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The Problem of Water in Morocco by David Gonzalez-Murillo
Water in Morocco: Data
According to the World Bank, Morocco still has one of the lowest rural water supply and sanitation access rates in the Middle East and North Africa: 56% for rural water supply and 35% for rural sanitation. This means that nearly two in three rural Moroccans do not have access to technologies such as the poor flush latrine. The World Bank also outlines two relevant data: the access to improved water rate is 80%, and the access to improved sanitation rate is just 62%.
Municipalities are responsible for rural sanitation, but they lack both the financial and technical capacity. As a result, there is a tendency to neglect hygiene and sanitation in rural areas.
Morocco, as its Maghribian neighbours Algeria and Tunisia, suffers a situation of water stress. This is partly due to the economic policies that have undervalued and discriminated the problem of water and have attached importance to water depending only on its relevance in foreign trade. Examples of this economic approach in Morocco are the priority given to export agriculture and the privileges granted to the tourist industry in water affairs.
The case of Marrakech is particularly graphic: the two million tourists who annually visit this city use five times more water than the whole local population, which amounts to one million inhabitants. As a result of this unequal management, the access to water has become more difficult for the rural population and the water tables suffer from over-exploitation.
Privatization of water in Morocco
Since the mid-90s, there has been, in Morocco, a tendency towards deregulation, the privatization and the opening to the big foreign corporations for the management of traditionally public services. The fundamental sectors of education and health have also seen an increase of the presence of private capital, just as water management has been gradually put in the hands of private organisations.
The case of the village Ben S'mim
A very descriptive example of this tendency towards denationalization is the case of the village of Ben S'mim, in the Middle Atlas range. The residents of Ben S'mim have demonstrated repeatedly against the privatisation of their water source, which they consider to be the plundering of a communal resource. A private corporation is trying to acquire the source in order to bottle the water for its subsequent commercialisation.
Also, the inhabitants of Ben S'mim have released a communiqué in which they demand the interruption of the project, the overturning of the trial against 12 villagers accused of demonstrating against that project and the adoption of a true policy of development for the region that will allow the population to get out of the marginalisation and the absolute poverty in which it is immersed.
The case of Lydec in Casablanca
A second example of this tendency to privatizing the management of water and sanitation in Morocco is the case of the two big French corporations that have been put in charge of the distribution of water and electricity, as well as the sanitation services, in three of the main metropolitan areas in Morocco: Casablanca, Rabat-Salé and Tétouan-Tangiers.
The case of the French company Lydec, in charge of the management of water and sanitation services in Casablanca, is a particularly illustrative case of the problems that arise from the private management of these services. The company has broken several of its contractual obligations with the urban municipality, and is accused of bad management, overspending and even fraudulent operations. Firstly, between 1997 and 2007, only 1,250 connections were carried out, a quite insufficient amount if compared to the 10,000 the company was obliged to by contract.
Secondly, public opinion has harshly criticized the fact that the connection cost, which amount to €800 or $1,060, is exorbitant for a population whose average annual income is €1600 or $2,120. Moreover, in suburban areas, where water and sanitation are most needed, incomes are much higher. This piece of information contrasts with the figures of the combined profits of the three companies in charge of the private management in the three main metropolitan areas mentioned above: such profits amount to 8 billion dirhams, about 704 million Euros or 935 million Dollars, which is equivalent to 2 or 2.5% of Morocco's GDP.
Also, the investment Lydec was obliged to spend according to the contract has proved to be insufficient: they were supposed to invest 3,815 billion dirhams, but the company only spent 2,074 billion dirhams, that is, only 54% of the total amount originally agreed.
Finally, with regard to illegal activities, Lydec shared out profits before 2009, which is the date stipulated in the contract. In fact, between 2003 and 2006, Lydec had already distributed 560 million dirhams, over 50 million Euros or 66 million Dollars. Moreover, Lydec broke the law by unjustifiably transferring 678 million dirhams, amounting to 85% of the capital supposedly invested by Lydec, to shareholders and suppliers abroad.
Conclusions and solutions
Several associations and institutions, including the Moroccan Association for the World Contract of Water (ACME-Maroc), consider these two cases to be excellent examples of a wrong approach by the Moroccan administrations. The ACME criticises what they regard as an abusive and ineffective economic policy which turns citizens into consumers. By thinking that the State is unable to manage water and that only the market can put in practice the new methods necessary for an efficient distribution of this resource, the political decision-makers are in fact aggravating the already critical problems of water and sanitation services shortages.
These organisations demand that access to water be considered as a fundamental human right and that its distribution be organised as a social service and not as a business regulated by the arbitrary laws of supply and demand. Also, they are opposed to the decisions adopted by the World Water Form, dictated by the big private water holdings of the world, and demand from the Moroccan government a critical attitude towards these economic interests.
They also suggest that the promotion of activities related to the production and distribution of water be based on a public-public partnership, between Southern and Northern countries, as well as among several Southern countries. Finally, these organisations also demand the institutions of credible mechanism that include civil society in the follow-up and the control of the activities carried out by public organizations, so that the principles of participative democracy are put into practice.
As far as solutions are concerned, ACME suggests the reduction in the short-term squandering of water as well as the reorientation of the production sectors towards thriftier and less polluting uses of water, both in agriculture and in the tourism and industry sectors, especially in the petrochemical industry.
As a main and deciding solution, various associations propose a return to municipal water management, following the example of several Northern countries, so that the right to access to water and public sanitation is guaranteed.
If you are interested in the problem of water in Morocco, I invite you to visit the country in order for you to learn about it first-hand. You can even stay in one of the many hotels in Marrakech mentioned above, or in one of the charming traditional riads Marrakech has to offer. Once in Marrakech, you can get in touch with ACME-Maroc and even collaborate with some of the projects of this organization.
David Gonzalez-Company is a writer, journalist, educator and translator who has traveled extensively and has lived in several European, North American and African countries.
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