Facing shortages

By 2040, Morocco is poised to face "extremely high" water stress, a dire prediction from the World Resources Institute, a nonprofit research organization.

With coasts on both the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, the northwestern African country has banked on desalination for water security.

In Beddouza, the population is relatively better off than those in remote areas farther inland.

About 200 km east, in Al-Massira, the country's second-largest dam has nearly dried up.

The dam has filled up to an alarmingly meager 0.4 percent, compared to 75 percent in 2017, according to Abdelghani Ait Bahssou, a desalination plant manager in the coastal city of Safi.