Wastewater Reuse for Irrigation Agriculture in Morocco: Influence of Regulation on Feasible Implementation

Jose Luis Ortega-Pozo (), Francisco Javier Alcalá, José Manuel Poyatos and Jaime Martín-Pascual
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Jose Luis Ortega-Pozo: Department of Civil Engineering, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
Francisco Javier Alcalá: Departamento de Desertificación y Geo-Ecología, Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas (EEZA–CSIC), 04120 Almería, Spain
José Manuel Poyatos: Department of Civil Engineering, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
Jaime Martín-Pascual: Department of Civil Engineering, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 12, 1-17

Abstract: Morocco is a water-scarce developing country with a growing marketable agro-food industry, where untreated or insufficiently treated wastewater represents less than 1% of the irrigation water and treated wastewater reuse is virtually nil. The Government of Morocco is planning to increase the volume of treated wastewater reuse for irrigation agriculture under the current permissive regulation to alleviate the pressure on conventional water sources. However, the reuse of insufficiently treated wastewater implies environmental and human health risks besides the degradation of land and renewable natural resources. This paper shows the feasibility of increasing wastewater reuse for irrigation agriculture in Morocco and how the existing permissive regulation must be improved to force more efficient technologies aimed at ensuring the export of agricultural goods to the most restrictive international markets. The results show how the quality standards of Moroccan regulation are below that of their equivalents in developed countries, as well as in most of the consulted developing countries. After verifying that tertiary treatment is financially feasible, the updated regulation must also consider climatic water scarcity and the locally low cultural perception of environmental and human health risks in order to design optimal solutions.

Keywords: wastewater reuse; irrigation agriculture; international quality standards; regulation improvement; tertiary treatment; natural resources degradation; Morocco (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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