Groundwater Depletion in an Urban Environment under Semiarid Climate and Persistent Drought–City of Marrakesh (Morocco)

The quantitative monitoring of the shallow aquifer in Marrakesh and its surrounding area shows that the water table has been lowered gradually over the last 40 years, and attaining an acute decline in the early 2000s. This declining trend—if confirmed in the future—may lead to a water shortage, or e...

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Autores principales:	Mohammed Analy, Nour-Eddine Laftouhi
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	MDPI AG 2021
Materias:	water table semi-arid climate groundwater depletion overexploitation Marrakesh Hydraulic engineering TC1-978 Water supply for domestic and industrial purposes TD201-500
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/3c2f1a50a83446fdb99be564f5e09d6f
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:3c2f1a50a83446fdb99be564f5e09d6f2021-11-25T19:16:01ZGroundwater Depletion in an Urban Environment under Semiarid Climate and Persistent Drought–City of Marrakesh (Morocco)10.3390/w132232532073-4441https://doaj.org/article/3c2f1a50a83446fdb99be564f5e09d6f2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/13/22/3253https://doaj.org/toc/2073-4441The quantitative monitoring of the shallow aquifer in Marrakesh and its surrounding area shows that the water table has been lowered gradually over the last 40 years, and attaining an acute decline in the early 2000s. This declining trend—if confirmed in the future—may lead to a water shortage, or even to a total aquifer depletion, which would be devastating for a region where economic activity and drinking water supply rely partly on groundwater resources. Two factors account for this situation: the hot semi-arid climate characterized by high temperatures and low precipitation, causing an inadequate groundwater recharge (deficit between rainwater supply and the potential evapotranspiration), and the over-pumping of groundwater from wells for intensive agricultural uses and some leisure activities (golf courses, waterparks and pools, for example). The objective of this study is to assess the hydrodynamic behaviour of the shallow aquifer in this context of persistent drought and semi-arid climate under intense use conditions. Based on earlier research studies and hydrological data recently collected from the field, a spatiotemporal analysis using a geographic information system has been conducted, allowing researchers to monitor the evolution of groundwater resources under the impact of intense exploitation. This study shows a general decline of groundwater level in the city of Marrakesh between 1962–2019. However, by dividing this period into three periods (1962–1985, 1986–2001 and 2002–2019), it is obvious that the main groundwater fall occurred during the two last decades, a period marked by highest recorded temperatures and decreased precipitation levels. This water table decline impacted 85% of the study area and is estimated at 0.9 m/year. The area most affected by the drawdown of the water table experienced a decline reaching 37 m between 2002 and 2019 (more than 2 m a year).Mohammed AnalyNour-Eddine LaftouhiMDPI AGarticlewater tablesemi-arid climategroundwater depletionoverexploitationMarrakeshHydraulic engineeringTC1-978Water supply for domestic and industrial purposesTD201-500ENWater, Vol 13, Iss 3253, p 3253 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	water table semi-arid climate groundwater depletion overexploitation Marrakesh Hydraulic engineering TC1-978 Water supply for domestic and industrial purposes TD201-500
spellingShingle	water table semi-arid climate groundwater depletion overexploitation Marrakesh Hydraulic engineering TC1-978 Water supply for domestic and industrial purposes TD201-500 Mohammed Analy Nour-Eddine Laftouhi Groundwater Depletion in an Urban Environment under Semiarid Climate and Persistent Drought–City of Marrakesh (Morocco)
description	The quantitative monitoring of the shallow aquifer in Marrakesh and its surrounding area shows that the water table has been lowered gradually over the last 40 years, and attaining an acute decline in the early 2000s. This declining trend—if confirmed in the future—may lead to a water shortage, or even to a total aquifer depletion, which would be devastating for a region where economic activity and drinking water supply rely partly on groundwater resources. Two factors account for this situation: the hot semi-arid climate characterized by high temperatures and low precipitation, causing an inadequate groundwater recharge (deficit between rainwater supply and the potential evapotranspiration), and the over-pumping of groundwater from wells for intensive agricultural uses and some leisure activities (golf courses, waterparks and pools, for example). The objective of this study is to assess the hydrodynamic behaviour of the shallow aquifer in this context of persistent drought and semi-arid climate under intense use conditions. Based on earlier research studies and hydrological data recently collected from the field, a spatiotemporal analysis using a geographic information system has been conducted, allowing researchers to monitor the evolution of groundwater resources under the impact of intense exploitation. This study shows a general decline of groundwater level in the city of Marrakesh between 1962–2019. However, by dividing this period into three periods (1962–1985, 1986–2001 and 2002–2019), it is obvious that the main groundwater fall occurred during the two last decades, a period marked by highest recorded temperatures and decreased precipitation levels. This water table decline impacted 85% of the study area and is estimated at 0.9 m/year. The area most affected by the drawdown of the water table experienced a decline reaching 37 m between 2002 and 2019 (more than 2 m a year).
format	article
author	Mohammed Analy Nour-Eddine Laftouhi
author_facet	Mohammed Analy Nour-Eddine Laftouhi
author_sort	Mohammed Analy
title	Groundwater Depletion in an Urban Environment under Semiarid Climate and Persistent Drought–City of Marrakesh (Morocco)
title_short	Groundwater Depletion in an Urban Environment under Semiarid Climate and Persistent Drought–City of Marrakesh (Morocco)
title_full	Groundwater Depletion in an Urban Environment under Semiarid Climate and Persistent Drought–City of Marrakesh (Morocco)
title_fullStr	Groundwater Depletion in an Urban Environment under Semiarid Climate and Persistent Drought–City of Marrakesh (Morocco)
title_full_unstemmed	Groundwater Depletion in an Urban Environment under Semiarid Climate and Persistent Drought–City of Marrakesh (Morocco)
title_sort	groundwater depletion in an urban environment under semiarid climate and persistent drought–city of marrakesh (morocco)
publisher	MDPI AG
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/3c2f1a50a83446fdb99be564f5e09d6f
work_keys_str_mv	AT mohammedanaly groundwaterdepletioninanurbanenvironmentundersemiaridclimateandpersistentdroughtcityofmarrakeshmorocco AT noureddinelaftouhi groundwaterdepletioninanurbanenvironmentundersemiaridclimateandpersistentdroughtcityofmarrakeshmorocco
_version_	1718410085508579328

Groundwater Depletion in an Urban Environment under Semiarid Climate and Persistent Drought–City of Marrakesh (Morocco)

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