RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Regional and local leaders in eastern Morocco met this week with residents and civil society groups after months of protests over a water management plan set to take effect later this year.

Thousands in the town of Figuig stopped paying water bills and have taken to the streets since November to protest a municipal decision transitioning drinking water management from the town to a regional multi-service agency.

Residents worry the policy changes could jeopardize their livelihoods and, in turn, the community’s future. Carrying signs and chanting that their water is not for sale, they have suggested the plan is a pretext to privatization — a claim authorities deny.

Figuig relies entirely on a below-ground aquifer for drinking and irrigation water, the latter flowing through a traditional canal system dating back centuries. Though both come from the same source, the new policy applies only to drinking water.