Lamharza Essahel Commune (El Jadida Province) – HRH Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan launched, Monday in the Lamharza Essahel Commune of the El Jadida province, the construction works of the desalination station of the Casablanca seawater, the largest plant of its kind in Africa with, ultimately, an annual production capacity of 300 million m3 and a beneficiary population estimated at 7.5 million inhabitants.
This project is part of the interest and high concern accorded by His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God assist Him, to the strategic issue of water, particularly in the current context marked by a notable rainfall deficit and very strong pressure on conventional water resources in the different regions of the Kingdom.
It is an integral part of the “Improvement of water supply” axis of the National Drinking Water Supply and Irrigation Program 2020-2027, launched in 2020 by His Majesty the King and whose overall cost will reach 143 billion of dirhams.
The future station, which will meet the growing water demand of Greater Casablanca, the towns of Settat, Berrechid and Bir Jdid and neighboring regions, will be built in two phases on a 50 ha plot of land and will require an overall investment. of 6.5 billion dirhams, mobilized through a public-private partnership.
During the first phase, which is scheduled to be commissioned at the end of 2026, the station must reach a capacity of 548,000 m3 of treated water per day (200 million m3 per year), expandable, in a second phase (planned for the mid-2028) to 822,000 m3 per day, or 100 million additional m3 per year, including 50 million for agricultural use.
This major project concerns the construction of a seawater desalination unit by reverse osmosis and the establishment of a transport system for the drinking water produced including three pumping stations, three storage tanks and a distribution network of nearly 130 kilometers of conveyance pipes. This drinking water transport system will require, for its part, an envelope of 3 billion dirhams financed by public funds.
The latest generation of the Casablanca seawater desalination station will include two seawater supply pipes measuring 1,850 ml in length, a discharge outlet measuring 2,500 ml in length, and reverse osmosis desalination facilities. (pressure filters and microfilters), a sludge treatment unit, a control and management center and pumping stations, in addition to a storage tank for the drinking water produced.
With a cost of producing drinking water estimated at 4.48 DH/m3, the future station will be powered 100 pc by renewable energy and its management will be fully automated.
