Researchers, officials, and actors in the environmental field have warned of the danger of the continued constraints of scarcity of water resources, calling for bold means of sustainable management of them in light of the current circumstance that the Kingdom is experiencing as well as climate changes, in addition to the total measures and procedures necessary to achieve water security.

For his part, the representative of the Aquarium Agency in the Guelmim region explained that surface water resources are distributed among four basins: the Sayyad-Asaka Basin (Guelmim Province), the Sidi Ifni Basin, the Assa Zag Basin, and the Ben Khalil Basin (Tan-Tan Province), while groundwater resources are distributed over… The Guelmim water area, the deep area in the Anti-Atlas Mountains, the Bani Bassa area (Assa-Zag province), and then the Tan Tan water area. He highlighted that the current water needs in the Guelmim and Adnoun region amount to 79.6 million cubic meters in the field of agriculture (93.5 million cubic meters by 2050), and 18.11 million cubic meters for drinking water (26.04 million cubic meters by 2050).

After focusing on the constraints of managing water resources in the region, including the high demand due to the steady increase in the population, the increase in irrigated areas, and the successive years of drought, the interventionist reviewed some of the proposed measures to confront the problem of water resources, which are important for managing supply and demand, pointing out regarding the management of water supply to the necessity of strengthening this supply. Through filling groundwater, artificial covering of water beds, and reuse of treated wastewater. As for managing demand, this is done by rationalizing the use of water by changing the crops that consume the most water to others that are water-efficient, generalizing local irrigation systems, limiting the expansion of irrigated areas, as well as strengthening the water police to monitor well drilling operations, and sensitizing and educating citizens and water users in order to rationalize Use of water.

The topic “The problem of water resources in the Guelmim-Ouednoun region between the coercion of scarcity, stress and ways of sustainability” was the focus of a round table organized yesterday evening, Saturday, in Guelmim, on the occasion of the celebration of World Water Day, which falls on March 22 of each year.