Morocco reckons with drought to stave off disaster

In a laboratory in Benguerir, Morocco, researcher Nouredine al-Haddad is testing how a dozen, potted lentil seedlings respond to drought-like conditions in a machine that simulates the environment. 

Inside the machine, some of the sprigs have withered, but others are still alive. Haddad said that he wants to understand and propagate the tougher plants.

“We are going to identify the mechanism of resistance or the tolerance of the plants,” he said. “So, we know how the plants tolerate or resist drought, for example.” 

In Morocco, the need to develop new drought-resistant crops is urgent, as a drought across the region enters its seventh year. Yields of traditional wheat, a staple for most Moroccans, are down 50% and dropping, while livestock is dying.

Scientists say climate change is making the normally dry region much drier, and that things will worsen as global temperatures continue to rise. 

Haddad’s team has already identified some plants — including cereal grains like millet and cowpea, a legume from sub-Saharan Africa — that react to drought by retaining water.

But getting them from a lab to the fields will take time. Morocco needs to save water now. To do that, the country is mimicking these plants, in a way — by retaining water where it can.

On an olive plantation in northern Morocco, farmer Badr Laboezi said that the government has helped him slash his water use by swapping out wasteful sprinklers with drip irrigation.

“We are using only drop by drop because you reduce by four the consumption of water. That’s why the government gives us money to put all these projects in place.”

But on farms like Laboezi’s, water is still in short supply. It usually comes from wells. And as the rain lessens, the wells are drying up.  If water no longer comes from underground, or the sky, Laboezi said, “The solution, I think, it’s coming from the sea.”

Morocco is betting big on seawater — by building plants that remove the salt. Just south of Casablanca, the country’s biggest desalination facility is under construction. When it’s up and running, the plant will pump out up to 1 million cubic meters of freshwater per day, enough to cover the water needs of around 90,000 homes, according to climate change scientist and consultant Mohamed Jalil.

He said that desalination is key to making up for lost water. But there are challenges “because this kind of process is consuming a lot of energy. So, we need also to do a kind of a nexus between energy and water production using renewable energy.”

Renewable, as in solar. Morocco has the largest-concentrated solar power plant in the world. But it needs to build more to run any new desalination plants. Desalination also creates toxic brine that, if pumped back into the ocean, can destroy local ecosystems. 

Jalil said that there’s no one answer when it comes to adapting to climate change.

“We should integrate a lot of solutions — water from the sea, water from wastewater, the water from the transfer from the north to the south — in order to  have a comprehensive solution and integrated solution for the region.”

And on a global level, he said, nations ultimately need to cooperate on curbing carbon emissions — the root cause of climate change. 

Cities like Casablanca have imposed major water restrictions. It has turned off fountains, stopped watering lawns in public parks and shut down car washes. 

Hassan Hekmau said, as he pulled up to a gas-station car wash, that he was hoping to scrub down his VW before going out that night. But the place was shuttered.

“It’s annoying that I have to go to a party in my dusty wheels. But we have to accept this. And just pray for rain. Look at the countryside here. It’s all yellow. A few years ago, this was all green.”

Banning car washes isn’t that big of a deal. But the water restrictions cut deeper. 

In Casablanca, the public baths — or hamams — used by millions of people daily, are closed on Mondays.

Abdellatif Fadouachi, head of Morocco’s Hamam Association, said that a lot of people are complaining about the restrictions.

“Imagine, the people work with fish all day, or as mechanics. They need to shower every day. It’s a human right.”

His wife, Fatima Fadouachi, said that the hamams are one of the main places where women can socialize openly.

Abdellatif said that closing the country’s 50,000 public baths makes little sense. People will just bathe at home with the precious drinking water that comes out of their taps. 

But Morocco is hoping its multipronged adaptation to drought will ultimately be enough — even if every solution has a difficult downside.