Khattara - Waterscapes of Morocco

This piece has been updated since it first appeared to incorporate Louise Rayne's thoughts and responses to World Environment Day 2022. 

The theme of World Environment Day 2022, ‘Only One Earth’, emphasises sustainable living. In many cases, sustainable water management can be found by looking at the past. Some traditional irrigation techniques relied on careful harvesting of scarce resources without depleting them. Where those systems have been replaced by modern methods such as diesel-powered groundwater pumping, farmlands have degraded. Restoring and maintaining traditional water systems can prevent this environmental breakdown.

In Morocco, underground tunnels are used to collect groundwater and bring it to the fields. These are known as khattara in Morocco, but are known by other names including falaj, foggara, karez, and qanat elsewhere. They have been used in North Africa since at least the Roman period. Because they only use the water that is available, they can function very sustainably and in harmony with nature. The water they supply creates the delicate environments of oases, where palms provide shade for many other types of vegetation and for wildlife.

Water Hub participants are working on a research project to investigate the sustainability of traditional oasis environments in Morocco. Many oases were founded in the medieval period or even earlier and continue to function today, supported by ancient irrigation techniques. They are now threatened by climate change, causing desertification. This video shows some highlights from a field survey we conducted in 2021 in the Tafilalet oasis, where some khattara are surviving due to careful management by water user communities.