Urban Stormwater Drainage and Integrated Flood Protection in Casablanca

Programme Overview

Rapid urban expansion across developing municipalities creates extensive impervious surfaces, compounding urban runoff and overwhelming legacy drainage networks.⁣​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌‌‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​‌​‌​⁣ This five-day course equips municipal technical teams with practical engineering methodologies to design, upgrade, and maintain resilient stormwater systems. Delivered in Casablanca, the programme draws upon the host city's extensive coastal drainage infrastructure, deep sea outfalls, and anti-pollution schemes, giving participants direct insight into practical urban watershed management and integrated flood mitigation works executed in high-density maritime and riverine environments.

Participants engage with rigorous hydrologic and hydraulic modeling principles essential for modern drainage design. The curriculum covers everything from catchment rainfall-runoff calculations to the civil detailing of secondary channel linings and stormwater detention basins. Engineers master the integration of sustainable urban drainage systems (SuDS) with traditional conveyance channels, ensuring municipal layouts reduce peak flood volumes, mitigate erosion, and protect vulnerable settlements. Practical instruction emphasises international standards, asset longevity, and context-appropriate infrastructure choices for cities subject to severe rainfall.

Beyond structural engineering, the programme addresses critical operational sustainability, including municipal maintenance regimes, sediment removal, and donor procurement standards. Infrastructure assets often fail prematurely due to neglected maintenance and poor operational budgeting. Civil works inspectors and municipal planners learn to establish systematic asset registers, implement condition-based inspection workflows, and prepare bankable technical specifications that align with multilateral development bank frameworks, ensuring public investments withstand climate hazards and deliver dependable urban flood protection over design lifespans.

Urban centres are facing accelerated flood hazards due to high-intensity precipitation events colliding with expanding settlements and inadequate drainage networks.⁣​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌‌‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​‌​‌​⁣ This capacity-building programme supports municipal technical capability within the framework of large-scale urban improvement initiatives, including civil works supported under the Cameroon: Inclusive and Resilient Cities Development Project. Public institutions must immediately strengthen their internal engineering capabilities to design robust stormwater basins, secure reliable drainage outfalls, and establish proactive maintenance routines that protect urban livelihoods and safeguard capital infrastructure investments.

Delivered by Risalat Consultants International in Casablanca, Morocco, it combines expert-led sessions, real cases and group work, so that participants can apply what they learn in their own institution.

The Programme Strengthens Institutional Capability

• Precipitation analysis, return period determination, and intensity-duration-frequency (IDF) curves
• Delineating urban sub-catchments and assessing surface roughness and soil percolation
• Runoff computation using the Rational Method and the NRCS Curve Number approach
• Hydrologic routing through urban street networks and natural overland flow paths
• Field assessment parameters for high-risk settlement areas and informal urban zones
• Manning's open channel flow formulations and energy grade line computations
• Design and civil detailing of secondary channel linings using concrete, masonry, and gabions
• Culvert hydraulics, inlet and outlet control regimes, and anti-scour protection
• Climate and environmental risk assessment
• Adaptation and mitigation planning
• Sector strategies for energy, water and land
• Project design for climate and environmental goals

It is designed for municipal drainage and civil engineers, city sanitation and stormwater planners, civil works inspectors and site supervisors and others who want practical, current skills in climate, environment and natural resources.

The Growing Importance of Urban Stormwater Drainage and Integrated Flood Protection in Casablanca

Climate change, environmental pressure and resource management now shape national plans, budgets and investment decisions. Financiers increasingly expect climate and environmental considerations to be built into projects from the start.

Institutions that can plan for climate risks, manage natural resources well and prepare sound proposals are better placed to protect services and to access the funding available for this work.

Organisations increasingly require professionals capable of:

• Assess climate and environmental risks to their services and assets
• Design projects that meet climate and environmental goals
• Prepare proposals that financiers can approve
• Measure and report results credibly
• Work with communities and partners across sectors

Strong climate, environment and natural resources systems help organisations:

• Protect services and infrastructure from climate risks
• Access climate and environmental finance
• Meet national and international commitments
• Use natural resources sustainably

This Urban Stormwater Drainage and Integrated Flood Protection in Casablanca programme brings these elements together in a practical format, so that participants understand not only what good practice looks like but also how to introduce it in their own setting, with the people and resources they have.

Who Should Attend This Urban Stormwater Drainage and Integrated Flood Protection in Casablanca Training?

This programme is designed for:

• Municipal drainage and civil engineers
• City sanitation and stormwater planners
• Civil works inspectors and site supervisors
• Urban infrastructure project coordinators
• Public works technical directors from municipal councils
• Ministry of housing and urban development technical personnel
• River basin and flood protection authority engineers
• Donor-funded project implementation unit (PIU) technical specialists
• Environmental engineers working on urban flood resilience
• Municipal asset managers responsible for drainage maintenance
• Climate change and environment officers
• Energy, water and agriculture sector staff

The programme suits experienced professionals as well as those moving into new responsibilities. Groups that mix institutions and countries are encouraged, because participants learn a great deal from each other’s experience.

Urban Stormwater Drainage and Integrated Flood Protection in Casablanca Training Objectives

Upon successful completion of this Urban Stormwater Drainage and Integrated Flood Protection in Casablanca Training, participants will be able to:

• Calculate urban catchment runoff using the Rational Method, SCS-CN method, and practical intensity-duration-frequency curves
• Design stormwater detention and retention basins with appropriate spillways and structural control outlets
• Specify reinforced concrete and bio-engineered linings for secondary stormwater conveyance channels
• Formulate hydraulic calculations for resilient coastal and riverine stormwater outfall structures
• Integrate sustainable drainage systems such as bioswales and permeable surfaces into high-density urban streetscapes
• Develop condition-based municipal drainage cleansing regimes and asset management inspection protocols
• Prepare technical civil works specifications that meet multilateral donor environmental, health, and safety standards
• Explain the main climate and environmental challenges for their sector
• Assess climate and environmental risks to services and assets
• Plan adaptation and mitigation measures

Each objective is practised during the programme through exercises, cases or group work, so that participants leave able to do it, not only to describe it.

Programme Contents and Structure

Urban Stormwater Drainage and Integrated Flood Protection in Casablanca Training Methodology

The training is practical and engineering-led, combining interactive technical lectures with daily problem-solving workshops and design calculation exercises. Participants analyse real engineering drawings, hydrologic data sets, and municipal operational frameworks. Instruction includes a technical field study of Casablanca's stormwater infrastructure to examine large-scale interceptors, coastal outfalls, and sediment management facilities. Throughout the course, participants work in teams to apply international standards directly to design problems, culminating in a structured municipal drainage maintenance and civil works plan ready for operational deployment.

The programme combines:

• Expert-led sessions on current practice
• Regional and international case studies
• Group work and practical exercises
• Simulations and role plays where relevant
• Discussion of participants' own challenges
• Peer learning across institutions and countries
• Practical tools and templates to take back to work
• Daily reflection and action planning

Before the programme, a short pre-assessment helps the facilitators understand each participant’s role and priorities, so that examples and exercises can be adjusted to the group.⁣​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌‌‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​‌​‌​⁣ Each day ends with a short reflection in which participants note what they will apply at work.

Expected Outcomes

Upon completion of this Urban Stormwater Drainage and Integrated Flood Protection in Casablanca Training, participants will be able to:

• Produce verified catchment runoff estimates to size urban civil drainage assets accurately
• Complete structural and hydraulic designs for secondary channel linings and detention basins
• Mitigate backwater flooding and sedimentation through properly detailed outfall structures
• Apply sustainable drainage system components to reduce municipal street runoff velocities
• Implement systematic drainage cleaning and desilting schedules to prolong infrastructure life
• Draft bankable civil works tender specifications aligned with international donor guidelines
• Assess climate and environmental risks
• Plan adaptation and mitigation measures

Participants leave with a personal action plan and practical tools they can use in their institution from the first week back. Institutions that send several participants can use the programme to agree shared methods and templates across teams, which makes improvements easier to sustain.

Institutional Application of Urban Stormwater Drainage and Integrated Flood Protection in Casablanca Training

This programme supports organisations in strengthening:

• Climate and environmental planning
• Project design
• Access to finance
• Results measurement
• Stakeholder involvement

Participants return with practical tools to improve:

• Risk assessments
• Concept notes
• Results frameworks
• Monitoring systems
• Partnership arrangements

The programme is built so that learning moves from the classroom into the institution. Participants work on their own processes and documents where possible, and leave with an action plan that their managers can review and support.

Regional Relevance & Application

Europe

European institutions apply climate, environment and natural resources within detailed regulatory frameworks and reform agendas. Participants from Europe can compare their practice with colleagues from other regions and test how established methods work under different conditions.

Africa

Across Africa, ministries, agencies and project teams working in climate, environment and natural resources increasingly operate alongside donor-financed programmes that expect clear systems and evidence. The programme helps participants adapt good practice to the institutions and resources they work with.

Middle East

In the Middle East, national development strategies and diversification plans place growing demands on climate, environment and natural resources. Participants explore how to build the capability these plans need inside public bodies and companies.

Asia

Institutions across Asia combine rapid growth with ambitious modernisation programmes. Participants from Asia can share their experience of scaling systems quickly and learn from approaches used elsewhere.

Pacific

Small island and Pacific states face particular constraints of size, distance and capacity. The programme highlights practical, proportionate approaches to climate, environment and natural resources that suit smaller institutions.

Holding the programme in Casablanca, Morocco brings participants together away from their daily pressures, so they can compare how climate, environment and natural resources is handled in different settings. The same programme can also be delivered in-house for one institution, in its own country or online, with cases taken from its current work.

Host Country Profile – Morocco

Training programmes and study tours in Casablanca suit government officials, project teams and professionals focusing on international trade, maritime transport, banking and regional economic development.

Studying away from their own country gives participants time to focus, a fresh view of their own institution and the chance to build a network with colleagues from other countries.

Urban Stormwater Drainage and Integrated Flood Protection in Casablanca Training Deliverables

Participants receive support before, during and after the programme, so that preparation, learning and follow-up form one continuous experience.

Before the Programme

• Participant Pre-Assessment
• Urban Stormwater Drainage and Integrated Flood Protection in Casablanca Readiness Assessment
• Urban Stormwater Drainage and Integrated Flood Protection in Casablanca Resource Pack
• Preparatory Reading Materials
• Complimentary Visa Support & Advisory

During the Programme

• Airport Pickup & Welcome Assistance
• Accommodation with Breakfast
• Welcome Networking Dinner
• Risalat Training Kit (Bag, Bottle, Mug, T-Shirt, Cap, Passport Cover, Pens, Notebook, Magnet & Keychain)
• Comprehensive Urban Stormwater Drainage and Integrated Flood Protection in Casablanca Training Manual
• Climate Risk Screening Checklist
• Options Appraisal Template
• Concept Note Template
• Results Measurement Template
• Practical Workshops & Simulations
• Group Discussions & Peer Learning
• Daily Lunch and Refreshments
• Full Access to Training Venue Facilities
• Mini Pad / Tablet with Digital Learning Materials
• Field Visit (where applicable)
• Entertaining City Tour

After the Programme

• Certificate of Completion
• Risalat Programme Participation Recognition Award
• Post-Training Reference Materials
• Funding Readiness Checklist
• Monitoring and Reporting Template
• Post-Training Support & Follow-Up Guidance
• Programme Report

Institutions can also request a tailored in-house version of this programme, delivered at their premises or online. Request a proposal.

Common Challenges in Urban Stormwater Drainage and Integrated Flood Protection in Casablanca, And How This Training Helps

How can institutions assess climate and environmental risks to their services and assets?

The programme addresses this directly on the first day (Urban Hydrology and Catchment Analysis), where participants practise the methods involved and adapt them to their own institution, then build it into their action plan.

How can institutions design projects that meet climate and environmental goals?

The programme addresses this directly on the second day (Hydraulic Design of Open Channels and Conduits), where participants practise the methods involved and adapt them to their own institution, then build it into their action plan.

How can institutions prepare proposals that financiers can approve?

The programme addresses this directly on the third day (Stormwater Detention and Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems), where participants practise the methods involved and adapt them to their own institution, then build it into their action plan.

How can institutions measure and report results credibly?

The programme addresses this directly on the fourth day (Outfall Structures, Coastal Hydraulics, and Casablanca Site Study), where participants practise the methods involved and adapt them to their own institution, then build it into their action plan.

How can institutions work with communities and partners across sectors?

The programme addresses this directly on the fifth day (Asset Management, Maintenance, and Donor Procurement), where participants practise the methods involved and adapt them to their own institution, then build it into their action plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

When and where does the Urban Stormwater Drainage and Integrated Flood Protection in Casablanca programme take place?

It runs from 7 Jun 2027 to 11 Jun 2027, in Casablanca, Morocco. The registration deadline is shown at the top of this page.

Who should attend?

The programme is designed for municipal drainage and civil engineers, city sanitation and stormwater planners, civil works inspectors and site supervisors, urban infrastructure project coordinators, and others who want practical skills in climate, environment and natural resources.

Will I receive a certificate?

Yes. Participants who complete the programme receive a Certificate of Completion from Risalat Consultants International.

Can this programme be delivered for our institution only?

Yes. We can deliver a tailored in-house version at your premises, in another city or online, built around your own cases. Use the proposal request on this page.

Do I need prior experience in climate, environment and natural resources?

No specialist background is required beyond experience in a related role. A short pre-assessment helps the facilitators adapt the sessions to the group.

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