Morocco’s Dam Water Levels Drop 20% in 2019, Raising Drought Concerns

The Al Wahda dam (Ouezzane province) reached a filling rate of 51.1% (1.80 billion m3), compared to 59.7% at the same date in 2018 (2.1 billion m3), according to data from the Water Department.

As for the Al Massira dam (Settat province), it recorded a filling rate of 18.0%, i.e. a water availability of 478.3 million m3, compared to 817.3 million m3 a year earlier (30.8%), according to the same source.

As for the filling rate of the Bin El Ouidane dam (Azilal province), it stood at 41.3% (502.1 million m3), compared to 74.4% during the same period in 2018 on a year-on-year basis (904.3 million m3).

The Idriss 1st dam (Fez province), on the other hand, reached a volume of 875.1 million m3 (77.5%) compared to 862.7 million m3 (76.4%), while the Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah dam recorded 695.68 million m3 (71.4%) compared to a filling rate of 92.4% at the same date in 2018.

According to the same source, the reservoir of the Ahmed El Hansali dam (Béni Mellal province) showed a volume of 213.4 million m3 (31.9%), and that of Oued El Makhazine (Larache province) reached 561.1 million m3 (83.4%).

Furthermore, the reservoir of the El Mansour Eddahbi dam (Ouarzazate province) stood at 199.9 million m3 (44.9%), compared to 238.8 million m3 during the same period a year earlier (53.6%).