section_path: Economy/Water supply and sanitation
section_name: Water supply and sanitation
paragraph_text: Water supply and sanitation
  
  Water supply and sanitation in Morocco are provided by a wide array of utilities. They range from private companies in the largest city— Casablanca, Rabat, and two other cities—to public municipal utilities in 13 other cities, as well as a national electricity and water company. Morocco's Office National de l'Eau Potable (ONEP) is in charge of bulk water supply in about 500 towns. According to a study by the National Liquid Sanitation Master Plan (SNDAL) that started in 1994, only 15 of their 63 treatment plants are operational, and out of approximately 500 million cubic meters of wastewater generated annually, 95% is discharged untreated into natural water bodies.
  
  There have been substantial improvements in access to water supply, and to a lesser extent to sanitation, over the past fifteen years. Remaining challenges include a low level of wastewater treatment (only 13% of collected wastewater is being treated), lack of house connections in the poorest urban neighbourhoods and limited sustainability of rural systems (20% of rural systems are estimated not to function). In 2005, a National Sanitation Programme was approved that aims at treating 60% of collected wastewater and connecting 80% of urban households to sewers by 2020. The issue of lack of water connections for some of the urban poor is being addressed as part of the National Human Development Initiative, under which residents of informal settlements have received land titles and have fees waived that are normally paid to utilities in order to connect to the water and sewer network. An investment programme of about MAD 15 billion was made to cover the centres managed by ONEP from 2003–2017. Japanese and Canadian cooperators and AFESD have also financed several projects for ONEP.
  
  Though, between 1960 and 2020, the per capita availability of renewable water resources went from 2,560 m 3 to about 620 m 3 per person annually. The World Bank has reported that they have supported the Noor Solar Power project in Morocco with US$700 million in financing the project "To address water scarcity and its impacts on agriculture".