available per person per year
Rain fills a stock. Water security organises a system.
Yes, a seven-year drought receded. No, the water question did not.
Between December 2025 and April 2026, rain and snow drove reservoirs from roughly 31% to 75%. After summer, national storage still stood at 11.36 billion m³, or 66.6%: more than twice the volume a year earlier. [1]
That is a spectacular reversal. It secures drinking water for years in some regions and restores irrigation room. It does not alter the climate trend, rising demand, aquifer fragility or the gap between a wetter north and a tighter south. [2]
66.6%national level on 14 September 2026
11.36bn m³water stored in reservoirs
+104%volume versus 14 September 2025
< 500 m³per person per year: 2030 risk
A historic rise, then summer consumption.
Four dated national snapshots. The fall since April is normal in hot months: irrigation, drinking water and evaporation draw down storage.
One national number hides eight water Moroccos.
Select a basin. Rates are dated 13 September 2026 and cover tracked reservoirs, not aquifers or local tap access. [2]
79.53%Sebou · reservoir filling rate in the basin
The paradox fits on one timeline.
Even with fuller dams, renewable water per person keeps falling under population, demand and climate pressure. [6]
stress had become structural
absolute scarcity threshold approached
Nearly nine drops in ten go to agriculture.
The OECD estimates agriculture consumes nearly 90% of Morocco’s water resources. The debate cannot stop at household gestures: it reaches crops, prices, wells, allocations and value created per cubic metre. [7]
— Drip irrigation reduces water per hectare but may expand area or intensify output: the rebound effect.
— A credible rule must meter withdrawals, protect aquifers and balance rural jobs, food security and exports.
— Saving a cubic metre already produced is often cheaper than mobilising a new one.
Static version: the initial values and evidence table remain readable. Enable JavaScript to operate the controls.
9 drops out of 100 would be released in this scenario.
Teaching illustration: the slider applies a theoretical cut to the 90 agricultural drops. It is neither a forecast nor a rationing recommendation.
Morocco is building a second plumbing system.
Desalination, transfers and reuse reduce dependence on rain. Success still depends on energy, networks, cost and demand management that does not recreate the deficit.
Desalination in 2026
Annual capacity announced in May 2026; national 2030 ambition: 1.7 billion. [8]
Interconnections
Announced capacity for future transfers toward deficit provinces. [8]
Supported reuse
Treated wastewater the World Bank programme aims to make available. [5]
SEADesalinate with energy that is as low-carbon as possible.
NETWORKMove it without letting leaks erase the gain.
USESPrioritise drinking water and allocate irrigation measurably.
RETURNTreat and reuse instead of discarding a resource.
No solution arrives without a trade-off.
Open the four tensions that will determine whether new supply creates lasting security or a new race with demand.
Desalinate without moving the problem
Reverse osmosis requires energy, seawater intake and brine management. More capacity must be judged with its power mix, full cost and coastal impact.
Transfer without forgetting donor basins
A water highway can correct geographic gaps. It also needs transparent rules when the donor basin has a dry year.
Irrigate without exhausting aquifers
Aquifers cushion drought but recharge slowly. Meters, well enforcement and crop choices matter as much as dams.
Price without excluding
A price blind to scarcity invites waste; abrupt pricing harms households and small farmers. Reform must combine signals, protection and data.
What the 2026 rains really changed.
They doubled national storage in one year and pushed back immediate emergency in many regions.
They exposed the gaps: close to 80% in several northern and central basins, below 48% in Souss-Massa and 39% in Guir-Ziz-Ghris.
They create a window to deliver plants, transfers and networks before the next drought—not a reason to slow down.
Success in 2030 cannot be measured by dams alone: watch aquifers, leaks, reuse, desalination energy and value created per cubic metre.