A Moroccan town protests water management plans
Regional and local leaders in Morocco met this week with residents of an oasis where many have staged protests over a water management plan
RABAT, Morocco — Regional and local leaders in eastern Morocco met this week with residents and civil society groups after months of protests over a water management plan set to take effect later this year.
Thousands in the town of Figuig stopped paying water bills and have taken to the streets since November to protest a municipal decision transitioning drinking water management from the town to a regional multi-service agency.
Residents worry the policy changes could jeopardize their livelihoods and, in turn, the community's future. Carrying signs and chanting that their water is not for sale, they have suggested the plan is a pretext to privatization — a claim authorities deny.
Figuig relies entirely on a below-ground aquifer for drinking and irrigation water, the latter flowing through a traditional canal system dating back centuries. Though both come from the same source, the new policy applies only to drinking water.
Anger grew in February when movement leader Mohamed Brahmi was arrested for threatening the pacha, his brother and fellow activist El Mostafa Brahmi said. An appeals court handed him an eight-month prison sentence last week for incitement, insulting an official and participating in an unauthorized gathering.
The protested plan is part of Morocco's 2020 “National Drinking Water Supply and Irrigation Program” to build infrastructure, streamline water management and conserve as the country grapples with climate change, drought and groundwater depreciation.
Anxieties about future access and affordability center on provisions that allow for limited private sector
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