As part of its cooperation with Morocco, the World Bank has published a results profile on the country’s management of water and sanitation. In 2007, through the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the World Bank granted the country an 18-year development policy loan of $ 100 million. The loan was principally intended to finance a national programme of comprehensive water sector reform, aiming for more efficient and sustainable management of the resource and related services. Beyond this immediate goal, the seventh Millennium Development Goal, which aims to "halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water", is therefore also directly at stake.
The World Bank profile praises the progress made by Morocco, which is now on track to exceed the target of the seventh Millennium Development Goal. The country’s performance is directly linked to greater public spending on water supply and sanitation infrastructures. Between 2005 and 2009, public expenditure in support of these infrastructure programmes rose to 25% of the total public expenditure for water. Prior to this, only 5% of total public expenditure was reserved for infrastructure programmes.
As another positive point, the World Bank’s results profile also points out that the government has reinforced its water management policies in order to meet the country’s growing needs, which strain the available resources. The development of new technologies, such as seawater desalination and water-saving irrigation techniques, also contributes to rational, sustainable water use.
On a less positive note, the World Bank believes that there is room for improvement to water conservation and protection policies, as well as developing the water supply in the poorest rural communities.
The World Bank now plans to grant additional funding to help the country adapt water management o climate change, and modernise the irrigation sector .
Meanwhile, local pilot projects are also being set up. For example, a joint project of Al Akhawayn University (Ifrane, Morocco), the Agency for the Sebou River Basin, and the International Development Research Centre (Canada) aims to reduce pressure on groundwater levels of the Saïss basin. Aquifer levels in the basin have plummeted since 1980, mainly due to a regional drought which lasted several years, as well as overexploitation of the resources for irrigation and drinking water purposes. To prevent the major risk of complete depletion of the basin, several initiatives must be set up, including local water-saving measures, training and informing farmers, testing new water-saving irrigation techniques, and creating two water user associations for agricultural use.
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