Morocco, Aït Ibourg – Potable Water, GIRE

The Arghen Valley, comprising 5 identified rural municipalities, namely Arazane, Toughmart, Imi N’Tayart, Nihit and Adar, was the territory chosen by the basin agency Souss Massa to promote access to water in this mountainous region where the consequences climate change are being felt, including a large variation in rains and devastating floods. In 2015, a first phase of the programme was launched in the form of decentralised cooperation (the Oudin-Santini Law). The construction of the infrastructure for this phase was completed at the end of 2017.

The Aït Ibourg project is part of a second phase that includes 4 new projects. In March 2018, a preliminary evaluation, conducted jointly by Experts-Solidaires and AgroParisTech- ENGREF, examined the context and proposals for technical and organisational solutions proposed by the municipalities.

The project aims to equip 18 villages in the municipalities of Arazane and Toughmart, in the Arghen Valley, Souss Massa Region, with a drinking water system. In these two municipalities, the entire water system must provide water to 3850 people.

The project aims to:

• Enabling access to safe drinking water for the 3,580 inhabitants of Arazane and Toughmart
• Expanding integrated water resource management in the Arghen Valley
• Training village associations in systems management
• Raising public awareness of hygiene and water use
• Putting in place a grouping of the two municipalities
• Integrating the municipalities of the Arghen Valley into an inter-communal management system for network maintenance