Casablanca Faces Water Shortages as Morocco’s Drought Crisis Deepens

The gap between supply and demand for water will be more important by next spring, Lydec warned, noting that the many measures taken by the government in recent weeks to rationalize water consumption in several cities have impacted water availability in metropolises like Casablanca. Several residents of the city have expressed complaints about the low water flow and frequent cuts.

"The water shortage in Morocco is starting to seriously worry us. I didn’t think the flow reduction would affect our daily lives so much. I live on the sixth floor and the impact of this measure is more important. Sometimes there is absolutely no water, when I was about to do the dishes or take a bath. We hope the authorities will quickly find a solution to this crucial problem," complains Samira, 40, to the newspaper Le Matin.

The situation has provoked strong reactions on social media. "The problem of water cuts has become very constraining in the neighborhood where I live. It happens that we go through several hours in the day without water. If the authorities want to reduce the flow, we must be warned of the cut-off times to take the necessary precautions. This measure greatly affects our daily lives," wrote an Internet user on Facebook.

For his part, Moulay Ahmed Afilal, vice-president of the Casablanca commune, assured that these water cuts are not attributable to the authorities and are not related to the measures taken to rationalize water, but would rather be due to "Lydec’s work in certain neighborhoods." For his part, Saâd Azzaoui, director of project management at Lydec, said that "the reserves at the level of the Al Massira dam, which supplies a large part of the city, are currently less than 2%, a very significant drop compared to the rate of 30% recorded several years ago."