The overexploitation of water resources and the degradation of their quality are largely the result of non-compliance with the regulations governing these resources. In this respect, the Ministry of Equipment and Water intends to revise the implementing texts relating to the preservation and protection of water resources and the fight against water pollution.
Today, water scarcity is one of the world’s major problems. This resource is unevenly distributed, and much of it is wasted, polluted and unsustainably managed. As a result, many regions of the world are short of water, while its use is increasing as a result of demographic growth. Added to this is the increase in agricultural production.
The need for water is growing. Morocco is not immune to this trend. Several measures have been taken to protect this resource. To this end, the Ministry of Equipment and Water is working on revising the application texts relating to the preservation and protection of water resources and the fight against water pollution. The aim is to ensure that water and the public hydraulic domain in general are managed in accordance with the rules of good governance, by involving administrations, local authorities, the operators concerned and representatives of the various water users in dealing with issues linked to the use and protection of water and hydraulic development at the level of hydraulic basins and on a national scale.
In order to apply these provisions, the Ministry believes that it is essential to have effective legal and organizational instruments to monitor and control the use of water resources and the DPH, and to ensure their protection and conservation. However, the preservation of water resources and the public hydraulic domain in general requires continuous and rigorous monitoring of compliance with the provisions of Law 36-15 on water and its implementing regulations.
Which application texts are concerned?
To improve control and monitoring programs for water resources, while ensuring their preservation in terms of quantity and quality for both current and future needs, decrees and orders relating to the assessment of water quality, quantity and pollution will be revised in line with the new provisions of Law 36-15 on water.
Several texts will be amended or supplemented, namely the decree on the delimitation of protection perimeters for drinking water supply points and its orders, the decree on the reuse of treated wastewater and its orders, the decree on the discharge of wastewater into the DPH and its orders, the decree on water quality standards and the inventory of the degree of water pollution and its orders (order defining the quality grid for surface water; arrêté portant fixation des normes de qualité des eaux superficielles utilisées pour la production de l’eau potable.) and the decree on the delimitation of safeguard and prohibition perimeters. According to the Ministry, this revision will enable the strengthening of tools for the protection and preservation of water resources, in particular the protection of water quality through rules linked to the monitoring of surface and groundwater quality, the improvement of water quality monitoring procedures, and the management of groundwater through the adoption of safeguard and prohibition perimeters.
It will also make it possible to provide answers likely to preserve water resources against pollution and reduce the harmful effects on water, and to add certain missing components to certain decrees, such as the case of the decree defining the quality grid for surface water, which does not set out the evaluation grid for groundwater quality. To achieve this, an inventory will be drawn up of existing decrees and application texts relating to the preservation and protection of water resources and water resource pollution control. An international benchmark will also be carried out with comparable countries on the subject of the aforementioned regulatory texts. Draft decrees and orders relating to the preservation and protection of water resources and water resource pollution control will also be proposed.
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