Morocco’s Epic Water Transfer Project Saves Casablanca and Rabat

Between 2018 and 2024, the Kingdom faced an alarming water crisis. In summer 2023, the dam vital for the thirteen million residents of the capital and Casablanca dried up to just 6% of its capacity. To prevent disaster, authorities rushed to create a water transfer from northern reserves, according to details published by L’Opinion. This connection captures surplus from the El Wahda dam, previously lost to the sea, and sends it sixty-six kilometers further south.

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Launched in December 2022, this technical challenge mobilized 540 million euros and required seven million working hours. To overcome a two-hundred-meter elevation difference, contractors installed a massive steel pipeline over three meters in diameter, powered by two extremely powerful pumping stations. The pace was relentless to complete it in nine months instead of the usual four years. "At certain moments, the construction site looked like a sunflower field, but those were the workers’ yellow helmets," testifies Simon Baraket, project director at Irzer company.

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The gates opened at the last minute in late August 2023, when only about sixty days of drinking water reserves remained for the two metropolises. Currently, rainy weather has filled the dams to full capacity, allowing this highly energy-intensive infrastructure to be temporarily put on standby. This technical triumph, perceived as a symbol of ingenuity, is already sparking extension projects toward Marrakech and piquing the curiosity of international experts from China, Senegal, and southern France.