Title
Moroccan groundwater resources and evolution with global climate changes
Date Issued
01 February 2020
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Hssaisoune M.
Bouchaou L.
Bouimetarhan I.
Chehbouni A.
Sorbonne Universités
Publisher(s)
MDPI AG
Abstract
In semi-arid areas, many ecosystems and activities depend essentially on water availability. In Morocco, the increase of water demands combined to climate change induced decrease of precipitation put a lot of pressure on groundwater. This paper reports the results of updating and evaluation of groundwater datasets with regards to climate scenarios and institutional choices. The continuous imbalance between groundwater extraction and recharge caused a dramatic decline in groundwater levels (20 to 65 m in the past 30 years). Additionally, Morocco suffers from the degradation in groundwater quality due to seawater intrusion, nitrate pollution and natural salinity changes. Climate data analysis and scenarios predict that temperatures will increase by 2 to 4◦C and precipitation will decrease by 53% in all catchments over this century. Consequently, surface water availability will drastically decrease, which will lead to more extensive use of groundwater. Without appropriate measures, this situation will jeopardize water security in Morocco. In this paper, we zoom on the case the Souss-Massa basin, where management plans (artificial recharge, seawater desalination, and wastewater reuse) have been adopted to restore groundwater imbalance or, at least, mitigate the recorded deficits. These plans may save water for future generations and sustain crop production.
Volume
10
Issue
2
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Oceanografía, Hidrología, Recursos hídricos
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85079837275
Source
Geosciences (Switzerland)
Sponsor(s)
The authors express their gratitude to Hydraulic Department of Rabat and Hydraulic Basin Agency of Souss-Massa for access to their database. This work was carried out within the CHARISMA Project with the assistance of the Hassan 2 Academy of Sciences and techniques, the support of Ibn Zohr University and WASA project. The groundwater quality results were obtained during the NATO Project (ESP.MD.SFPP 983,134) “Investigating salinity and radioactivity in water resources in Morocco”. We thank three reviewers and the editor for their constructive remarks that significantly improved the quality of this paper. Finally, we thank Kara Bogus for English editing of a manuscript draft.
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus