Hydrological Profiles in the Ouaoumana River Basin in the Middle Atlas of Morocco (November 2021-May 2022)

Abstract

Today, in the context of climate change and intensive over-exploitation by humans, Morocco's water resources have become very fragile. The water resources of the oued Ouaoumana catchment area, which forms our study area and is considered a tributary of the Oum Er-Rabia catchment area, play several important roles in the area. The aim of this study is to assess these water resources using a qualitative hydrological method based on flow measurements over the period (November 2021-May 2022) at 7 measurement points in order to produce hydrological profiles. The main results obtained show that the longitudinal evolution of the flow of the Ouaoumana river is characterised by a large variation on a spatial and temporal scale, as the population uses a large quantity of water from the river for irrigation (drawing water from motor-driven pumps), this consequently leads to a reduction in surface and groundwater.