Integrated water resources management

Project description

Title: Integrated water resources management in Morocco
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Morocco
Lead executing agency: Ministry of Resources, Transportation, Logistics and Water
Overall term: 2008 to 2020

Context

Moroccan water resources are unevenly distributed over its regions and heavily dependent on climatic variations. Pollution from households, industry and agriculture poses an ever greater threat. Increased demand for drinking water for tourism, industry and above all agriculture has led to the overuse of water resources, with major implications for the country’s socioeconomic development. In order to counter this situation, Moroccan-German technical cooperation is supporting the implementation of the new National Water Strategy.

Objective

The capacity of the institutions in the water sector is improved so that they are able to guarantee an integrated, sustainable management of water resources.

Approach

The integrated water resources management programme (Appui à la gestion intégrée de ressources en eau – AGIRE) is a partnership between the Moroccan State Secretariat for Water and the Environment (Secrétariat d'Etat chargé de l'Eau et de l'Environnement – SEEE), the regional water management agencies (Agence de Bassin Hydraulique – ABH) of the Tensift, Souss-Massa-Drâa and Oum Er-Rbia basins as well as GIZ on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

The programme is made up of three components (2008-2011):

  • improvement of institutional, legal and organisational structures in the water sector;
  • capacity building of water management agencies and the State Secretariat for Water;
  • improvement of communication, information management and dialogue between actors in the water sector.
  • The programme’s contents concentrate on four issues:
  • improving the monitoring and control systems in water management planning;
  • protecting groundwater resources;
  • promoting the reuse of wastewater;
  • reinforcing the participation of the various actors to enhance water resources planning and management.

Results achieved so far

To aid decision-making at the water management agencies (ABHs), a groundwater and surface water modelling programme was introduced. This measure is taking place in close cooperation with a regional project of the German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) in Syria.

Subject-specific studies on varying topics were carried out or supported, for instance on the use of the results of the German-Moroccan research project IMPETUS, financed by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, on recycling wastewater, and on the fiscal status of water management agencies.

The recently launched three-year programme of further training for the employees of the State Secretariat for Water and the Environment (SEEE) and the ABHs was analysed and is receiving support. The first activity of the training programme was a one-week seminar on wastewater collection, treatment and reuse for approximately 130 professionals in December 2009 in Agadir.

A training plan was begun for the communications staff of the State Secretariat and the water management agencies, which also covered the drawing up of communication plans.

A study was undertaken on implementing the agreements for the protection and development of ground water resources in the Souss-Massa region, and activity and impact monitoring prepared.

Various pilot measures were prepared and carried out on the topic of wastewater recycling, such as the construction of urine-separating dry toilets, biogas plants and plant-based purification systems, as examples of ecological sanitation systems with recovery of wastewater and faeces for irrigation purposes, fertiliser or to generate energy, and the rehabilitation and reuse of wastewater from the treatment plant in the small town of Oulad Ayad. The pilot measures have generated great interest among authorities as a means of implementing the national wastewater recycling policy in rural areas in a decentralised manner and linking the subject of wastewater management to the production of renewable energy.

Additional information