Faced with increasingly frequent extreme weather events, managing water releases is no longer enough to contain the risk of flooding. Experts and water basin managers are calling for an integrated and proactive approach in a context of climate change that is disrupting water balances.
For Mohamed Bazza, an international water resources expert, water releases alone cannot be the answer to flooding. They must be part of an integrated and proactive risk management strategy as opposed to a reactive approach.
Northwestern Morocco has been transformed into a disaster zone: thousands of families evacuated, towns flooded, dams overwhelmed… Faced with an exceptional disaster, the state apparatus quickly sprang into action and responded effectively.
📑 Summary: https://t.co/e2iiST4Npk
🛎… pic.twitter.com/nVSh7LCroU—TelQuel (@TelQuelOfficiel) February 10, 2026
This requires better water resource management and a set of structural measures: clearing riverbeds, early warning systems, restoring watersheds, reforestation, strict enforcement of water laws, and protection of ecosystems.
Dam releases were not necessary in the past because at the start of the rainy season, around October, the dams were almost always empty.
The expert also points out that dam releases were not discussed or necessary in the past because at the start of the rainy season, around October, the dams were almost always empty or half full.
Climate change has altered the situation. In the event of inevitable flooding—extreme and exceptional rainfall and water inflows—Mohamed Bazza believes that the government cannot protect low-lying flood-prone areas, former natural wetlands, but should take responsibility for installing and maintaining drainage channels.
Rigorous hydraulic models
In the Souss-Massa region, further south, Mohamed Amghar, acting director of the Water Basin Agency, explains how the Moulay Abdellah dam—which is 99% full, compared to 26% a year ago—is managing the project.
Controlled releases are decided on the basis of technical and hydrological standards, including weather forecasts, using rigorous hydraulic models that take into account hydrological, topographical, and meteorological parameters.
These models make it possible to accurately simulate the impact downstream of the dams, and management is carried out gradually in close coordination with all partners and local authorities. The agency has a monitoring network consisting of hydro-climatological stations upstream of the dams, enabling it to anticipate floods in terms of intensity and volume.
Throughout the year, a vast inspection and auscultation campaign covers all dams maintained by the Water Development Directorate of the Ministry of Equipment and Water. A periodic testing protocol is also applied to various electromechanical and hydromechanical equipment.
The Ratba dam, under construction since 2022 in the province of Taounate on the Aoulaï wadi, should significantly improve flood control on the Sebou River once it becomes operational at the end of 2028. With a capacity of around 1 billion m³, it will be one of the largest in the country.
According to Mohamed Bazza, this dam is justified less by the mobilization of additional water resources—especially with climate change forecasts—than by the reduction of silting at the Al Wahda dam, energy production, and, above all, flood protection.
Written in French by Ghita Ismaili; edited in English by AngloMedia Group.
