Wastewater Reuse for Irrigation Agriculture in Morocco: Influence of Regulation on Feasible Implementation
Autor
Ortega-Pozo, Jose Luis
Alcalá, Francisco Javier
Poyatos, José Manuel
Martín-Pascual, Jaime
Resumen
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. © 2022 by the authors.
Colecciones
Ítems relacionados
Mostrando ítems relacionados por Título, autor o materia.
-
Article
A hydrological-economic model for sustainable groundwater use in sparse-data drylands: Application to the Amtoudi Oasis in southern Morocco, northern Sahara (2020)
Alcalá F.J.; Martínez-Valderrama J.; Robles-Marín P.; Guerrera F.; Martín-Martín M.; Raffaelli G.; de León J.T.; Asebriy L. (Elsevier, 2015) -
Article
Miocene evolution of the External Rif Zone (Morocco): Comparison with similar and lateral southern Mediterranean Tethyan margins (2024)
Martín-Martín, Manuel; Guerrera, Francesco; Cañaveras, Juan Carlos; Alcalá, Francisco Javier; Serrano, Francisco; Maaté, Alí; Hlila, Rachid; Maaté, Soufian; Sánchez-Navas, Antonio; Miclăus, Crina; ... (Elsevier B.V., 2024)The Miocene evolution of the External Rif Zone (NW Africa Plate) was determined through multidisciplinary analysis of fourteen successions. The updated stratigraphic framework shows how Miocene sediments rest on the ... -
Article
Tectono-sedimentary cenozoic evolution of the el habt and ouezzane tectonic units (External rif, morocco) (2020)
Martín-Martín, Manuel; Guerrera, Francesco; Hlila, Rachid; Maaté, Alí; Maaté, Soufian; Tramontana, Mario; Serrano, Francisco; Cañaveras, Juan Carlos; Alcalá, Francisco Javier; Paton, Douglas A. (MDPI AG, 2020-12-03)An interdisciplinary study based on lithostratigraphic, biostratigraphic, petrographic and mineralogical analyses has been performed in order to establish the Cenozoic tectono-sedimentary evolution of the El Habt and ...