Water and climate council calls for good management of water
The 9th session of the water and climate supreme council, held in Agadir this June 21-22, underscored the need for good management and rational use of water resources.
The council lauded the water policy in Morocco which enabled the country to build water storage facilities that irrigate one million hectares, supply drinking water and significantly alleviate effects of severe drought in the two last decades. Members of the council also voiced satisfaction at the importance that King Mohammed VI grants to water security, recalling that the latest session of the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco was dedicated to water policy.
The king had stressed in a speech at the opening session of the council the urgent need to "radically change our perception of and attitude regarding water, through the management of the demand of this resource and the rationalization of its consumption." "It is necessary to carry on the ongoing efforts to mobilize all water resources liable to be mobilized. At the same time, we must go further in setting up water storing facilities and securing, out of inter-regional solidarity concern, the transfer of water from areas enjoying a water surplus to areas suffering from water shortage," he further told participants.
The council's 9th session debated water scarcity management and meteorology strategy and national concerns.
The session also discussed the situation of water in the regions of Souss-Massa in the south and of Tensift (Marrakesh region) and how to meet the needs of the two regions -that cover 25,000 square Km each- up to year 2020, identify means of water resources harnessing (kinds of dams to be built, water treatment modalities and surface areas to be irrigated, drinking water needs.).
The 9th session is the first to be held after the Moroccan parliament adopted in 1995 a law on water, setting up the legal implements for a rational management and a better exploitation of water resources.
The council set up in 1981 is placed under the aegis of the King. It seeks to involve elected representatives, socio-professional organizations, administrations and public sectors in defining water-related orientations and in decision-making on the country's water policy.