Casablanca, Morocco (TMT)- A recent report by the World Bank warns that the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, including Morocco, is facing an unprecedented water shortage.
By 2030, the available water resources per capita per year in the MENA region will fall below the absolute scarcity threshold of 500 cubic meters per person per year.
Morocco is among the five countries in the region (Iraq, Iran, Syria, Egypt) that will face an acute water shortage, with an increase in population and limited capacity for increasing water storage.
While Morocco has invested heavily in dams and other technologies to remedy to the issue, the overexploitation of groundwater resources exposes the kingdom to drought.
The report highlighted the positive initiatives taken by the Moroccan authorities, such as the desalination project and the wastewater reuse one, with similar technologies making significant progress not only in Morocco but in the MENA region as a whole.
The report states that 50% of desalination activities and 40% of wastewater reuse initiatives in the world are being carried out in the MENA region.
Nevertheless, the reports mention that “desalinated water produced with current technologies costs four to five times more than the cost of treated surface water, including using 23 times more energy.”
The Moroccan Times.
