Received: 15 May 2019 – Accepted for review: 02 Jul 2019 – Discussion started: 24 Jul 2019
Abstract. The hydrology of Morocco is characterized by a significant spatial variability. Precipitation follows a sharp gradient decreasing from the North to the South. In order to redistribute water, a project is proposed to transfer 860 million m3 per year from the wet north to the arid southern regions, {Water Highway}. The present study aims to address the viability of the project including the effects of climate change in the watersheds located in the North. We perform Regional Climate Model (RCMs) simulations over the study region using boundary conditions from five different global circulation models (GCMs) and following two emissions scenarios RCP4.5 (with mitigation) and RCP8.5 (business as usual). The impact on precipitation is assessed and the decrease of available water quantity is estimated. Under RCP8.5 the project is likely unfeasible. However, under the RCP4.5 a rescaled version of this project may be feasible depending on how much water is allocated to satisfy the local water demand.
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Short summary
The present work addresses the impact of climate change on the Water Highway project in Morocco. This project aims to transfer 860 million m3 per year of water from the north to the south. Being very sensitive to the availability of water in the northern regions, we evaluate its feasibility under different future climate change scenarios. Our results show that under the pessimistic climate scenario the project is not feasible however under the optimistic one a rescaled version might be.
The present work addresses the impact of climate change on the Water Highway project in Morocco....