Built in 2015 with a production capacity of 25 million cubic meters (Mm3) per year, the station saw its production capacity increase to 45 Mm3/year in 2022, thanks to the extension carried out as part of the implementation of the National Drinking Water Supply and Irrigation Program (PNAEPI 20-27) aimed at compensating for the rainfall deficit.
This desalination plant extension project initially consisted of an increase in production of 15 Mm3 per year, followed by another with 45 Mm3 of annual production water, including 30 Mm3 intended for the city of El Jadida and surrounding regions.
The Jorf Lasfar desalination plant, one of the largest on a national scale, aims to reach the milestone of producing 300 Mm3 of drinking water by 2026, with a view to a significant response to the water stress situation, in accordance with the High Guidelines of His Majesty King Mohammed VI.
During a visit to the station, Otmane Abousselham, production manager at OCP Green Water, a company specializing in desalination and wastewater treatment, stressed in a press statement that the OCP group, in partnership with the Ministry of the Interior, has set up the company “OCP Green Water” as a lever to support the national strategy to combat water stress.
The first project developed was the Jorf Lasfar treatment plant, whose main objective was to cover, during the first phase, 100% of the needs of the Jorf Lasfar industrial complex in non-conventional water, he recalled.
The second phase, he continued, focused in particular on the mobilization of 30 Mm3/year, which will make it possible to cover 100% of the drinking water needs of the city of El Jadida from February 2024.
Mr. Abousselham affirmed that the ongoing extension and development works will increase seawater desalination capacities in order to serve the area located south of Casablanca at a rate of 60 Mm3/year.
Construction work began in April of this year, while the supply of drinking water to the city of Casablanca will gradually begin towards the end of next September.
At the same time, Mr. Abousselham continued, new extensions are currently underway to supply other regions such as the city of Khouribga.
All the projects completed or currently being implemented aim to increase, by 2026, the annual water production capacity to 300 Mm3/year at the Jorf Lasfar station, he specified, noting that this objective is part of the overall strategy of the OCP aiming for a capacity of 560 Mm3 per year.
To support the extension and development of the Jorf Lasfar seawater desalination plant, work is underway to build a pumping station that will serve two treatment plants.
On this subject, Zakaria Hour, engineer at the Regional Office for Agricultural Development (ORMVA) of Doukkala, responsible for the management of this pumping station, stressed that the latter, equipped with five pumps and a total flow rate of 2.2 m3/s, will operate, in the first phase of the emergency plan, with two pumps that will be put into service to supply the Casablanca-Settat region with a total flow rate of approximately 1,000 L/s, from next September, he explained.
The second phase of this project, work on which began last May, plans to put the other two pumps into service next October, while the fifth pump will serve as a backup pump, he explained.
In addition to the pumping station, the project includes a 54 km long pipeline with a diameter of 1,600 mm that will transport desalinated water, in addition to a connection pipe between the Daourat and Seoer treatment plants with a length of 11.4 km and a diameter of 800 mm, he noted, noting that this connection pipe was put into service in July 2024 and that it currently pumps around 44,000 m3 of water per day.
Mr. Hour did not fail to warn that this colossal national effort cannot replace the adoption of daily practices favorable to the preservation of water resources and the rationalization of their use in all areas.
The urgency and seriousness of the situation call for a permanent civic commitment to avoid the devastating effects of a more pronounced degradation of a substance as vital as water. For him, the responsibility is shared and the challenge is significant, which requires total mobilization to rationalize water consumption regardless of the reason for use.
Morocco, under the enlightened leadership of His Majesty the King, has launched a series of strategic and ambitious projects for the constant supply of drinking water for the entire population, while meeting irrigation needs, in particular the construction of the raw water transfer pipeline between the Sebou hydraulic basin and that of Bouregreg, enabling the securing of drinking water for a population of around 10 million inhabitants in the regions of Rabat-Salé-Kénitra and Casablanca-Settat.
It also involves the construction of 9 new seawater desalination plants for a total capacity of 202 Mm3/year for the benefit of the population of several cities, including that of El Jadida, in addition to the launch of work on 6 desalination plants for a total capacity of 360 Mm3/year to mainly secure the water supply in Casablanca, Settat, Berrechid, among others.
2024-08-29 13:41:35