Access to Drinking Water in Rural Areas Reached 97% in 2018 (Official)

Rabat – Access to drinking water in rural areas reached 97% in 2018, a performance that highlights the efforts made to guarantee water security nationally, said, Friday in Rabat, an official from the ministry of Equipment, Transport, Logistics and Water.

During a press conference held at the ministry’s headquarters in celebration of World Water Day, the head of the rural drinking water supply and sanitation division, Rachid Madah, stressed that despite the Kingdom’s climatic and hydrological context, which is characterized by irregularity in space and time, with more than 70% of water resources concentrated in 15% of the country, efforts in this area have made it possible to guarantee water security and the construction of a major water infrastructure.

The governance system, based on the autonomous unit of the water basin and driven by the strategy of creating ten water basin agencies according to a decentralized, participatory and concerted management of water resources, has contributed to the generalization of access to drinking water in urban areas, he stressed, while emphasizing the improvement of the individual connection rate in rural areas, currently estimated at 40%.

Madah added that in parallel, an effort has been made in the field of sanitation and water pollution control, through the construction of sanitation networks and wastewater treatment plants, noting that the connection rate in urban areas has reached 76%, while the rate of treated wastewater is estimated at 50%.

This performance, which will be further consolidated with the adoption in 2016 of the New Water Act 36.15, has made it possible to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG6, which aims to guarantee access to water and sanitation for all and ensure sustainable management at an affordable cost, he said.

The meeting was also an opportunity to announce the launch of a new partnership between Morocco, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Water Council, in cooperation with the Republic of Senegal, to promote water security in Africa.

According to the ministry, the main objective of this partnership is to support African countries in designing and implementing national water policies, based on the principles of good governance and ensuring water security as well as the achievement of the SDGs by 2030.