Algeria on Tuesday accused Morocco of deliberately polluting waterways feeding a major reservoir near their shared border, with Interior Minister Brahim Merad denouncing it as a “systematic attack”, state news agency APS reported.
Algerian officials who travelled to a locality in Tlemcen, near the western frontier, said contaminated waters from neighbouring Morocco were flowing into the Hammam Boughrara dam, a key water resource in the region.
Merad, who led a ministerial delegation to inspect the area, said the contamination was “not innocent and can be considered a systematic attack”, adding that Algeria would take “necessary measures”, according to APS.
Karim Arab, head of Algeria’s national environment observatory, said tests had found pollutants including nitrates, ammonia and heavy metals.
“The environmental situation at the dam is extremely worrying,” he was quoted as saying by APS.
The moroccan authorities did not react to these accusations.