Institutional and Social Innovations in Irrigation Mediterranean Management
Home
Presentation
Partners
Worksites 
Organisation
Links
Events
Documents
Index keyword
To read
Newsletter/Poster
Contacts

DOC

Intranet

photos

  
 title/abstract   author/editor   author/title   author/abstract   keyword 
Français

WORKSITES MAP Egypt France Italy Lebanon Morocco Spain

Morocco  Morocco

General view

Morocco is an old traditional country of irrigation. As in Spain, Its development began in the arabo-andalous period when many water technologies were used (khettaras, seguias, reservoirs). In the middle of XXth century, the first dams were built to regulate the rivers coming from Atlas Mountains, and with Independence, a new period of hydraulic schemes came with the objective to get 1 million irrigated hectares. This "big hydraulic system" development was conducted by the state through regional Offices. In addition, "small and medium hydraulic systems" still exist in many regions, especially in mountains and oases, but this old irrigation long been without official help for adaptation and modernisation. Morocco knows today all the difficulties of water and land management : financial crisis of the Offices, succession of drought years, environmental problems and changes in economy and institutions. After 10 years of creation of water users associations at local level in the Office, there is a need for new basin-based visions of users' organisation. New users and new management actors are present (watershed agency, cities, NGOs, local development associations).

The Case studies

Office du Haouz

The Office du Haouz is a good example of the main problems of Morocco in water management. It is one of the oldest irrigation zone and many systems still are used by farmers. The Office built new schemes, sometimes in the same place as old systems, sometimes in new dry lands. The water is very scarce, it comes from three main basins (in reality, more local basins provide water to the irrigated perimeters in the territory of the Office). The complexity of each collective network and the development of individual strategies to get underground water has to be understood to define new actions plans in organisation, institution and rules. The City of Marrakech is a big local market for small farmers and a good opportunity for exportation of citrus and others products. Competition exists for land use and water accessibility, between many economic and social groups. The dependency of the low lands of Marrakech to on the high lands of the mountain areas is another main issue consider in the preservation of resources.

 Photo gallery : Haouz - Nfis valley - Marrakech (Morocco). Methodological seminar october 12-15 2003

valley of Ait Bouguemez

The valley of Ait Bouguemez is located in the centre Atlas Mountains and water management is a key to help the inhabitants to live and develop the Mountain economy through agriculture and eco-tourism. Many villages depend on different shared springs and canals. The water distribution is still governed by oral tradition, but after many years of water scarcity, people have begun to face internal difficulties. The World Bank is financing a modernisation of the canal with creation of formal water users association. What should be the future of the valley, the adaptation of the different villages to new institutions, rules and integration of water pricing in a traditional system? The association for local development of the valley is interested by the process of modernisation but people want to participate and define the new rules for the future. In both situations, Office du Haouz and Ait Bouguemez valley, we can find many elements of knowledge and the project may use resource people from NGO, administration, universities and research stakeholders.

 Related ressources


 Agricultural
reportWhich agricultural developement for Ait Bouguemez valley ? (report)
reportStudy of water management in the Ait Bouguemez valley (Morocco) (report)
dataGeneral census of Agriculture in Morocco 1996 : global data (data)
bookCAPITALISM and AGRICULTURE in the HAOUZ of MARRAKESH (book)

 Cartography - GIS - Remote sensing
mapExtract of the map "Qualities of the water on the main water tables of Morocco, year 1988-99" (map)
mapMap of ancient seguias (traditional irrigation canals) combined to the map of Khettaras (map)
mapSituation map of the overlaped irrigation networks modern and traditional of the Nfis valley, Marrakech region (map)
mapOverlaped irrigation networks of the Nfis plaine : khettaras, seguias and under pressure (map)
mapMap of khettaras in the regions of Tamesloht and Marrakech - 1950 (map)
mapMap of Nfis and officially created Water User Associations, Tensift basin, Morocco (map)
mapMap of Nfis and Water User Associations perimeters, Tensift basin, Morocco (map)
mapSituation of Nfis irrigation perimeter and local hydrography (map)
mapSituation map of the ISIIMM project worksites in Morocco (map)
mapMorocco - Hydraulic organisation of Ait Hakim valley - Ait Bouguemez (map)
mapSituation map of Ait Bouguemez valley (map)
mapMorocco - Haouz Office Perimeter (map)
mapMorocco- Haouz irrigated areas (map)
guidelinesGuidelines Canvas 6 : mapping the territory (guidelines)
guidelinesSchématiser le Territoire - Schematising Territory (guidelines)
guidelinesGuidelines for Canvas 6 : synthesize the territory (guidelines)
figureMorocco - Hydraulic organisation schema of Ait Hakim valley - Ait Bouguemez (figure)

 Case studies
reportISIIMM project: Case studies synthesis - Haouz of Marrakech and Ait Bougmez valley - Morocco (french) (report)
reportISIIMM project: Case studies synthesis - Haouz of Marrakech and Ait Bougmez valley - Morocco (english) (report)

 Hydrological - Hydraulic
articleExtension of hydraulic space of Central Haouz ( Morocco )- Incompatibility between big hydraulic and development (article)
reportWater resources in Morocco : balance, perspectives and action plan (report)
linkStrategy of the water management resources of Morocco (link)

 Images / Photos
photoPhotos of Nfis in the Haouz irrigation perimeter, Morocco, October 2003 (photo)
photoPhotos of Agdal in the Haouz irrigation perimeter, Morocco, May 2005 (photo)

 ISIIMM Posters
posterSeminar poster - Mid term ISIIMM seminar, Marrakech, June 2005 (poster)

 Legislation
docLegislation and regulation of water in Morocco (doc)
docLegislation - Water regulation (doc)
docLegislation : water law 10-95 - Morocco (doc)

 Methodology - guidelines
reportWater management in the N'Fis (Haouz of Marrakech) (report)
reportDiagnosis of N'Fis (Morocco) Irrigated perimeter production system (report)
reportCollective training course GSE 2003 Ait Bougmez - review (report)

 Seminars
posterPoster of International Seminar Water Poverty and Social Crisis Perspectives for Research and Action, Agadir Morocco 11-15 December (poster)

 Social
articleThe appropiation of the hydaulic works. From Individual initiatives to collective action (article)
articleLocal logics, global logics. Anthropological aspects of the participative management of the irrigation in the valley of Aït Bou Guemez (High Atlas, Morocco) (article)
articleAit Bouguemez - a valley where seasons mark the rhythm (article)

 Social Water Management
articleWhat stakes of development for the systems of khettara (article)
linkReport of the International Meeting on Governance & social water management - 8-11 July 2002 (link)

 Territorial
articleISIIMM Case studies : The Ait Bougmez Valley (article)
articleInnovation and social recombining in Morocco - a geohistoric prospect (article)
mapBoundaries of the Haouz of Marrakech (map)
mapSituation map of the ORMVAH irrigation perimeter - Morocco (map)
figureTable - Principal territorial reforms and their reference frames in Morocco (figure)

 Transversal
articleISIIMM case studies : Haouz (article)

 Water management
mapIrrigation map of Morocco 1955 (map)
videoVideo conference : Stakes of water and sustainable development “The example of Haouz de Marrakech”, Mohamed El Faiz (video)

 Water Users Associations
docBrief presentation of Al Majal association (doc)


EURO-MEDITERRANEAN Regional Programme for Local Water Management
ME8/AIDCO/2001/0515/59763-P 016
Agropolis, France