January’s edition of CNN’s flagship Living Golf show, broadcast this week, featured golf development in  Morocco.

The show, filmed around the ‘Golf in North Africa – Setting the New Standards’ seminar organised by Golf Course Architecture, Toro and Thomson, Perrett & Lobb, looked at how the country is becoming a magnet for overseas, especially Middle Eastern investors developing golf properties targeting both incoming tourists and middle class Moroccans looking for housing away from hectic, overcrowded cities such as Casablanca.

Living Golf focused its attentions on the new water treatment plant in Marrakech, funded largely by golf development, the city’s first effective sewage disposal facility. Previously, Marrakech discharged around 100 million litres of untreated sewage into the natural environment, polluting watercourses, palm groves and the area’s water table. Now, that waste is being treated and will be sold on to the many golf developments springing up in the region.

GCA editor Adam Lawrence said: “The Marrakech water treatment plant is one of the most exciting stories in golf. Too often, golf is blamed for using precious water resources and damaging the natural environment. Here, we have the industry funding a major city’s attempts to improve quality of life for its citizens. It’s a true win-win. I'm proud that our event helped to bring it to public attention and grateful to the Living Golf team for giving it airtime.”

The Living Golf footage can be viewed at the CNN website, in two parts, by following the links below.

Part One

Part Two