the foundations for two important elements of today's water and sanitation sector - private concessions for water distribution in large cities and a national public company for bulk water supply - were thus already laid during the protectorate. nationalization after independence after independence in 1956 water distribution systems were nationalized and handed over to public companies in the major cities, the so-called régies. the bulk water supply system from the oum er-rbia river to casablanca remained in the hands of the private concessionnaire smd. bulk water supply in the rest of the country was entrusted to a new national water company created in 1972, the office national de l'eau potable (onep). new water resources management law and rural water program (1995) in 1995 a new, comprehensive water law (loi 10-95) was passed. aimed at changing the emphasis of water resources management from supply expansion to demand management it was considered a "paradigm shift" at the time. it foresees measures to promote water use efficiency, better allocation of water resources and the protection of water quality through the application of the user pays principle and the polluter pays principle. the law also provided the legal basis for the establishment of river basin agencies for integrated water resources management, inspired by examples of such agencies in france and spain, among other countries. in 1996 the oum er-rbia agency was established as the first basin agency in morocco. in 2000 agencies in the country's other six major basins were created. however, the basin agencies took many years and they still remain relatively weak entities. more than a decade after having been passed the law it is still not fully implemented. also in 1995, the government launched an ambitious rural water supply program (programme d'approvisionnement groupé en eau potable des populations rurales - pager) to face the challenge of very low access to potable water in rural areas. the program is carried out by onep, whose responsibility was extended from urban to rural areas through the program (see also below under innovative approaches and international good practice). water privatization in the late 1990s for details see water privatization in morocco since the régie serving casablanca had a poor service record the government decided in the mid-1990s to bring in a private company to manage the city's water, sewerage and power networks. a consortium called lydec, led by lyonnaise des eaux (now suez), was awarded the 30-year concession without a competitive tender in 1997. the casablanca concession paved the way for subsequent concessions in rabat, tangiers and tetouan. while the rabat concession was awarded directly to vivendi in 1998, the concessions in tangiers and tetouan were awarded in 2002 after competitive bidding to amendis, a subsidiary of vivendi. in 2000 the initial 50-year concession of smd, a subsidiary of lyonnaise, for bulk water supply to casablanca was renewed. national sanitation program in 2000 the onep law was amended to include sanitation (sewerage and wastewater treatment) in onep's mandate. at the same time wastewater tariffs (redevance d'assainissement) were first introduced, albeit at a very low level of less than 1 dirham/m3, and a modest subsidy program was set up. in 2005 this policy was reinforced by the more ambitious national sanitation program (programme national d'assainissement - pna). creation of onee through the merger onep and one during a cabinet reshuffle after elections in 2007 the ministry of environment and water on the one hand, and the ministry of energy and mining on the other hand, were merged into a single "super ministry". within the ministry a state secretary remains in charge of water and environment. the ministry of environment and water had been created in 2002, grouping together responsibilities that were previously scattered over several ministries. in 2009 the cabinet approved a bill (loi 40 09) that foresees a strategic alliance (regroupement) between onep and the national electric utility one. the objective is to extend economies of scale in billing and maintenance, which are already achieved in the concessions and the regies in the larger cities, to other areas of the country. the bill is inspired by reform proposals that were put forward in various studies, including one by the management consulting firm mckinsey carried out for the ministry of interior in 2004. in september 2011 the bill was approved by parliament and the new entity, the office national de l'electricité et de l'eau potable (onee), was created. the former onep became its "water branch". international good practice and innovative approaches among the various activities in water and sanitation in morocco initiated over the past two decades, the rural water and sanitation program pager has been recognized as international good practice by the united nations. in addition, an innovative output-based aid project to expand access to water and sanitation has been initiated in 2007. the rural water supply program pager in 2004 the national rural water supply program pager received the united nations public service award in the category improvement of public service results. the project relies on two basic principles: the use of simple technologies and the participation of beneficiaries in all stages of the project from the needs assessment to design, implementation and evaluation. the us$1bn program initiated in 1995 aims to reach 12 million people until 2010. the program has relieved women and children from the burden of carrying water. a 2001 world bank evaluation showed that school enrollment in beneficiary communities increased by 16%. according to official data and reports by the moroccan media, pager increased access to water in rural areas from 14% in 1995 to 61% in 2004 and 77% in 2006. according to survey data, access to house connections in rural areas increased from 10% in 1995 to 20% in 2004. according to the same survey data access to an improved water source in rural areas remained constant between 1995 and 2004 at 58%. it remains unclear how the survey data and the data of pager can be reconciled. output-based aid to expand access to water and sanitation in 2007, the private concessionaires in casablanca, tangiers and tetouan, as well as the public water utility of meknes began to implement water supply and sanitation pilot projects on the basis of an innovative output-based aid approach. the objective is to extend water and sewer connections to 11.300 households in poor, unzoned, periurban neighbourhoods. the pilot projects are part of the national human development initiative and are funded through a us$7 million grant by the global partnership for output-based aid (gpoba) administered by the world bank. it is the first time that gpoba, which promotes primarily the private sector, provided grants to a public water operator. the average subsidy level per connection amounts to us$169 for water supply and to us$606 for sanitation. the average subsidy level per connection is 35 percent. operators also developed awareness raising campaigns to make people aware of the option to connect to sewers through teams that go to market places. under the output-based aid approach investments are pre-financed by the concessionaires or the public utility that are being reimbursed by gpoba only after a verification process certifies that the households have been connected and receive an adequate service. according to the world bank, the output-based aid approach has helped to improve processes, overcome financing obstacles and mobilize stakeholder partnership. sector responsibilities the key actors at the policy level in the sector are the ministry of energy, mining, water and environment in charge of water resources management and the ministry of interior in charge of water supply and sanitation. at the level of service provision, key actors are the national electric and water utility onee, 3 private operators and 13 municipally owned utilities. the country's largest city, casablanca, is served by the private operator lydec. in addition to the above institutions, seven basin agencies are in charge of water resources management. these institutions are, however, still relatively weak. overall, the sector is characterized by a complex and fragmented institutional framework, which - according to a 2004 world bank report - "has hindered the formulation of a comprehensive sector-wide vision and the establishment of coherent policy objectives". policy and regulation the highest political authority in the moroccan water sector rests with the higher council for water and climate (conseil supérieur de l'eau et du climat) under the prime minister and the honorary presidency of the king. it was created in 1996, replacing an earlier higher council created in 1981. it includes representatives of all the ministries involved in water, representatives of regional governments and water user associations, as well as academics, professional associations and trade associations. although the council is supposed to meet once a year as per its founding decree, it last met in 2001. its last previous meeting was held in 1994. according to the same decree the secretariat function for the council is assured by the ministry of public works. however, all water-related functions were moved from the ministry of public works to the newly created ministry of water and environment in 2002. within the government of morocco responsibilities for water supply and sanitation are shared by various ministries. the ministry of energy, mining, water and environment (ministère de l'energie, des mines, de l'eau et de l'environnement) is in charge of water resources management and bulk water supply, while the ministry of interior is in charge of supervising water distribution and sanitation carried out by municipal utilities. within the ministry of interior the direction de l'eau et de l'assainissement (dea) assists local governments with water and sanitation issues, and plays an active role in planning, implementing, and supporting the operations of basic water and sewerage infrastructure. the directorate of public utilities and concessions (drsc), also in the ministry of the interior, monitors the performance of régies and concessions certain sector responsibilities are within the realm of other ministries. the ministry of public health (ministère de la santé publique, msp) is the main water quality regulator in the sector, responsible for setting and enforcing public health drinking water standards. the directorate of public corporations and privatization of the ministry of finance oversees the fiscal aspects of public utility operations, and the contracting of concessions. furthermore, an interdepartmental commission on prices approves proposals for tariff increases. water resources management the oum er-rbia river in central morocco is the country's longest river. besides being an important source of water for irrigation, it supplies most of the drinking water for the country's largest city, casablanca nine river basin agencies are responsible for the management of water resources in morocco. river basin agencies have a number of important responsibilities. they authorize water abstractions and wastewater discharges for all users, based on a basin master plan (plan directeur d'aménagement intégré des ressources en eau, pdaire) that they prepare. they also collect charges for abstraction and effluent discharges. they are also supposed to provide financial help and technical assistance to service providers for the prevention of water pollution and the efficient use of water resources. they also monitor the quality and quantity of both surface and groundwater and are in charge of managing water-related emergencies. finally, they should increase public awareness about water resources. the agencies cover the following basins ranked in the order of the available water resources in each basin: sebou river, moulouya river, oum er-rbia river, bou regreg river, tensift river, loukkos river and the souss-massa basin, ziz-er gheris et sakia el hamra-oued eddahab. the means available to the basin agencies are largely insufficient to carry out their functions. service provision there are four categories of urban service providers in morocco: private concessionnaires (38% of urban water customers), municipal utilities (31%), the national public company onee (28%), and municipalities providing services directly (3%). de jure, according to the municipal code of 1976 (charte communale), amended in 2002 and 2008, public services such as water supply, sewerage and electricity distribution are the responsibility of municipalities (communes). there are 1,547 municipalities in morocco, including 249 urban and 1,298 rural municipalities. as mentioned above, some municipalities have delegated service provision to private concessionnaires. in other municipalities the régies provide these services, often not on the basis of a specific contract. in the smaller municipalities onee often provides services, either with or without a contract (contrat de gestion déléguée) with the municipality. in the case of sewers, many smaller municipalities