Satellite images reveal the impact of the long drought on one of the country's main water sources
Morocco's second-largest reservoir that serves some of its major cities and has been central to farm irrigation is drying up, according to satellite images analysed by the BBC.Al Massira Dam, which sits around halfway between Casablanca and Marrakesh, contains just 3% of the average amount of water that was there nine years ago, figures show.
Six consecutive years of drought and climate change, which causes record temperatures that lead to more evaporation, have threatened water supplies across the North African nation and hit agriculture and the economy in general.
The appearance of the water had also changed, he added, indicating shifts in land use and the flow of the river feeding the reservoir.
The impact of the drought is not confined to the area around Al Massira - it stretches across the country.
Agriculture accounts for just under 90% of water consumption in Morocco, according to World Bank data from 2020, and farmers have been suffering.
His ewes had stillbirths because of the lack of water and food available to sheep during the drought.
In January, King Mohammed VI chaired a meeting looking at the water situation across the country where Water Minister Nizar Baraka said there had been an alarming 70% drop in rainfall between September 2023 and mid-January compared to the average.
Al Massira has been particularly badly hit by a lack of rainfall and the changing climate, according to the water ministry.
It had continued to supply water to cities such as Casablanca and Marrakesh, the country's tourist capital, but its use for irrigation by farms had been suspended since 2021, the water ministry told the BBC.The reservoir lies on the Oum Er-Rbia River, the second longest in Morocco, which has experienced a significant reduction in inflow that can be traced back to its source in the Middle Atlas mountains.
All this added together meant that the fresh water systems in Morocco were "Crossing thresholds" that records had never seen before, Dr William Fletcher, a geographer at the UK's Manchester University, said.