Morocco is set to construct a major seawater desalination plant along its northern Mediterranean coast to enhance the region’s drinking water supply.
The facility will be located in Tangier and is expected to produce approximately 150 million cubic meters of water annually. Completion of the project is scheduled for 2028. The government plans to collaborate with the private sector to partially finance the initiative. Private investors will also have a stake in the project, aligning with the country’s broader strategy to tackle climate change challenges and ensure long-term water security.
READ: Algeria to build 40 MW power plant in Niger
Access to drinking water
In Morocco, access to drinking water is widespread, with over 97% of the population in both urban and rural areas having access to potable water, primarily through a network of standpipes in rural areas managed by the National Water Supply Company (ONEP); however, the country still faces challenges related to water scarcity due to factors like population growth and over-extraction of groundwater, leading to initiatives like desalination and wastewater reuse to supplement the supply.
There have been substantial improvements in access to water supply, and to a lesser extent to sanitation, over the past fifteen years. Remaining challenges include a low level of wastewater treatment (only 13% of collected wastewater is being treated), lack of house connections in the poorest urban neighborhoods, and limited sustainability of rural systems (20% of rural systems are estimated not to function).
In 2005 a National Sanitation Program was approved that aims at treating 60% of collected wastewater and connecting 80% of urban households to sewers. The issue of lack of water connections for some of the urban poor is being addressed as part of the National Human Development Initiative, under which residents of informal settlements have received land titles and have fees waived that are normally paid to utilities in order to connect to the water and sewer network.