Random exploitation .. threatens to harvest water ..! – The face of the truth – ✍️ Ibrahim Shaqlawi
Unfortunately, our country today suffers from complex transformations at economic, security and environmental levels, accompanied by a clear drop in the effectiveness of managing a certain number of state institutions.
This resulted in an exhausted reality which has reflected in certain aspects of policies and legislation linked to the random extraction of gold, which is represented on the side of a rapid source of income for millions of citizens exhausted by the pressure of the war and the decline in the economy, at the same time, a direct threat to the safety of the environment and the water, in particular on water harvesting projects.
Since the secession of South Sudan in 2011, Sudan has relied on gold to fill the gap on income. But the absence of strict legislation and effective control opened the door to civil extraction, which has become more than 80% of gold through more than two million workers in the Nile, North, Kordofan and Darfour states. Despite its good contribution to national income, it has transformed into a potential environmental disaster with the random use of toxic materials such as mercury and cyanide in extraction, without any environmental or geometric standard which take into account the safety of the environment and water safety.
And it is by its expansion in the areas that meet with torrents and groundwater basins, where there are water harvest projects that have been created to provide drinking water, support agriculture, grazing and stability of the population. These projects have become threatened with chemical toxins, especially during the rainy seasons, while torrents are transformed into a dangerous carrier of toxic waste.
Residents of the regions such as “Khor Kreich” in the state of the Nile have documented how torrential rains were swept towards villages and wells, to mix with drinking water and reach cattle and children, causing serious social and social effects.
It increases the severity of the question according to which part of the population – for lack of alternatives and environmental knowledge – uses the use of mining waste in the construction of barricades to deal with torrents, which led to a direct leak of toxic materials during the Nile. The floods of 2024 and 2025 revealed the size of this pollution, and its results appeared in high levels of diseases and the deterioration of agricultural land.
In the light of war since mid-April 2023, the state was absent from supervision and surveillance, while certain mining companies acted as if they were above the law, drawn by alliances with window networks within the agencies of the State. Even previous initiatives, such as the National Conference on the interest of Mercury in 2021, did not obtain concrete results from the absence of responsibility and the conflict of political will.
Water harvesting projects are a strategic pillar of stability and development in Sudan, especially in rural areas. However, leaving it vulnerable to pollution and negligence represents the abandonment of one of the country’s main roles in the protection of vital resources.
The threat of water safety, in the context of growing rarity and serious climate change, is a direct threat to political and social security. The risk of random exploitation cannot be treated as an environmental crisis, but as a battle linked to sovereignty and legitimacy. The country, which is unable to preserve the waters of its people, is undermined the foundations of its survival.
Confronting this disaster requirements adopting a understanding national vision to manage and protect water resources from pollution, is based on preparing an integrated strategy to protect harvesting and groupwater projects, modernizing the Kantorian Maps of Torrents and Linking them to mining Areas, Strict Ban DomaS for any polluted Water Basins, and Establishing A National Network to Monitor Water Quality and Changes,
With the strengthening of the role of local communities and governments in the exploitation and maintenance of projects through training and environmental education. It is also possible to establish a national fund for rural water projects, which benefit from local and international funding, and is managed transparent to support infrastructure, introduce and maintain modern technologies such as solar energy and wind energy to pump water into remote areas.
According to the face of the truth, water harvesting projects are not only development projects, but rather a strategic pillar for stability and social development. Leaving it vulnerable to pollution and chaos is a retreat from one of the most important roles in the country which he declared in the objectives of the development of the millennium for the year 2030. The threat of water safety, in the light of increasing rarity and serious climate change, is not only an environmental crisis, but rather a battle of existence linked to the legitimacy and survival of the state. Water is the first line of defense for the life of the Sudanese people, and whoever loses control on this subject loses the elements of survival.
You are fine and well.
Wednesday September 17, 2025 ad shglawi55@gmail.com
