WATER INFRASTRUCTURES AND IMPACTS IN THE SEBOU BASIN

1
WATER INFRASTRUCTURES AND IMPACTS IN THE SEBOU
BASIN

• Paola Minoia, Anna Brusarosco
• Università Ca Foscari di Venezia
• Centro Interdipartimentale IDEAS

2
AIMS

• To assess social, territorial and environmental
  impacts of past water policies in Marocco, based
  on water supply growth, partic. for irrigation.
• To evaluate some new perspectives for IWRM and
  water demand management in Morocco, by overcoming
  practical constraints to their application.
• Focus the Gharb Plain in the Sebou basin
• core area of agricultural development

3
THE SEBOU BASIN

• From 1970 politics of dams, equipment of large
  agricultural areas, development of agro-industry
  (Projet Sebou)

• Water resources in Sebou Basin Oued Sebou and
  tributaries (Beht, Ouergha).
• Annual contribution 6 Bm3 (27 of available
  national waters).
• Groundwater stocks 900 Mm3
• Realisations
• - 10 large dams
• - 44 small dams
• - Matmata gallery for water transfer
• - Thousands of wells.
• Agriculture consumes 97 of all mobilised
  freshwaters of the basin.

4
THE GHARB PLAIN

• Climate Mediterranean with oceanic influence
• Soils fine alluvium with a clay content of
  15-55 ? high potential for agriculture
• Population 1.500.000 inhabitants (48 urban, 52
  rural), partly in small urban areas and partly
  spread in more than 1000 douars.

5
DEVELOPMENT OF IRRIGATION1) Colonial period
(1912 1956)

• French occupation and development of agriculture
• Development of 800 farms on 175.000 ha
• First hydraulic infrastructures
• - 700 km of drainage canals to drain merjas
  (1940-1962)
• - El Kansera Dam (1935) on Oued Beht for
  irrigation of Beht perimeter in Sidi Slimane
• - Private pumping on the oued
• At Indipendence (1956) 45.000 ha of irrigated
  lands
• 25.000 ha in Beht perimeter
• 20.000 ha from private pumping
• Effects
• - introduction of commercial crops (citrus
  fruits, rice, oleaginous)
• - population transfer to urban centres and
  degradation of local livelihoods
• - marginalisation of traditional pasture areas
  (e.g. by remediation of merjas)
• - alteration of tribal organization

6
DEVELOPMENT OF IRRIGATION2) Since 1970
(Politics of dams - Projet Sebou)

• Extension of irrigated perimeters
• Wide crop diversification
• Development of agro-industry
• 5 sugar refineries
• 4 rice mills
• 7 flour mills
• 1 dairy production
• 1 cotton manufacture
• 1 orange juice production
• 1 tomato manufactoring
• 1 animal food production
• 14 packaging plants.
• Gharb compared to National production
• 95 rice
• 70-80 oleaginous
• 40-50 strawberries

Crops structure in Gharb Plain - Comparison 1970
- 2000 (Projet Sebou 1970 ORMVAG 2001)
Strawberry, asparagus, melon and all kind of
vegetables
Sunflower, peanut
Citrus fruits, rosaceous plants, vineyards
7
IRRIGATION IN THE GHARB PLAIN

• Total surface 616.000 ha
• Surface potentially irrigable (planned by Projet
  Sebou) 250.000 ha,
• of which only 120.000 ha have been equipped
• - 107.000 ha large irrigation schemes
• - 13.000 ha small/medium schemes
• Surface irrigated by private pumping
• 22.000 ha
• Cultivation without artificial irrigation
  276.000 ha
• Irrigation systems
• Gravitation 87.000 ha
• Sprinkler 19.700 ha
• Dams ? Changes in territorial and socio-economic
  structure

8
TERRITORIAL IMPACTS

• Development of important territorial inequalities

Private property Lands traditionally assigned
to soldiers
9
SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACTS

• Social restructuring. Main features
• - Large farmers (gt 50 ha) 2 of farmers, 33 of
  agricultural surface
• highest consumption rate of soil, water
  resources and other inputs
• distribution and marketing
• authorized private pumping
• - Medium farmers (50 to 5 ha) 29 of farmers,
  44 of agricultural surface
• weaker financial capacities
• family management
• rare authorization for private pumping
• - Small farmers (lt 5 ha) 69 of farmers, 23 of
  agricultural surface
• CIA (Code dInvestissements Agricoles) does
  not authorize irrigation rights
• demographic weight (8-10 people for family)
• complex land tenure melk is rare
• debt exposure
• cultivation based on forage
• livestock

10
DEMOGRAPHIC IMPACTS

• Effects
• 2 migration trends
• From mountains to the central plain
• From the central plain (overpopulated) to the
  regional urban centres (Larache, Tanger, Kénitra,
  Tétouan) and to Casablanca
• Extension of urban areas and rural villages
• Development of bidonvilles and insalubrious
  areas
• near industries, large farms and urban areas
• (20.600 families in bidonvilles)

11
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS

• 2) Agricultural pollution
• use of fertilizers and pesticides.
• drainage of polluted waters contaminates
  groundwater.
• - main pollutants nitrates and phosphates.
• Estimates for whole Sebou
• - 8.670 tons/year of total Nitrogen
• - 2.050 tons/year of Phosphates.

1) Soil salinity, due to  - Bad drainage - Use
of wastewater from drainage canals -
Waterlogging, superficial water table -
Disfunctionalities in gravitational irrigation
3) Agro-industrial wastes
Localisation of main industries
12
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS

• Impacts on water and soil quality human health
• Loss of wet ecosystems (merjas) due to drainage

Quality of groundwaters in the Gharb Plain
(2000-2001)
Quality of superficial waters in the Gharb Plain
(2000-2001)
13
WATER DEMAND MANAGEMENT

• PROBLEMS
• - inequality in water access
• - water-demanding crops (rice, sugar beet, sugar
  cane)
• - water loss in the nets (50) and insufficient
  maintenance.
• NEW WATER STRATEGY
• - IWRM principles
• - water quality
• - demand management and efficient irrigation.
• Concrete plans
• - to accelerate the progress in equipment of
  agricultural schemes
• (from annual rate of 10.000 ha, to complete the
  remaining 110.000 ha)
• by more efficient irrigation systems
• - to promote water economies, with financial
  supports to increase adoption of water saving
  technologies
• - National Program of Localized Irrigation
  Development target of 14.000 ha (in 2003 only
  3.000 ha accomplished in Sahel).

14
WATER DEMAND MANAGEMENT

• Barriers to the concrete achievements of the
  National Program of Localized Irrigation
  Development (El Hasnoui 2005)
• Inadequate equipment proposed by the State
  respect to the requirements of the main
  profitable cultivations
• Role of private sector in the origin of the
  localised irrigation.
• Adoption of the localized irrigation is rather
  influenced by other constraints
• - difficult access to credit
• - difficulties in subsidy granting
• - land tenure problems
• - need to create water basins to be shared by
  farmers groups
• - not yet sufficient agro-industrial
  development
• - need to empower users associations.

15
SOME CONCLUDING REMARKS

• Traditional water supply management has created
  changes on society, economy and environment in
  the Gharb Plain.
• Not sufficient attention has been paid to water
  quality and demand management.
• New and more effective strategies based on IWRM
  principles are needed
• - integration of sectoral water policies to
  guarantee overall coherence of legislation and
  effective application of Water law (10/95)
• - water and agricultural institutional reforms