LThe OCP Group works to provide a large part of the planet with products that contribute to global food sovereignty. Building on its positioning as a guardian of nutrients in Morocco, Africa and around the world, the OCP Group very early on committed itself to sustainable development by focusing, as a pioneer, on clean energies in its mining and chemical activities. This early commitment is today supported by an optimal environmental policy, with the use of wastewater to operate all its structures.
Currently, 85% of the water used in phosphate mines comes from water from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and seawater desalination, with nearly 80% of this water being recycled. In addition, in the phosphate transformation processes on the Jorf Lasfar and Safi platforms, the steam generated by the production of sulfuric acid is reused to produce clean electricity, representing no less than 20% of the energy used. Not to mention the significant contribution of the pipeline transporting phosphates from Khouribga to Jorf Lasfar, saving three million cubic meters of water and nearly one million tons of CO2. Added to this is the use of wind energy and the solar program in regions such as Benguerir, Khouribga, Mascala and Youssoufia. This entire approach is part of a major objective: achieving carbon neutrality by 2040.
Citizen engagement
With all these achievements, the OCP Group assumes its social responsibility in the midst of the water crisis in Morocco by providing treated water via treatment plants and the desalination of sea water to cities heavily affected by stress. water like Safi and El Jadida. Marrakech and Casablanca will also be served during the summer of 2024. A citizen commitment for the flagship of the national economy which makes the issue of water and food sovereignty its main priorities. In an urgent context to find effective and sustainable solutions in terms of water resources management in Morocco, the OCP Group has implemented a battery of actions, based on targeted programs, to deal with the water stress that is hitting the country, as part of an optimal water strategy. In 2022, the critical drought situation in Morocco pushed the group to accelerate actions to alleviate the problem and reduce its negative effects, which penalize many strategic sectors of the national economy. The figures bear this out: the level of water reserves in Morocco continues to decline for the fourth consecutive year, with dramatic consequences for the water tables of the entire country.
As of May 31, 2024, the reservoirs of agricultural dams have reached some 4.16 billion m³, compared to 4.22 billion m³ during the same period of the previous season, with a filling rate of 30%. It is at the heart of this unprecedented crisis that OCP created OCP Green Water in 2022 to meet its industrial needs and satisfy the drinking water needs of the cities where it operates. The OCP Group’s WATER strategy is based on three pillars for better optimization of the use of water resources, with a continuous reduction in water consumption for mining and chemical activities. An important result has been achieved: OCP no longer draws on groundwater for its mining and chemical activities, thus preserving surface water and groundwater already impacted by the severe water stress that Morocco has been experiencing for several decades. To achieve these objectives, OCP uses unconventional water, thus participating effectively in the preservation of the country’s water resources, thanks to a well-designed investment program comprising three components: a seawater desalination program, a station program water purification and a pipeline program. Which results in 100% unconventional water used.
Emergency plan 2022 – 2026
As part of this plan, the main objective is to secure the supply of unconventional water to OCP’s industrial sites in Jorf and Safi to cover 100% of needs. This strategy also affects the drinking water supply of El Jadida and Safi to meet their urban needs. It should be noted that the only recourse for a town like Safi is water treated and supplied by OCP. This seawater goes through a clean desalination process, using renewable energy, and pioneering technology which consists of filtering seawater with ceramic filters instead of sand filters.
It is certainly a more costly investment for OCP, but it is safer. This allows one of the cities most affected by the lack of water in Morocco to avoid asphyxiation. Water from the region’s wastewater treatment plant (STEP) can provide up to 9 m³ of treated water, while the potential for treatment and reuse of wastewater from the city of Safi is 7 m³. In general, faced with the loss of wastewater, OCP is committed to creating WWTPs in different towns in the Kingdom close to its areas of intervention, thus offering sanitation to communities which were deprived of it. Other regions are planned in this water supply plan treated by OCP. These are Casablanca, with 60 m³ eventually by 2027, the start of supply of which is planned for August-September 2024, and Marrakech, with 60 m³.
OCP and sustainability
“Our vision of sustainable development is deeply rooted in our DNA and is an integral part of our purpose. Indeed, our mission to nourish the soil to feed the planet is by nature human-centered,” says Mostafa Terrab, Chairman and CEO of OCP Group. OCP Group is fully aware of the environmental and sustainability issues inherent in its mission. In this sense, the Group has always placed sustainable development at the heart of its strategy and has equipped itself with the means to act effectively. Based on a logic of continuous improvement, the Group’s sustainable development policy is translated into ambitious objectives, which are constantly evolving to support growth and transform constraints into opportunities.
The OCP Group is also on the lookout for the latest practices and new concepts for responsible development, generating skills, good living conditions and the well-being of communities. The Group is therefore anchoring its commitments more than ever in sustainability and is revising its ambitions upwards. To achieve this, it relies on innovative and unconventional techniques to improve its production in order to meet growing global demand, while reducing and diversifying its use of water. In this sense, the “Water Program” is designed to respond to this challenge. In a context of serious water crisis, this program was designed to optimize water consumption and transform the group’s processes, while capitalizing on R&D. Thus, OCP reuses 80% of its wastewater and, thanks to its Slurry Pipeline, the group saves around 3 million m³ of water each year.
