That's useful info, cheers. Last time I was there a good few years ago, there was not just Dayet Srij, but also a nice lake at the edge of the dunes just near Cafe Yasmina.
Do you know just how extensive the lack of rainfall is? Eg Draa Valley, Aousserd, reservoirs?.. At least one (Barrage el Mansour) looks much reduced and is clearly receding.
In general the whole country is in the sixth year of drought.
Dayet Srij has been dry since spring 2020, when it was only a few puddles anyway. No other lakes have any water. There was no rain this winter only odd showers. The Halfa has degraded to the point that it is no longer binding sand and therefore more free dunes are being blown around.
No meaningful rain in the Draa either. Bear in mind the river flow is controlled via a series of dams, firstly in the High Atlas and then Barrage el Mansour. They are not releasing any water downstream at the moment so the river bed is dry. It makes sense to hold water as high as possible to reduce evaporation losses. Certainly the Barrage is as low as I have ever seen it.
The reservoirs are normally recharged by snow melt. At the end of Feb the snow edge was at c3500m and very light above that. There was a snowfall in the first days of March but it was light (big dump around Ifrane in the Middle Atlas).Unless more snow falls it will be another dry year
Some towns are bringing in water restrictions with Public supplies cut off for some hours. I know Taroudant has already done so but not sure about other places
I have no information about Aousserd, but there is nothing to suggest it is any different.
From a Birding perspective, my early spring visit hit all the species likely and in respect of pure numbers, diversity was a bit better than normal even if numbers were lower
There were some oddities - cuckoo c4-6 weeks early but no bee-eaters at all.
Still worth visiting but it is a bit harder work now. Probably will only get worse in the short term
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