The National Human Rights Council (CNDH) called on Wednesday for an assessment of Morocco’s experience in managing risks related to water scarcity in order to find lasting solutions to guarantee the right to water for all.
The CNDH indicated, in its annual report on the situation of human rights in Morocco for the year 2022, that the severe drought which characterized the year 2022, contributed to the exacerbation of water stress without precedent for 40 years, making the problem of water supply one of the priorities for public action during the current year, where the average rainfall did not exceed 199 mm until the end of May 2022, a decrease of 44% compared to 2021.
The report also shows, according to the official data available, that this “worrying situation” is mainly due to the significant drop in surface water resources and groundwater tables due to the significant drop in precipitation and snowfall, despite the presence of an urgent strategy to deal with water stress problems since December last year.
The seriousness of the shortage has forced the public authorities to adopt unprecedented emergency measures, such as resorting to cutting off water to rationalize consumption, following the significant drop in the filling rate of dams, which did not exceed 32.7% in March 2022, notes the CNDH.
To this end, the CNDH has proposed four integrated and complementary paths as a basis for the development of a water policy capable of resisting the threats to water security in Morocco, namely: making climate change a structural factor in water policy, exploring the possibilities of strengthening the right to water by influencing the domestic consumption model and modifying the consumption culture of individuals, determined by price and value, but also, adopt an economic model taking into account the cost of water in the evaluation of the feasibility of economic activities, by making food security a priority of the water policy as well as to reconsider the governance mechanisms adopted at the level planning and implementation to address water stress and build the capacity of citizens to access the right to water.
