As the world enters an period of “water bankruptcy” and far of it’s pressured to adapt to a warmer, drier future, each cities and farms might more and more depend on desalination — turning seawater into recent water.
There have been more than 22,000 desalination vegetation working globally in 2024, largely within the Middle East and North Africa — the world’s most water-scarce areas. A rising variety of African nations are betting on the expertise, and by 2030, Morocco needs to get 60% of its consuming water from the ocean.
The nation declared an finish to a seven-year drought in January, after a winter of heavy rain refilled reservoirs that had fallen to historic lows. But the reduction didn’t change Morocco’s long-term technique.
“Relying exclusively on rainfall and dam inflows is no longer sufficient,” Nizar Baraka, Morocco’s minister of apparatus and water, instructed NCS. Drought, he added, is not “an exceptional or temporary phenomenon. What we are witnessing is a structural transformation of the climate cycle.”
Morocco’s plan is to show the Atlantic into recent water to drink and irrigate crops in coastal cities, whereas dam water and rainfall will movement inland, to the farms and oases most susceptible to drought. But the method is expensive — financially and environmentally.
Leading Morocco’s technique is a $650 million project underneath building round 25 miles south of Casablanca. It would be the largest desalination plant in Africa, and in line with its builders, the biggest on the earth powered solely by renewables — drawing its energy from a 360-megawatt wind farm within the disputed territory of Western Sahara.
Phase I is predicted to begin operations in February 2027, with Phase 2 accomplished in August 2028. At full capability, it would pump 79 billion gallons of consuming water a 12 months for 7.5 million individuals within the Casablanca space and irrigate 20,000 acres of farmland.
The nation already operates 17 desalination vegetation, producing about 108 billion gallons of water a 12 months — 9 occasions greater than in 2021 — with 11 extra deliberate or underneath building, Baraka defined.
To finance and construct such mega-projects, Morocco has embraced public-private partnerships (PPP). For Casablanca, financing closed in May 2025, with Spain’s Acciona — a multinational conglomerate specializing in renewables and water administration — as lead developer alongside Moroccan companions, with the Spanish authorities overlaying over half of the cost.
The desalination drive is a part of a broader, roughly $14 billion nationwide water plan, which additionally funds constructing dams, wastewater reuse, and a community of “water highways” — pipelines that transfer surplus rainfall from basins within the north to drier areas southward.
Most trendy desalination vegetation use a course of referred to as seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO): high-pressure pumps drive seawater by way of high quality membranes that filter out the salt. The expertise is dependable however energy-intensive, so most vegetation worldwide run on fossil fuels — emitting planet-heating carbon to unravel a climate-driven downside.
Morocco’s plan is to tie new desalination vegetation to wind and photo voltaic farm developments, making the most of the nation’s huge renewable power potential. “The objective is twofold,” Baraka mentioned. “First, to reduce long-term operating costs, and second, to minimize the carbon footprint of water production.” As of 2024, renewables generated simply over a quarter of the nation’s electrical energy.
But desalination has one other affect on the surroundings. Every gallon of recent water produced leaves behind 1 to 1.5 gallons of brine — water with chemical residues and twice the salt focus of the ocean — which is generally discharged again into the ocean.
Poorly managed brine can damage marine ecosystems, creating oxygen-depleted “death zones” that kill seagrass beds and plankton populations. The new Casablanca plant encompasses a 1.5-mile discharge pipe designed to dilute brine earlier than it reaches the seabed. While researchers see dilution as an optimum strategy, they word that Morocco lacks nationwide laws setting how a lot is required, and limits in lots of vegetation are set by monetary backers, not by legislation.
The agricultural sector consumes 87% of Morocco’s water, and employs nearly a third of its workforce. But the seven-year drought halved cereal manufacturing and led to rising unemployment in rural areas.
Desalination is introduced as an answer to irrigate fields with out rainfall — for those that can afford it.
In Souss-Massa — the area behind 85% of Morocco’s fruit and vegetable exports — the Chtouka Aït Baha desalination plant provides 1,500 farmers rising tomatoes and fruit, largely for European supermarkets.
Mohamed Boumarg, who as soon as cultivated 12 acres of cherry tomatoes, was in a position to farm 50, with 60% for export. “Desalination has saved agriculture in Chtouka,” he told AFP in July 2025. A farm supervisor instructed AFP they needed to settle for the upper value of desalinated water, “or we close up shop.”
Youssef Brouziyne, regional consultant for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) on the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), instructed NCS that seawater desalination “remains 1.5 to 4 times more expensive than many traditional freshwater sources.”
Brouziyne defined that desalination can realistically help areas like Chtouka: “coastal, high-value, export-oriented, greenhouse-based production where water productivity and margins justify the cost.”
“Desalinated water,” he added, “despite the very remarkable cost reduction breakthrough of Morocco and other MENA countries, is still too expensive for broad-scale irrigated agriculture,” leaving staple crops like wheat depending on seasonal rains.
For smallholders, he famous, entry will rely on focused subsidies, mixing desalinated water with cheaper sources like handled wastewater, smaller solar-powered techniques, and rising crops that earn sufficient to justify the associated fee.
Morocco hosted the World Water Congress in Marrakech final December, the place Baraka pitched the nation’s expertise as proof that water, power and meals safety will be tackled collectively.
“Our goal,” he mentioned, “is not to present a single model to be copied, but to share experience, know-how, and practical solutions that can be adapted to each country’s specific needs.”
Across Africa, desalination is gaining floor. Algeria already runs one of many Mediterranean’s largest desalination applications, Egypt is shortly increasing capability, and Senegal signed an $800 million deal with Saudi-based ACWA Power for a renewable-powered plant close to Dakar. While most capability stays concentrated in North Africa, Namibia and South Africa have been desalinating seawater for over a decade, and are additionally growing smaller solar-powered vegetation
The stakes for agriculture are continental. With 95% of Africa’s farmland depending on rain, irrigation might double yields in water-scarce areas. As desalination prices preserve falling by way of improved expertise and pairing with cheaper renewables, it might more and more provide Africa’s farms.
Rather than develop infrastructure in parallel, Brouziyne argued, African nations must share information, finance and expertise — work that our bodies just like the African Ministers’ Council on Water and the Africa Water Vision 2063 framework are coordinating, alongside analysis establishments like IWMI.
Morocco’s mannequin isn’t just the desalination mega-projects, he added, however the package deal round them, from the nation’s authorized readiness to long-term planning. Crucially, he notes, “no major water public-private partnership operates without significant public support, and farmers can become the most exposed link if affordability is not built into the design.”
“Long-term water security is not only about producing more cubic meters,” Brouziyne added, “it is about producing more resilience, more value, and more equity per cubic meter.”