Morocco approves US $462M for drinking water and sanitation projects

The government of Morocco has approved a US $462M budget set to secure the supply of drinking water and the treatment of wastewater in the country.

The Head of the Moroccan government, Aziz Akhannouch, validated the budget which was presented by National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE). The public company is implementing several projects in the Cherifian kingdom.

Part of its budget will be used to continue the drinking water supply projects underway in Morocco. This will increase ONEE’s production capacity to 7.35 million cubic meters per day, securing service for the population.

READ:Tanzania to receive US $93M grant for drinking water project in Zanzibar

Water-consuming activities

“To achieve this objective, it is planned to build new facilities in 2022 for an expected production capacity of nearly 1.343 million m3 and to equip an additional flow of 561,600 m3 of drinking water per day,” says ONEE.

ONEE will use the other part of its budget to improve the management of wastewater (domestic, mining, agricultural, oil…) in Morocco’s cities. In this way, 14 wastewater treatment plants will be built in the Kingdom of Morocco by end of 2022.

The future plants will be capable of treating 41,382 m3 of wastewater per day when they are commissioned. The treated wastewater will be returned to nature, reducing the risks to ecosystems. These facilities will support existing ones. By the end of 2020, ONEE already had 119 wastewater treatment plants with a total capacity of 450,405 m3 per day.

In Morocco, the government is also advocating the use of effluent for water-consuming activities such as agriculture or for the replenishment of groundwater in the face of water stress. Other possible uses include watering green spaces and other industrial uses.