The Berrechid plain has historically been known as Morocco’s granary for its vast production of cereals and fodder and more recently, it has been an important legume production hub. Over the past two decades, the plain has seen a disorderly intensification of irrigation. Between 2007 and 2017, carrot production, for instance, increased nearly 500 percent. Despite the immediate economic gains, this process has been one of the causes of the over-exploitation of the Berrechid aquifer, whose more than 95 percent of pumped water goes to agriculture.
Today, the Berrechid aquifer is one of the most depleted in Morocco. More water has been taken from the aquifer than its natural capacity to recharge. The reserve has recorded an annual deficit of 32 million cubic metres (the equivalent of 12 800 Olympic-size swimming pools) due to overuse and increasingly erratic rainfall patterns. The aquifer also suffers from increasing levels of pollution from agricultural activities.
Rural communities and farmers in Berrechid rely on this essential aquifer to live and to grow the crops on which their household incomes and food security rely.
Though the country had established legal and institutional systems to regulate groundwater use, for several years, most wells in the area were neither declared nor monitored. Water charges were unpaid and illegal drilling accelerated the aquifer’s depletion.
“Life becomes more difficult with water shortages,” says Said Fikri, a farmer in Berrechid. “We need sustainable agriculture that does not deplete water, so our children can continue our work.”
Mounting pressure
The case in Berrechid sheds light on some of the major concerns about water management in Morocco at large. The country faces “structural water stress” due to population growth combined with climate change and growing urban and industrial demand for water.
Like in Morocco, water is incredibly precious in all of the Near East and North Africa. Freshwater availability in the region is around one-tenth of the global average, having decreased by 78 percent between 1962 and 2018, compared with a global reduction of 59 percent over the same period.
While a few decades ago, wells would pump water from 50 metres beneath the surface, now it is nearly three times deeper, compounding the difficulties in accessing water resources.