Khenifra is located in the middle of the Atlas in Morocco, and in which, water from the “Oum Er-Rbia” River (Oued Oum Er-Rbia (OER)), is mobilized for producing potable water for the city and the entire region. Since the commissioning of this plant, several problems were encountered at the Reverse Osmosis unit related to the fouling of the membrane, which triggers a stop of the production, and frequent chemical cleaning \"CIP\" applied. Several investigations are performed to solve the problem and to improve the production system. In order to determine the causes of the membrane dysfunction, and in addition to the physical investigations of the pre-treatment and treatment units carried out, an analysis of the fouling layer of the reverse osmosis membranes was carried out by various techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results show that the soiling layer consists mainly of mineral materials: Al2O3, Ba(SO4)2, Ca(SO4), and CaCO3. This paper describes the membrane autopsy results to explain the reduction of RO performance and the improvement of pretreatment applied to improve the Reverse Osmosis unit by reducing the fouling.

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