Water pollution in Morocco worsens, expert warns

A Moroccan expert warned that water pollution in Morocco is worsening as a result of various industrial pollution sources and a non-environment friendly water policy.

Ali Foutlane, an executive at the Moroccan drinking water office (ONEP) told a conference on Arab water security--held last week in Cairo-- that industrial plants are using large quantities of water and reject some 500 million cubic meters of liquid wastes in rivers and in earth. Only 370 million cubic meters are being reused in the irrigation of 7,000 hectares of land, he said.

The quantity of industrial solid waste is estimated annually at 800,000 tons, he said adding that the most polluting industries are agro-food, textile, leather, chemical, mechanical and electric industries. Other pollution sources are fertilizers, pesticides and household waste which affect the quality of water and increase the cost of drinking water production.

For the expert, water pollution also has a negative incidence on tourism, especially with a growing pollution of beaches.

He added that Morocco has adopted a series of preventive and curative measures, including the permanent control of water quality, monitoring pollution sources, a national liquid and solid sanitation plan and laws for the protection of environment and particularly water resources.