Pumping or disappearing: the dilemma of the reinforcement of khettaras by solar pumping in the oases of Morocco

Farmers using khettaras, which are underground galleries draining the water table and providing a collective access to groundwater, are faced with a dilemma. The khettaras are drying up under the combined effect of groundwater pumping for drinking water and irrigation of recently installed farms, and the reduced recharge of the aquifer. Since their khettaras were threatened, some collectives chose to install wells or boreholes to supply pumped water to these khettaras. This increases the discharge and saves their collective access to groundwater, while at the same time it contributes to a further drop in the water table. In this paper, we discuss this Cornelian choice of oasis communities in southern Morocco. Field observations, satellite image analysis and surveys with farmers made possible to understand the emergence of an irrigation system combining the khettara with solar pumping, to analyze its technical design, and to highlight the capacity of collectives to intervene on the management rules to adapt the technical and institutional system of the khettaras to new conditions. This article contributes to a reflection on the sustainability of access to groundwater in this pre-Saharan context.