Drought is a complex natural phenomenon and does not have a precise definition. The frequency of this meteorological and climatic phenomenon has been intensifying in recent decades. It is the most serious natural risk for Morocco’s economy and its future given its harmful impacts. In this work, we study this phenomenon in the Tensift watershed using monthly rainfall series from three weather stations (Aghbalou, Chichaoua, Adamna), they represent the three parts of the basin (upstream, median and downstream). We use the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) calculated on several time scales. This allowed us to characterize the fluctuations of this phenomenon, which has become more pronounced during the last decades. We also present the correlation that exists between the SPI values that characterize the amount of rainfall and drought with the North Atlantic Oscillation index as an explanatory factor of this rainfall variability in the region.

In a context of climate change with a growing population, the pressure on water resources is increasing. In Morocco, water resources are scarce and poorly distributed in time and space. To face this situation, the state has established strategies and laws since the 1960s, but they have not considered the management of low-flow situations. The management of such situations is a major pillar for an integrated and sustainable management of the water resource. The present article aims at identifying the daily low-flow rates (VCNd) in a semi-arid climatic context, that of the watershed of the river Srou, first tributary of the river Oum Er Rbia in the central Middle Atlas. The data used concern the daily flows of the upstream station of the watershed (downstream Elhri) and the downstream station (Chacha N’mallah) for the 1976-2016 period. The results obtained show that the daily low-flow rates on an annual scale are very stable between the different durations. On the other hand, they show a strong variability on an interannual and spatial scale. Low flows occur throughout the watershed between July and September. Severe low-flow situations occurred in 1995 and 2008.