Governance and Management of Water Resources in the Tafilalet Oasis System (South East of Morocco)

Abstract:

Morocco is located in a semi arid to arid region where water resources are becoming increasingly scarce. The country suffers from substantial pressure on the sustainable management of its water resources and their protection (Agricultural water demand, industrial and domestic use). The water utilisation has already reached the so-called Water stress; indeed in 2025, over 35% of the population live in severe conditions below the water stress (500m3/capita/yr), mainly due to climate change and population growth. As the country's economy depends on water resources, it is necessary to secures sustainable resources for the development of the economy. In order to reach this purpose, technical and scientific tools are necessary to assist decision makers and managers in planning and management of water resources. The Tafilalet oasis system (TOS), located in the south east of Morocco, is supplied with surface water for several years by a dam reservoir and a modern infrastructure of irrigation and adaptation of a set of measure for the safeguarding of the environment and natural resources. Groundwater is also intensively used from the oasis plain for the same purpose; however this later is less controlled and less managed than surface water, since it is operated in a personal way on all the TOS. Hence, a three-dimensional model of groundwater flow in the TOS was developed for the aquifer system, to assist the decision makers as a "management tool" in order to resolve the exploitation conflicts in different irrigation sectors of the aquifer system and to well plan water resources development in order to satisfy the water demand. It is the first mathematical model performed for this region, based on the real hydrogeological conditions and using a geographical information system for data processing and exploitation that was developed for this model.

Keywords: Arid, Governance, management, Water resources, Morocco.