Water could some day be the rarest - and costliest - resource of the planet. In some parts of Morocco, it is already too expensive.
This is the case of the villages of Anrouy and Tizi, in the Haut-Atlas region of Morocco. The drought and the lack of water are unfortunately nothing new to the inhabitants. Reservoirs were built a long time ago to keep the water - if there was any - healthy.
But today, since water is lacking, the reservoirs only hold water delivered by road tankers. And this transported water is too expensive for the poorest fringe of the population.
A new water supply system that taps mountain spring water
Caritas Maroc is building a water supply system for the standpipes of two villages in the Haut-Atlas area.
Spring water thanks to new electric pumps
There happens to be a spring just three kilometers from the two villages. The existing installations obviously have to be overhauled to meet the sanitary regulations, but there's another problem: the difference in altitude between the spring and the villages.
A pass 223 meters high and 1.7 km long entails the installation of an intermediate tank at mid-slope and the use of two pumpsets powered by a generator. Once the cistern is filled, gravity will take over the job, and healthy water will flow down to the standpipes.
The grant from the Veolia Environnement Foundation will be used to buy galvanized steel pipes and power generators. And ultimately, the price of the water per cubic meter will be cut from 116 to 23 dirhams.
