Morocco is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on what it dubs a "water highway", tapping northern rivers to supply water to parched cities farther south. Officials say the project has been a success in heading off the immediate threat to the water supply of the country's most populous region. "It was the transfer project that saved the day, and it's thanks to this project that these 12 million Moroccans were shielded from thirst in the summer of 2023," says senior agriculture ministry official Mahjoub Lahrache. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES