Assessment of Climate and Land Use Changes: Impacts on Groundwater Resources in the Souss-Massa River Basin

This work investigates the current climate situation in Souss-Massa river basin (southwestern Morocco) and the impacts of climate change and land use on groundwater resources in Morocco. The annual rainfall amount ranges from 100 mm in the plains to 600 mm in the High Atlas Mountains. However, climate data indicate an overall decrease of precipitation during the three last decades, coupled with an increase of temperature. This recent climate situation, faced with growing population and increasing water demands, results in depletion of surface and subsurface water resources. Indeed, recurrent droughts and decreasing recharge of aquifers affect groundwater levels. Moreover, the overexploitation of groundwater resources explains the witnessed water crisis in the study area, which is predicted to be particularly more affected by climate change in the future. The depletion of groundwater level induced by limited recharge and overexploitation has induced degradation of water quality in the Souss-Massa plain aquifer. The climatic change effect coupled with the pressure of human activities manifested in the intensification of agricultural activities using fertilizers highly affects the water quality with high nitrate contents.