Eid al-Adha comes in Casablanca, as in other regions, so people’s first concerns are obtaining a sacrifice and arranging the atmosphere of the celebration, but other concerns present themselves with urgency and are not paid much attention to, such as waste and extravagance, sometimes exaggerated, regarding the use of drinking water during this holiday. Religious occasion. My obsession would not have presented itself with such intensity had it not been for the water stress that afflicts everyone, and the scarcity of water resources due to the successive years of drought, which poses a serious common challenge for a region with a large population and many productive units.
In terms of numbers, the needs of Greater Casablanca of drinking water amount to about 6,000 cubic meters per day, and may reach 6,500 cubic meters at peak times, 70 percent of which is intended for domestic consumption, as stated in the interventions of a number of participants in a business meeting organized recently in the capital. Economic on facing water stress in the region of Casablanca-Settat.
The same participants, who represent ministerial sectors, public institutions and elected officials, stressed the need to use water in a rational manner during Eid al-Adha and the summer season, and on the other hand, they expected the passage of these two periods “without major problems.”
During the periods of peak use of drinking water, of which the occasion of Eid al-Adha is one of its periods par excellence, there is an urgent need for water during the slaughter of sacrifices, to which other needs are currently added related to the summer season with the rise of the excessive heat wave.
If it is very natural to use excess water during Eid al-Adha and during the summer, which is an indisputable right, then care must be taken on the reasonable use of this vital substance so as not to fall into extravagance and waste that harms everyone, which is contrary to what our Islamic religion stipulates. Al-Hanif, where the Almighty said in his decisive book: “O son of Adam, take it and take it with you. no y h b l ms r ven [الأعراف: 31].
According to some scholars, there is a prohibition against waste and extravagance in anything, as waste is “ignorance of the positions of rights,” and extravagance is “ignorance of the amounts of rights.” The scholar Ibn Abidin said, “Extravagance: Spending something on what it should be in addition to what it should, and wastefulness: Spending something on what it should not.”
In the details of confronting this situation during Eid al-Adha and the summer season, there is an urgent need to raise awareness of the importance of preserving water and rationalizing its use, which is what some civil society organizations and associations are doing, especially that Morocco has entered a stage of water scarcity.
As long as something is mentioned, facing the stage of scarcity locally and nationally in the medium and long term requires the mobilization of additional resources, such as transporting water from one region to another in accordance with the solidarity between the parties, or what is known as the “Water Roads”, which is a huge project that is being carried out in order to transport water from basin to another.
There is also the desalination of sea water through the project (Casablanca Station), which will soon see the light, and which is added to the projects of the sea water desalination plants of El Jadida and Safi, which are being carried out by the OCP, which is strongly involved in these efforts.
Added to this is a serious insistence on treating wastewater and avoiding wasting it in the sea, while reusing it in irrigating green spaces or directing it to other uses, as well as rationing the use of groundwater, which has greatly decreased in volume at the level of the various regions of the Casablanca-Settat region.
In this regard, Greater Casablanca is waiting for a promising horizon for the production of new water resources in order to meet the increasing demand for water in this difficult period. vitality.
One of God’s blessings to Morocco is that it has thousands of kilometers of sea coasts, in addition to rivers and valleys located within its pure soil and not shared with its neighbours. “.
