAlgeria · data good
• Figuig OasisAlgeria · data moderate
• Tindouf Aquifer SystemAlgeria, Mauritania · data moderate

Water policy sits with the Ministry of Equipment and Water, led since October 2021 by Nizar Baraka.⁶³ The water department became a delegated ministry in 2013.¹ A Higher Council for Water and Climate sets the broad direction. An interministerial water commission created in 2001 was described as inactive in 2014,¹ and a new commission was set up in 2017.³¹ Nine river basin agencies were created under the 1995 water law. The pilot agency for the Oum Er-Rbia opened in 1996 and the others from 2002, FAO recorded in 2014.¹ In May 2024 the minister spoke of ten basin agencies,⁶⁴ and the ministry's website links ten, from Bouregreg to Sakia El Hamra and Oued Eddahab.⁶⁵ ONEE, through its drinking-water branch, is responsible for national water supply and sanitation.¹

Law and plans

Law 10-95 of 1995 built on decrees of 1914, 1919 and 1925 on the public water domain.¹ Law 36-15 of 2016 kept and strengthened that framework.³¹ The draft National Water Plan for 2020–2050 foresees US$41.3 billion of investment over 30 years.⁴ The emergency PNAEPI programme launched on 14 January 2020 with MAD 115 billion, later raised to MAD 143 billion.^66 6 Retail tariffs and sanitation fees still do not fully reflect costs.³¹

From concessions to regional companies

Municipalities are responsible for water and sanitation, which they run directly or delegate.³¹ A 2021 reform set out to replace delegated operators and municipal utilities with regional multiservice companies.⁶⁷ Law 83-21, published in July 2023, created them.⁶⁸ The first, in Casablanca-Settat, started on 1 October 2024, after Veolia was required to sell Lydec.^68 69 Souss-Massa, the Oriental and Marrakech-Safi followed within weeks.⁷⁰ Rabat-Salé-Kénitra started on 1 June 2025, while Redal keeps its Rabat contract until 2028.⁷¹ The system has since been extended to all twelve regions.⁷⁰

Morocco is racing its own climate curve. Drought, record heat and projected runoff losses all point the same way (see Geography & climate). The response is heavy engineering: new large dams, desalination at Casablanca and Chtouka, and new transfers (see Infrastructure). Silt, evaporation and floods will keep testing that bet, as February 2026 showed.^42 50

The institutional reform may matter as much. Regional multiservice companies now operate in all twelve regions,⁷⁰ but tariffs still fall short of costs, and implementing texts of the 2016 water law were still unpublished at the end of 2024 (see Infrastructure).³¹ If the aquifers keep falling, the export farm economy stalls first. Either way, Morocco has one of North Africa’s largest pipelines of water PPPs this decade.