The Idriss I Dam, also known as the Idriss the First Dam, is a

gravity dam A gravity dam is a dam constructed from concrete or stone masonry and designed to hold back water by using only the weight of the material and its resistance against the foundation to oppose the horizontal pressure of water pushing against it. ...

on the

Inaouen River The Inaouen River is a watercourse in Morocco. It is tributary of the Sebou River. The river rises in the Middle Atlas mountain range. A major dam, the Idriss I, was constructed on the Inaouen River in 1973. Natural history In the upper parts of t ...

, a tributary of the

Sebou River Sebou (Berber language, Berber: Asif en Sbu, ar, سبو) is a river in northern Morocco. At its source in the Middle Atlas mountains it is known as the Guigou River (Berber: Asif n Gigu). The river is 496 kilometers long and has an average wat ...

. The dam is situated in the

Gharb Basin Al Gharbiyah ( ar, ٱلْـغَـرْبِـيَّـة 'western'), or Gharb ( 'west'), or variants may refer to: * Al Gharbia, Abu Dhabi * Western Region, Bahrain * Għarb, Gozo, Malta * Gharbia Governorate, Egypt * Gharb Al-Andalus or Al-Gharb, for ...

and is located northeast of

Fes Fez or Fes (; ar, فاس, fās; zgh, ⴼⵉⵣⴰⵣ, fizaz; french: Fès) is a city in northern inland Morocco and the capital of the Fès-Meknès administrative region. It is the second largest city in Morocco, with a population of 1.11 mi ...

Taza Taza ( ber, ⵜⴰⵣⴰ, ar, تازة) is a city in northern Morocco occupying the corridor between the Rif mountains and Middle Atlas mountains, about 120 km east of Fez and 150 km west of Al hoceima. It recorded a population of 148 ...

and

Taounate Province Taounate ( ar, تاونات) is a province in the Fès-Meknès region. It is situated in northern Morocco, north-east of Fes. It had a population of 668,232 in the 2004 Census. Largest towns *Taounate :''This article refers to the city of Taounat ...

, Morocco. The dam serves to provide irrigation for of land and its power plant generates 66 GWh of electricity annually. It is named after

Idriss I Idris (I) ibn Abd Allah ( ar, إدريس بن عبد الله, translit=Idrīs ibn ʿAbd Allāh), also known as Idris the Elder ( ar, إدريس الأكبر, translit=Idrīs al-Akbar), (d. 791) was an Arab Hasanid Sharif and the founder of the ...

It has come under criticism since it failed to deliver irrigation to the projected number of acres and it has also denied water use to historical downstream agricultural and residential users.

Environmental issues

A number of

water pollutant Water pollution (or aquatic pollution) is the contamination of Body of water, water bodies, usually as a result of human activities, so that it negatively affects its uses. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, reservoirs and gro ...

s enter the Sebou River and its tributaries, notably including

pesticide Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests. This includes herbicide, insecticide, nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, microbicide, fungicide, and lampri ...

s and fertilisers from agricultural

runoff Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to: * RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program * Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed * Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...

and untreated

sewage Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged from residenc ...

from towns along the river. In the upper parts of the watershed within the Middle Atlas is the prehistoric range of the

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians (monkeys and apes, the latter including huma ...

Barbary macaque The Barbary macaque (''Macaca sylvanus''), also known as Barbary ape, is a macaque species native to the Atlas Mountains of Algeria, Libya, Tunisia and Morocco, along with a small introduced population in Gibraltar. It is the type species of the ...

, which animal

prehistoric Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...

ally had a much larger range in North Africa.C. Michael Hogan. 2008

References

{{reflist

Bibliography

* Allan M. Findlay. 1994. ''The Arab world'' * C. Michael Hogan. 2008
''Barbary Macaque: Macaca sylvanus'', GlobalTwitcher.com
* Michele L. Thieme. 2005. ''Freshwater ecoregions of Africa and Madagascar: a conservation assessment'' 431 pages Dams completed in 1973 Energy infrastructure completed in 1978 Dams in Morocco Hydroelectric power stations in Morocco Gravity dams

Environmental issues

See also

References

Bibliography