This mega-project is in line with the high royal directives contained in the royal speech of October 14, 2022 on the occasion of the opening of the first session of the second legislative year of the eleventh legislature, on the interconnection of watersheds.
The aim is to divert excess water from the Sebou basin, which used to be lost to the Atlantic Ocean, to the Bouregreg basin, in order to ensure the supply of drinking water to the Rabat-Casablanca axis for a population estimated at around 12 million, and to relieve pressure on the al-Massira dam.
The project took around nine months to complete, and was gradually commissioned on August 24, 2023, to carry out the necessary tests on the equipment and divert the water with an initial flow rate of no more than 3 cubic meters per second, the Ministry points out, adding that the next stage will involve gradually increasing the water flow rate to reach 15 cubic meters per second, enabling the transfer of an annual volume of surplus water to the Sebou basin of between 350 and 400 million cubic meters.
The project, the total cost of which is estimated at around 6 billion dirhams, comprises a water catchment facility at the guard dam on the Oued Sebou, 67 km of steel canals with a diameter of 3200 mm, two pumping stations with a flow rate of 15 cubic meters per second, and a basin to convey the water to the Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdullah dam reservoir.
