Sustainable water resources management, future demands and adaptation strategies in Sudan

Abstract

For the thirty-nine million, who live in Sudan, environmental pollution is amajor concern; therefore industry, communities, local authorities and centralgovernment, to deal with pollution issues, should adopt an integrated approach.Most polluters pay little or no attention to the control and proper managementof polluting effluents. This may be due to the lack of enforceable legislationand/or fear of spending money on treatment of the effluent prior to discharge.Furthermore, the imposed fines are generally low and therefore do not deterpotential offenders. The present problems that are related to water andsanitation in Sudanare many and varied, and the disparity between water supply and demand isgrowing with time due to the rapid population growth and aridity. The situationof the sewerage system in the cities is extremely critical, and there are nosewerage systems in the rural areas. There is an urgent need for substantialimprovements and extensions to the sewerage systems treatment plants. The furtherdevelopment of water resources for agriculture and domestic use is one of thepriorities to improve the agricultural yield of the country, and to meet thedomestic and industrial demands for water. This article discusses the overallproblem and identifies possible solutions.