Morocco is spending more money to secure its water supply as drought and falling water resources put growing pressure on the country. For years, water policy focused mainly on dams and other traditional water sources. The approach is now changing. Desalination, water transfers, treated wastewater, new irrigation systems and better distribution networks are becoming a bigger part of the country’s water system.
The biggest question is how to pay for all of this.
The National Programme for Drinking Water Supply and Irrigation 2020-2027 has a budget of 143bn dirhams. The programme covers projects designed to secure drinking water and reduce the impact of repeated droughts.
Desalination is at the centre of the new strategy.
The government plans to have more than 1.7bn cubic metres of desalination capacity each year by 2030. More than half of the country’s drinking-water needs could then come from desalinated seawater. Some of the water will also go to agriculture.
This means building much more than desalination plants. The projects also need electricity, pumping stations, pipelines and distribution networks to move water to cities and farms.
Casablanca is one of the biggest examples.
A new desalination plant is being built with a total planned capacity of 300m cubic metres a year. The first phase will produce 200m cubic metres.
The project uses a public-private partnership. This type of arrangement is expected to become more common as new water infrastructure is built.
Part of the water will be used for agriculture. An irrigation project covering the coastal area between Sidi Rahal and Azemmour plans to use about 50m cubic metres of desalinated water each year.
The project will supply around 8,000 hectares. The investment cost is estimated by the Ministry of Economy and Finance at 724.59m dirhams, excluding expropriation costs.
Desalination is therefore becoming linked to agriculture, energy and private investment. A plant cannot be treated as a stand-alone project. The full system also needs water transport, distribution and, in some cases, electricity production.
The public water utility ONEE is carrying a large part of the investment.
ONEE has a 2025-2030 investment plan worth 72.3bn dirhams. The water division accounts for 22.4bn dirhams.
The figures show how quickly desalination is growing.
ONEE produced 1.417bn cubic metres of drinking water in 2025. Surface water accounted for 977.8m cubic metres. Groundwater provided 367.2m cubic metres. Desalination supplied 72.5m cubic metres.
The utility plans to increase desalination capacity for drinking water to more than 1.3bn cubic metres a year by the end of its 2026-2030 investment programme.
Desalination could then provide 63% of drinking-water needs. The figure was 13% in 2025 and less than 8% in 2023.
Public money is not the only source of funding.
International financial institutions are becoming an important part of the financing system.
The World Bank approved $350m in July 2023 for a programme aimed at improving water security and resilience. The programme supports the national water programme and the longer
