The challenges of water safety in light of the Prime Minister’s plan – led the truth – ✍️ Ibrahim Shaqlawi
The Department of Water Resources is one of the pillars of stability and sustainable development in Sudan, in particular at the post-war stage, which requires a complete restructuring of public service and infrastructure establishments, according to the promising award letter provided by the deceased Prime Minister. Kamel Idris.
Water safety is closely linked to public health, agriculture and energy and is a decisive factor in the prevention of societal conflicts and regional conflicts. However, Sudan faces renewed challenges in this sector, the most important of which are as follows: impure groundwater use, infrastructure deterioration and the reduction in rain rates due to climate change “, The United Nations Program, 2021”. This reality reveals the fragility of the water system and confirms the need for a complete national vision in which environmental development and economic dimensions are integrated.
The recent Khartoum state crisis after the bombing of electrical installations by the rapid support militia and the stop of the Al-Manara water station, revealed the low capacity to manage water crises, especially in the context of armed conflicts. Citizens have been forced to resort to dangerous sources of water, such as direct Nile or underground wells, which have contributed to the spread of epidemic diseases such as cholera “Sudanese Health Ministry, 2025”. The risks are not limited to health alone, but rather extend to the threat of social peace, in particular in Darfur and Kordofan, where the season of the season transform into homes of tension between farmers and shepherds despite the water harvesting projects “unit of implementation of the 2019” dams “.
The available data indicate that Sudan has approximately 85 billion cubic meters of renewable water resources per year, most of the Nile, in addition to an underground stock of 30 billion cubic meters, a large part of it is not a “Sudanese ministry of irrigation, 2022; UNP, 2021 ”. With the population exceeding 48 million people and a growth rate of more than 2.5% per year, the pressure on these resources increases at a disturbing rate “World Bank, 2023” and the agricultural sector alone consumes around 80% of the total water FAO “FAO, 2023”, highlighting the urgent need to improve the efficiency and governance of demand management.
It is at a time when the percentage of the population which obtains drinking water does not exceed 65% in cities, and less than 40% in rural areas “World Bank, 2023”, this reality requires an urgent effort of the authorities concerned to manage these resources in accordance with a complete national plan and policies, which allows the country to benefit and manage safely.
On the other hand, Ethiopia has recently launched a complete national water and energy policy that has been extending for twenty years, on the basis of the principles of justice, partnership with the private sector and rational governance. This step reflects a strategic change in the understanding of the state of the role of water as a sovereign resource and development “Ethiopian ministry of water and energy, 2025”. This policy has been prepared with the large participation of civil society, the private sector and government agencies, in a model that can be used, taking into account the institutional and social life of Sudan.
In Sudan, in the absence of an integrated national strategy for water, the country remains vulnerable to the exacerbation of the crisis, in particular with the expected impacts of projects in the countries of the Nile Basin, in particular the Renaissance dam, which represents a direct challenge to the flow of water. With the absence of effective regional coordination, negotiations between Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt have disrupted, the Sudanese position remains weak, in the light of the absence of a common vision on the management and exploitation of the dam and integrated it.
The current step requires the Sudanese government the need to formulate a national strategic water policy, based on a precise assessment of the position of available resources, and a deep study of the reality of supply and demand, while improving the advantages and qualification infrastructures by relevant authorities. This policy should also be combined in the programs of the Renaissance, Peace and Recovery led by the Prime Minister, in a manner which guarantees that water safety becomes a pillar of stability, by adopting integrated policies for the management of water resources in accordance with climate change. The current rainy season is an indication of these changes, because the data show that Sudan is one of the countries most affected by the climate, “the meteorological authority”.
According to what we see in the face of truth, water safety in Sudan cannot be separated from the government project, nor from the social and regional peace system. If water policies are not built on an integrated strategy that impatiently awaits the challenges and advantages of neighboring experiences, the country will remain hostage to repeated crises that undermine development efforts and restore crises. Water today is no longer a resource, but rather a basic door to stability, reconstruction and development.
You are fine and well.
Tuesday June 3, 2025 ad shglawi55@gmail.com
