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Resilience is an essential key of the assessment of water resources system management. Adequate description of the resilience of water resource systems needs to consider the emergent properties arising from the interaction of the component subsystems. This paper presents an approach to assess resilience in an agricultural water supply system. The system is contextualized as a meta-system composed of three subsystems; the natural catchment and reservoirs, the water distribution infrastructure and agricultural users. The proposed approach allows studying each sub-system separately to determine its properties, quantify the interdependencies between the subsystems and integrate pressures that affect the operation of each sub-system and, consequently, the system in its entirety. This work is a first step in assessing agricultural water resources' resilience under climatic and anthropogenic pressures in agricultural water resources system.

This article highlights the need to rethink how to manage mobility in Morocco more intelligently, given that it is a major pillar of economic competitiveness. Smart mobility based on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) allows to improve and ensure the optimal use of existing infrastructure before embarking on heavy and irreversible infrastructure projects. The case regarding the separation of the urban traffic and the Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGV) traffic circulating between Casablanca Port and Zenata Dry Port is a relevant example where smart mobility could provide efficient solutions without building costly tunnels. A dynamic simulation was made using the Aimsun software to quantify the relevance of the proposed lane designated to HGV in the existing road. This simulation allows to visualise congestion sections and quantify the circulation of vehicles and pedestrians. The article presents defined functions and characteristics of the Advanced Traffic Management (ATM) to ensure the optimal operation and efficient setting of the simulation. All appliances, hardware, and sensors that will be set up on-site will help to improve traffic safety, traffic flow, traffic information, and reduce congestion and pollution. This case study illustrates the complexity of managing the flow of goods in cities and suggests how to solve this type of problems using smart mobility. This research proposes reserving a special lane for HGV. ITS will help this cost-optimal alternative, will promote the urban framework of the coastal road, and contribute to sustainable mobility in Casablanca.

Managing mobility, both of people and goods, in cities is a thorny issue. The travel needs of urban populations are increasing and put pressure on transport infrastructure. The Moroccan cities are no exception and will struggle, in the short term, to respond to the challenges of the acceleration of the phenomenon of urbanization and the increase in demand for mobility. This will inevitably prevent them from turning into smart cities. The term smart certainly alludes to better use of technologies, but smart mobility is also defined as “a set of coordinated actions intended to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and environmental sustainability of cities” [1]. The term mobility highlights the preponderance of humans over infrastructure and vehicles. Faced with traffic congestion, the solutions currently adopted which consist of fitting out and widening the infrastructures, only encourage more trips and report the problem with more critical consequences. It is true that beyond a certain density of traffic, even Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) are not useful. The concept of dynamic lane management or Advanced Traffic Management (ATM) opens up new perspectives. Its objective is to manage and optimize road traffic in a variable manner, in space and in time. This article is a summary of the development of a road infrastructure dedicated to Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGV), the first of its kind in Morocco. It aims to avoid the discomfort caused by trucks in the urban road network of the city of Casablanca. This research work is an opportunity to reflect on the introduction of ITS and ATM to ensure optimal use of existing infrastructure before embarking on heavy and irreversible infrastructure projects.

A reservoir management approach requires, regularly, an update of its parameters in order to assure that the reservoir continue to fulfill its role without major failure. In fact, the performance criteria are widely associated with to optimization as tools to assess and compare optimized and initial approaches. In this study, we analyzed the ability of six performance criteria to assess and compare, correctly, six management approaches of the Bin El Ouidane-Ait El Ouarda complex, under varying conditions. Five of the six compared approaches are results of a double optimization phase using the Genetic Algorithm. And the sixth represents the current management approach of the complex. The analysis of the obtained results via the principal component analysis method shows that the optimized approaches are performing better according to all criteria, and negative management practices of the current approach were detected. Additionally, remarks concerning the reliability of the studied criteria were underlined: the very high dependency of the criteria values to the conditions of calculation, the necessity to use various criterion because the use of only one can alter the comparison, the necessity to report in addition to the criterion value its calculation conditions, and the sustainability criterion tends to give an implicit weight coefficient to the parameter having the low value. This paper novelty is that it gave an application example of guidelines to follow and precautions to consider, in order to assess and compare reservoir management approaches, taking into account the question of representativeness of the performance criteria.

All over the world, dam managers are constantly confronted with the siltation of dam reservoirs. This natural phenomenon represents a menace to the safety of the dam; because sediments deposited amplifies the load applied to the dam and shut off the dam’s bottom outlet. It also reduces the usable capacity of the reservoir and degrades the quality of the water stored (pollution, eutrophication, turbidity, etc.). In arid and semi-arid countries like Morocco, de-silting stays the best solution for silted dams. However, when we de-silt dam reservoirs, we produce enormous volumes of mud, which represent potential pollution for the environment and occupy immense terrains. Our research was carried out on the possible uses of these sediments. It has enabled us to develop a valuation guide in Civil Engineering, Agriculture, crafts, and the environment sectors. This guide provides a framework for performing tests and analyses to do on the sediments to compare them with the limit values required by regulations and standards in several economic sectors. The results of these evaluations help us to find the most appropriate uses of the sediments in the sectors mentioned above.

The sectorization of Water Distribution Networks (WDN) is characterized by permanent and periodic valve closures to control the volumes distributed and help to manage water losses. These valve maneuvers are characterized by wave propagations of varying severity. These transient phenomena are considered as a major problem in the under-load networks operation. These maneuvers can lead to bursting and breakage of the pipes because of water hammer. In this research work, we are interested in evaluating the impact of valve operations on the occurrence of transient regimes in a Discrete Hydraulic Sector (DHS) of the water distribution network of the city of Casablanca. The required hydraulic model for a real distribution network was established using the Bentley HAMMER. Several simulations with various transient severities of valve closures were performed and simulated in the field. Three examples have been considered: a pipe with and without a connection, a mesh network and a pipe with opening fire hydrant. The simulations thus carried out show that the sudden opening and closing, in the case of the valve of large diameter and pipe with a high wave propagation velocity, the transient phenomenon results in a significant induced pressure head which could lead to (i) significant transient severities in the pipelines, (ii) probable occurrence of leaks (iii) distribution break. The findings of this research work and the proposed approach would promote for the utility managers a new process to follow of partitioning a WDN without mechanical stress on the pipe components during the operation of sectorization.

This article attempts to highlight the need to rethink, more intelligently in Morocco, how to manage mobility, a major pillar of economic competitiveness and social well-being, by first initiating a broad reflection on the very needs of displacement, using as much as possible digital collaboration, e-learning and distance training and then the massive use of Intelligent Transport Systems in order to ensure optimal exploitation of the existing infrastructure before to launch cumbersome investment for irreversible infrastructure projects. Our analysis has shown that with the comprehensive diagnoses made and the clear and consistent strategies that have been adopted in Morocco, there is only a tiny link missing to put digital and new technologies to the benefit of human and sustainable development. Indeed, it only takes a national and unified mobilization to move from the stage of digital emergence, to the transition and then to the transformational phase. A digital ecosystem is emerging, bringing innovative solutions through artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and augmented reality, which need to be deployed to measure their reach and their limits and try to evolve them to meet increasingly diverse and constraining collaboration and learning needs.

In arid and humid contexts, dams’ reservoirs play a crucial role in water regulation and flood control. Under the projected climate change (CC) effects, even a preoptimized management approach (MA) of a reservoir needs to be assessed in this projected climate. This chapter aims to assess the impacts of CC on the Hydroclimatic (HC) variables of the basin upstream the reservoir of Bin El Ouidane (Morocco), and the effects on the performances of its preoptimized MA. The applied Top-Down assessment procedure included CORDEX climate projections, hydrological, siltation, evaporation, and management models. Concerning the HC variables, the results obtained concord with those reported in the literature in terms of trend, but not always in terms of intensity of change. On the other hand, the projections expected a decrease in the performances of the reservoir, except for criterion allocations’ standard deviation, calibrated during the optimization. Also, interesting conclusions have been found like: the change in precipitation dominant form, the accentuation of the pluvial hydrological regime, the advanced snow melting due to the temperature increase. This chapter presents a typical case study on how to use climate projections for reservoir MA adaptation, without being highly and negatively influenced by the climate model uncertainties.

Information on extreme rainfall frequencies is required for Urban Drainage (UD) networks design. In this paper, the Regional Frequency Analysis (RFA), based on the L-moments, is used to: (i) analyze the trend of Annual Maximum Precipitation (AMP) over two analysis periods (1970–1989 and 1990–2015), (ii) estimate the regional Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) curves of northern Morocco and (iii) assess the impact of the changes in rainfall intensities on the UD networks design during analysis periods.In reference to Hosking & Wallis (1997) and Alila, (1999), the Generalized Extreme Value (GEV) distribution has been used as a regional distribution to estimate regional quantiles for the analysis periods (1970–1999 and 1990–2015). The results show an increase up to 9% for quantiles used in UD networks design. Keywords: Regional frequency analysis, Extremes precipitations, L-moments, GEV distribution, Urban drainage

The availability, accessibility and quality of data are significant obstacles to hydrological modelling. Estimating the initial values of the hydrological model´’ ’s parameters is a laborious and determining task requiring much attention. Geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial remote sensing are prometting tools for processing and collecting data. In this work, we use an innovative approach to estimate the HEC-HMS hydrological model parameters from the soil map of Africa (250m), the land use map GLC30, the depth to bedrock map, the digital elevation model and observed flow data. The estimation approach is applied to the Ouergha basin (Sebou, Morocco). The proposed approach’s interest is to feed the HEC-HMS hydrological model with initial values of parameters close to the study area reality instead of using random parameters.

In a fragile and unpredictable economic and health context, Climate Change (CC) is emerging as an eminent issue for businesses in Morocco. This planetary scourge is a double-edged issue. It exacerbates the vulnerability of these companies by affecting the supply of raw materials, energy, and water. It can also be an opportunity for companies that opt for innovative mitigation and adaptation solutions to address CC. Today, the tools and approaches for monitoring greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are relatively standardized and known. However, the methods used to characterize vulnerability and develop adaptation strategies remain limited and little known. To this end, the Climate Expert tool (CE)† has been tested on a panel of Moroccan companies to enable them to characterize their vulnerability to CC and to develop relevant adaptation strategies. A global and detailed analysis was carried out on the evaluation reports, the results of a targeted survey, and completed by a SWOT‡ analysis on the consistency and use of the CE tool. Three groups of interlocutors were involved in this analysis: CE experts, economic operators, and state and project officials. To better plan adaptation measures, this analysis emphasizes the need to move the approach proposed by CE towards an integrated, standardized design. In addition, the implementation of adaptation requires, in particular the setting up of support and advisory instruments and entities in charge of steering adaptation actions within companies. The next stage of this work will be devoted to improving and adapting the CE tool to meet the needs of concrete actions in such companies to deal with CC.

The negligence of the cumulative deposit volume over years may lead to uselessness of a pre-established and efficient reservoir management method. In this objective, this paper tries to introduce a simple approach to forecast annually the volume lost from the reservoir capacity. The suggested approach employs the modified universal soil loss equation (MUSLE) and the Dendy and Bolton (J Soil Water Conserv 31:264–266, 1976) methods, in addition to the sediment consolidation process. This process permits to follow the evolution of sediment deposit volume throughout the years. For application, we selected the reservoir of Bin El Ouidane (Morocco), for which we have tried to fit a linear regression between sediment yield and observed settling volumes. The optimization process was assured by the algorithm genetic and the OptQuest methods. The results show a high significant (R2 = 0.9513, RMSE = 8.5428, and p value = 0.0009) linear regression between cumulative sediment yield volume and accumulated measured lost volume from the reservoir of Bin El Ouidane. The use of a linear relation is justified by the fact that all nonlinear regressions in long term are composed of multiple linear regressions in short term. Nevertheless, this method can become more efficient, and confirmed for real forecasting applications by performing modifications essentially related to in situ measures of different variables. Finally, and considering its simplicity regarding input data and application, the proposed approach converges to efficient results. Therefore, and after validation in other reservoirs, this method can be used to forecast annual reservoir settling at short term.

Due to their importance in water resource management, the hydrological models have been widely applied in different contexts and various circumstances. Common sensitivity analysis studies aim to determine the most influencing parameters, in order to focus on them during calibration. The main objective of this research is to investigate the sensitivity of the Hydrologic Modelling System (HMS) model to four others modelling characteristics: modelling formalisms, percent of impervious, parameters initial values and periods of simulation. The model is applied to the basin of Bin El Ouidane (Morocco), and the results show a substantial variation of calibration and validation efficiency depending on the four characteristics mentioned. In addition, we confirmed the applicability of the African soil grids map on estimating hydrological parameters of the loss methods, and we proposed an approach to determine the optimal percent of impervious for a basin required by the five HMS loss methods. This paper’s results represent guidelines for any further HMS hydrological modelling, in contexts where data availability issues persist and prevent the development of water resources field.

L'urbanisation entraine des modifications importantes du cycle hydrologique naturel par l'augmentation des surfaces impermeables et par la creation de reseaux de drainage pour permettre l'evacuation et/ou le stockage des eaux de pluie. La conception des reseaux de drainage urbain repose generalement sur l'analyse des historiques de pluies disponibles. Le point commun entre les methodes de conception d`un reseau de drainage urbain est le recours a des modeles Pluie-Debit pour tenter de decrire le comportement d'un bassin versant urbain vis-a-vis de la " grandeur pluie " etant la base du cycle hydrique dans la ville [Mailhot et al. , 2005]. Or, dans un contexte de Changement Climatique (CC), la variation de l'intensite et de la frequence des precipitations constitue une incertitude majeure qui conditionne la fiabilite et les limites des resultats de ces modeles [Oudin, 2008]. Cet article a pour objectif de :1) Decrire et evaluer qualitativement les principales sources d'incertitudes pour un modele Pluie-Debit en milieu urbain dans un contexte de CC ;2) Analyser la fiabilite des resultats des modeles Pluie - Debit vis-a-vis de la recurrence des evenements pluvieux extremes modifiee par le CC et ses effets attendus ;3) Donner un apercu sur les pratiques classiques au niveau du dimensionnement des reseaux de drainage urbain tant au niveau national qu'au niveau de pays avances dans ce domaine ;4) Presenter des approches nouvelles et innovantes; testees dans certains pays developpes; en vue d'une amelioration des methodes de conception classique des reseaux de drainage urbain, pour tenir compte du nouveau contexte climatique attendu pour les prochaines decennies.

The fifth report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reiterates that the Maghreb region is severely threatened by climate change and seems to be one of the most vulnerable regions in the world regarding its water resources responses to the changing climate conditions. The effects of climate change could significantly increase the relevance of water development policies, given that economic growth of the majority of Maghreb countries is closely related to water resources and contributes strongly to the socioeconomic balance and gross domestic product. In the Maghreb region, the need to mainstream climate change into development plans is already recognized and highlighted; the new constitutions have already adopted the sustainable development concept, which opens opportunities for improvement and protection of natural resources. Over the last decades, countries have tried to overcome water stress and scarcity by improving water policy and strategy, infrastructure development, economy of water use, wastewater, and desalinization, among others. However, the great challenge within the Maghreb region is mainstreaming climate change issues into development planning in the contextual framework of the water–energy–food security nexus, whose components are strongly interdependent. The aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of climate change on the water sector in the Maghreb region (Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia) by means of a SWOT analysis (SWOT standing for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) and to make recommendations on how to improve climate change mainstreaming into water development plans within the region.