Water is a major issue of the 21st century, both as a resource and as a risk. The use of groundwater to supply resources is rapidly increasing. It is essential to ensure its availability and quality, especially concerning agricultural pollution.
In Mediterranean basin countries, water resources are increasingly subject to demand marked by competition among different economic sectors. The agricultural sector accounts for over 85% of total water use. The current economic context drives a rapid rise in water demand from domestic, tourism, and industrial sectors. These economic sectors are crucial for regional development. While agriculture remains the primary livelihood for most populations, tourism and industry exert both negative and positive impacts.
In the southern Mediterranean region, the issue is much more complex. It is characterized by resource scarcity and recurring drought periods, which have significantly lowered hydrostatic levels in aquifers. The direct consequence is the deepening of water points and the reliance on deeper aquifers through increasingly deep drilling.
In Morocco, in recent years, the use of groundwater has intensified the traditional exploitation of resources in favorable zones (Fes-Saiss, Tadla, Melouia, Taza Corridor, Bahira, Gharb, Souss, and the southern provinces, among others).
The last drought highlighted the insufficiency of reconnaissance and the excessive use of mechanical drilling through haphazard exploratory drilling operations, which are very costly. The success rate of wells and boreholes is often below 30%. Furthermore, there is a lack of geological and hydrogeological data on aquifers. The only regions that have been studied in the last century (1960) are Tadla, Haouz, Souss, and Saiss, among others. The Doukkala-Abda region has largely been spared reconnaissance efforts due to the geological nature of its bedrock and formations, which are often unfavorable for the presence of free groundwater.
Following repeated failures in reconnaissance efforts using mechanical drilling, boreholes, and wells, the current trend in exploration is shifting to indirect methods such as geophysical, electrical, and electromagnetic techniques. Recent work carried out in the Safi region demonstrates the effectiveness of these technical methods and the geoscientific solutions most widely used internationally.
