Morocco’s Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development Leila Benali said that 379 monitoring stations for the quality of water in the kingdom’s beaches, representing 88.14%, matched the microbiological quality standards.
She told a press conference in Rabat on Friday that 51 stations (11.86%) were declared non-compliant for swimming in 2022, attributing this rate to the wastewater discharges and/or high concentration of swimmers, combined with inadequate infrastructure for hygiene and climate change.
Benali read the results of the Ministry’s annual national report on monitoring the quality of bathing water and sand for 2022.
The report underlines the importance Morocco attaches to ensure its beaches live up to the international standards, as it awards the “Blue Flag” to the cleanest beaches every year.
The monitoring operations included 493 stations in 168 beaches, 125 of which are on the Atlantic Ocean front and 61 on the Mediterranean.
Regarding the quality of sand, the Ministry monitored 60 beaches on the Atlantic coast and 27 beaches on the Mediterranean coasts.
Benali said 70 to 80% of the pollution comes from land-based sources.
Plastic waste makes up 88% of the waste, followed by cigarette butts, plastic sheeting, and candy sticks that make up 55% of the pollutants.
However, she affirmed that this type of pollution does not pose any threat to the tourists’ health.
