Event: August 25–29, 2025
Partner: (ICLEI Africa Local Governments for Sustainability) – Ibn Tofail University –(GIZ – Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) – Ministry of the Interior,Kingdom of Morocco
We often think of water as something that ends the moment it’s used, it runs, cleans, cools, and disappears. But water, in truth, never ends. It moves in silence through a cycle older than humanity itself, one that connects clouds to rivers, roots to air, and life to memory. Water is something we consume and analyze, yet it remains one of the few things we cannot create. Its scarcity reminds us that progress without preservation is illusion
This reflection defined the spirit of World Water Week 2024, during the session “Climate Urban Resilience through Water Circular Economy in Morocco.” The event, organized by ICLEI Africa in collaboration with GIZ and Morocco’s Ministry of the Interior, sought to open a global conversation about how water systems can be redesigned to reflect continuity instead of depletion. Its goal was not only to confront water scarcity but to reimagine water as a circular, regenerative resource, one that can be reused, renewed, and revalued within every stage of urban and industrial life.
The concept of a Circular Water Economy stands at the center of this vision. It challenges the linear “use-and-dispose” model by introducing a cycle of reuse, recovery, and regeneration. Instead of ending at the drain, water becomes an ongoing participant in life’s systems, purified, repurposed, and returned to the environment. It means reducing consumption, minimizing pollution, and restoring natural ecosystems through smarter urban planning. As presented during the session, Morocco’s circular water strategy aligns with the National Water Plan 2020–2050 and the National Circular Economy Roadmap, both of which reflect a long-term royal vision for sustainability. These frameworks promote innovation, collaboration, and policy integration, recognizing that water circularity is not only about infrastructure but about governance, education, and culture.
Among the most impactful examples presented was Ibn Tofail University (UIT), chosen as a national case study for its pioneering role in merging research, renewable energy, and community development. Representing UIT, Professor Sakina El Amrani highlighted how universities must teach not only about the problem but also produce the solution. She reminded the audience that “water is not just life, it is continuity.” At UIT, this continuity is made tangible through projects that turn research into real-world resilience.
The university’s Hybrid Water and Energy Station and its Wastewater Treatment Living Lab stand as physical embodiments of the circular economy model. Reusing more than 500 cubic meters of treated water per day, powered by solar and wind energy, the system irrigates over 60% of UIT’s green spaces, reduces carbon emissions, and transforms wastewater into a new beginning. Beyond efficiency, these projects demonstrate that science and sustainability can coexist beautifully, creating a green, healthy campus where students learn by living within the systems they study.
Behind these initiatives lies a deep scientific and institutional commitment. UIT’s Water Technology Platform and the National Thematic Institute for Scientific Research on Water (INRS-Eau) drive forward national research in membrane filtration, hydrological modeling, and renewable-energy coupling. These centers serve as Morocco’s innovation engines for water reuse, treatment, and management, ensuring that each drop of water contributes not only to today’s needs but to tomorrow’s stability.
The impact of UIT’s work extends beyond the university walls. Through the Sidi Taïbi Hybrid Water and Energy Station, over 4,000 rural students now receive 12 cubic meters of clean drinking water daily, replacing polluted wells with renewable-powered purity. This initiative doesn’t just provide water; it restores dignity, health, and opportunity. By transforming local challenges into replicable models, UIT helps shape Morocco’s path toward equitable and climate-resilient communities.
The Water Circular Economy presented during the session thus emerged not merely as a policy or technical model but as a philosophy of regeneration, where waste becomes a resource, and every end is another beginning. It embodies Morocco’s determination to face its water crisis with intelligence and solidarity, blending innovation with deep respect for nature’s cycles.
In a time when the world debates scarcity, Ibn Tofail University teaches renewal. Its vision proves that universities are not only places of learning but laboratories of transformation, spaces where the future is not discussed but built. Through research, collaboration, and human conviction, UIT reminds us that water, like knowledge, must never end where it is used.