Policy context
Water policy: implementation, impacts and effectiveness
| Authors: | Ahmed El Aich, Zoritza Kiresiewa |
| Coordinating authors: | Inma Alados, Ruta Landgrebe, Sandra Nauman |
| Editors: | Alexandros Kandelapas, Jane Brandt |
Editor's note 20Mar14: Source D242-5.
Water policy: description
As in other policies, Moroccan water institutions follow three distinct phases: before 1912 (pre-French years), 1912–1956 (French protectorate years) and 1956–1980s (post-independence years). While religious, historical and political factors guided the evolution of water institutions before independence, it is the demographic and socioeconomic requirements that played that role after independence. Since the 1980s, water institutional reforms have been shaped by macroeconomic necessities and resource-related realities, such as successive severe droughts (1980–1985), the macro economic crisis (1983) and the attainment of the physical limits for freshwater expansion through large-scale water resources development schemes in the early 1990s.
Main policies with respect to water
| Policy | Objectives |
| Dahir n°1-95-154 Law on water (adopted: 16 August 1995) | To ensure sufficient water availability in quantity and quality |
| Loi n°10-95 (August 1995) on water | For the preservation, management and rationalization of the use of water resources |
| Décrêt n°2-84-106 (adopted: 13 May 1992) | Terms of agreement between the government and associations of agricultural water users and approving the status-types of these associations |
| Décrêt n°2-79-605 and 2-79-606 (adopted: 3 September 1981) | Ban on well digging and exploration of water without preliminary authorisation |
| Dahir n°1-72-103 (adopted: 3 April 1972) | Creation of the National Office of drinking water (ONEP) |
| Décrêt n°6-69-37 (adopted: 25 July 1969) | Conditions on distribution and use of water in irrigated perimeters |
| Dahir n°1-69-172 Water (adopted: 25 July 1969) | Conservation in collective land of semi-arid areas |
Law and decrees issued between in 1914 and 1925 established the hydraulic public domain: water cannot be privately owned, with the exception of water for which the rights have been legally acquired.
The most recent Water Law (Law 10-95) establishes a new national water policy, establishing the legal provisions for the rational use of water, widespread access to water, inter-regional solidarity, reducing disparities between urban and rural areas. The water act is the legal basis of the country's water policy and sets the following objectives:
- coherent and flexible planning of the use of water resources, at river basin and national level ;
- optimal mobilization and rational management of all water resources, taking into account the order of priority set by the national plan for water;
- management of water resources in water basin units, an important innovation to develop and implement decentralized management of water (the river basin is the natural geographical area best suited to understanding and solving problems of water resource management, as well as for achieving an effective regional solidarity between users affected by common water resource);
- protection and the conservation (both quantitative and qualitative) of the hydraulic public domain as a whole;
- proper administration of water to assist in the design the use and control of operations mentioned above, involving governments and users to any decision making related to water.
The Water Act will establish new rules for water use to fit new economic and social conditions and lay down the foundation for effective management of water to meet the expected challenge of security of supply. The law also creates the "High Council Water and Climate", to examine and formulate opinions on:
- the national strategy for improving knowledge of climate and control its impact on the development of water resources;
- the National water plan;
- integrated development plans of water resources of watersheds and in particular the allocation of water between different users and sectors, the provisions of valuation, protection and conservation of water resources.
Water policy: impacts
All rivers have their sources in the Middle Atlas. Water law as it exists does not differentiate between who produces the resources and who uses it. The law deals only with the management of the resources. In addition to the availability of drinking water for douars in the study area and water all over the study site poses a serious problem to the sustainability of water points in rangelands.