During the past century, large hydraulic infrastructures have been considered as the
most effective tools for increasing water supply and rationalise water management.
According to this approach, large infrastructures are seen as catalysts for territorial
development and economic progress. More recently, international surveys of results of
water supply policies and performances of large dams, show that these structures need
to be integrated in more comprehensive Integrated Water Resource Management
strategies at catchments’ scale, to promote equitable and sustainable regional
development. The aim of this communication is to present the role of large hydraulic
infrastructures within the regional development dynamics with particular attention to the
Sebou basin in Morocco, in order to assess some relevant impacts on local communities
and their ecosystems. The Sebou region is one of the most important basins in Morocco,
in the context of the national strategies and policies of management of water resources,
established by the Water Law of 1995. The development of hydraulic infrastructures in
the Sebou Basin begun in 1935, with construction of a complex of ten large dams and
nine small dams, to provide water for agriculture, domestic and industrial use, and to
generate hydropower and control floods, in line with the national water policies that,
from the 1960s onwards, looked at large dams as core infrastructures for regional
development. A critical view will be given about the coherence of this strategy with the
sustainability principles.