Clean Water — High Atlas Foundation

Clean Water

Water is life. For many communities, clean water is identified as the first priority in their development strategy and impacts health, education, agriculture, and more.

Multiple Benefits

We believe that every person should have access to clean drinking water. By accessing new water sources and building water containment and delivery systems, we’re able to immediately improve infant mortality rates, increase girls’ participation in education, and expand agricultural production in areas most heavily affected by drought.

Our water projects are designed to uniquely fit each community’s needs. We collaborate with local teams to create solutions using local building practices, workers, and materials, and we transfer necessary technical skills for water-system maintenance. We are committed to innovative, sustainable action toward SDG 6.

Rebuilding Water Infrastructure

The September 8, 2023 earthquake resulted in significant damage to water infrastructure. Learn more about how you can support sustainable reconstruction.

Earthquake Recovery

Program Focus Areas

Health

When communities have access to clean water, it significantly impacts health and wellbeing. According to a 2022 report by the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene, only 62.17% of rural households in Morocco have access to safely managed drinking water; 45.86% have access to safely managed sanitation; and 64.70% have access to materials for basic hygiene.

By providing access to clean water sources for drinking, sanitation, and hygiene, we invest in prevention. Water borne illnesses are the leading cause of disease, and water infrastructure exponentially decreases infant and child mortality rates, general illness, infection rates, and other critical metrics for public health.

Agriculture and Livelihood

The Moroccan agricultural sector is the highest consumer of water resources, far exceeding household use. Ongoing drought, poor landscape management adaptation, soil degradation, and low rainfall all contribute to the increased need for well-designed irrigation in Moroccan agricultural systems, particularly in mountainous regions.

In many cases, when villages lack water infrastructure for irrigation, agricultural production decreases significantly or totally. This is a pronounced factor in urban migration, rural poverty, and land loss.

Irrigation ensures food and income security across farming households and communities. Ideally, improved irrigation systems also provide a pathway for using traditional methods of agriculture to regenerate degraded land, improve poor soils, and expand production.

Education and Women’s Health

Our adaptive management, supported by gathering and sharing data to enable group decision-making, directly enhances sustainable water use.

Access to bathrooms with running water is a significant factor in girls’ attendance in middle and high school. When bathrooms are built and hygiene options in public spaces are expanded, girls’ education rates increase in rural areas.

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Measurable Progress

Discover the benefits of our Clean Water projects.

500+

Cattle breeders (and over 10,000 camels, goats, and sheep) in the province of Boujdour and neighboring provinces benefited from the clean water project in Jrifia Commune — a partnership with Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE)

200+

students who now have access to bathrooms with running water as a result of Sami’s project initiatives in Rhamna province

10,000+

people across 26 villages and 12 schools have direct access to clean water because of projects implemented by the High Atlas Foundation

Success Stories

Our projects have benefitted people, families, and communities. Read some of their stories.

Sustainable Irrigation Promotes Tree Planting

In Rhamna, an initiative to protect groundwater through sustainable irrigation practices leads to construction of a community nursery, new tree planting projects, and support for local schools.

Water for Nomadic Communities in Boujdour

A partnership with Siemens Gamesa leads to four successful water projects for the Boujdour region, providing essential water for livestock in nomadic communities.

Water for Timchi Village

In the mountains of Morocco, water is life. Timichi village built a solution for water insecurity, allowing them to consistently irrigate crops throughout the year.

Resources

Get more in-depth information about our Clean Water program.

Article

Overcoming Severe Water Scarcity: A Moroccan Vision

The six consecutive years of drought in Morocco have been excruciating. The impact on the price of basic food items, such as meat and olive oil, has been striking.

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Article

Drinking Water

Clean drinking water is a fundamental resource in allowing a civilization’s continued function, health, and prosperity, but is often taken for granted. The U.N. considers universal access to clean water to be a basic human right (Koshland) and central to human survival.

Article

World Water Day

HAF celebrates World Water Day, a day which brings people from all over the world together to contribute to the betterment and development of societies. We are honored to have had the opportunity to distribute environmentally friendly water bottles to 180 schoolchildren in the Tisfane commune.