
Current Water Use in Sudan by Sector
There are no official data on the total water use by sector or region, and data collected by international institutions and United Nations’ (UN) agencies are scant. Agriculture is the main consumer, although cultivated areas have shrunk significantly. For example, only a seventh of the area of the Gezira Scheme is currently being farmed, whereas the Blue Nile and the White Nile Schemes have been dismantled (Figure 1 and Table 1).
Nile water resources
Non-Nile
Groundwater
Figure 1: Water Sectors’ Use from Different Resources.[1]
Table 1: Water Demand Projection to 2027 (BCM).[2]
Year | Irrigation | Animals & others | Domestic Supply | Total |
2010 | 27.1 | 3.9 | 1.1 | 32.1 |
2020 | 32.6 | 5.1 | 1.9 | 39.6 |
2025 | 40.3 | 5.3 | 2.5 | 48.0 |
2027 | 42.5 | 7.3 | 2.8 | 52.6 |
Water use in Agriculture
Sudan has the second largest irrigated area in Africa, after Egypt. Irrigation is vital for Sudan’s agricultural production and economy, especially with increasing drought events and rainfall vulnerability in recent years. Irrigation consumes about 96.2% of Sudan’s total Nile share at 18.55 BCM, according to the 1959 Nile Water Agreement.[3]
Sudan has nearly 292 million feddans (122.6 million hectares) of land suitable for agriculture, almost half of the country’s total land area. Out if these lands, 29.5 million feddans (12.4 million hectares) are under rainfed agriculture. 96.1 per cent of land used for cereal cultivation across the country are included in this category. 15 million feddans (6.7 million hectares) are under semi-mechanized rainfed agriculture, constituting a belt running through the states of Kassala, Gedaref, Blue Nile, Sennar, White Nile and South Kordofan. 80 percent of these lands are cultivated with sorghum. Other crops include sesame, sunflowers, millet and cotton. Agriculture mechanization has a deteriorating impact on the environment in Sudan, such as deforestation, soil erosion and land degradation. Another 8.3 million feddans (3.5 million hectares) are under irrigation, where the main crops cultivated are millet, wheat, cotton, groundnuts, sesame, sugar cane and vegetables such as potato, onion, okra and tomato.[4] Table 2 shows Sudan’s irrigation schemes.
Table 2: The area of irrigation schemes in Sudan. [5]
Scheme | Cropped Feddans | Cropped Ha | Equipped Feddans | Equipped Ha |
Blue Nile System | 2,165,840 | 909,653 | 3,140,895 | 1,319,176 |
Abu Naama | 10,000 | 4,200 | 30,000 | 12,600 |
Pumps u/s Sennar | 135,000 | 56,700 | 180,000 | 75,600 |
Hurga and Nour-el-deen | 2,270 | 9,353 | 100,00 | 42,000 |
Genaid (Sugar) | 40,000 | 16,800 | 53,333 | 22,400 |
Seleit | 15,000 | 6,30 | 30,000 | 12,600 |
Small Private Pumps Schemes | 178,570 | 74,999 | 238,095 | 100,000 |
Waha (Blue Nile) | 22,500 | 9,450 | 30,000 | 12,600 |
Gezira - Managil | 1,400,000 | 588,000 | 2,016,000 | 846,720 |
Rahad I | 235,000 | 98,700 | 300,000 | 126,000 |
Suki Scheme | 67,500 | 28,350 | 90,000 | 37,800 |
NW Sennar Sugar | 35,000 | 14,700 | 53,466 | 22,456 |
Haddaf / Wad Al faddul | 15,000 | 6,300 | 20,000 | 8,400 |
White Nile System | 189,080 | 79,414 | 333,950 | 140,259 |
Kenana Sugar Scheme | 71,400 | 29,988 | 95,200 | 39,984 |
Kenana - mixed crop | 11,250 | 4,725 | 15,000 | 6,300 |
Asalaya (Sugar) | 35,000 | 14,700 | 43,750 | 18,375 |
White NIle Pumps | 71,430 | 30,001 | 180,000 | 75,600 |
Atbara System | 210,000 | 88,200 | 500,000 | 210,000 |
New Halfa | 180,000 | 75,600 | 462,500 | 194,250 |
New Halfa Sugar | 30,000 | 12,600 | 37,500 | 15,750 |
Main Nile System | 170,000 | 71,400 | 226,670 | 95,201 |
Merowe - Dongola | 75,000 | 31,500 | 100,000 | 42,000 |
Hasanab - Merowe | 20,000 | 8,400 | 26,670 | 11,201 |
Khartoum - Hasanab | 75,000 | 31,500 | 100,000 | 42,00 |
Total | 2,485,840 | 1,044,053 | 3,547,694 | 1,490,031 |
In recent years new irrigation schemes have been established as a result of dam development, such as the heightening of Roseires dam in 2014, the construction of Merowe dam in 2009, and the construction of the Upper Atbara and Setit Dam Complex in 2019. These dams’ ability to store water and regulate the flow of the Nile River and its tributaries will enable Sudan to utilize more water for irrigation. Table 3 shows the planned development of the irrigation schemes, which are predicted to consume Sudan’s unused Nile share.
Table 3: The area of planned development of irrigation schemes in Sudan. [6]
Scheme | Cropped Areas (F) | Developed Areas (F) | Crops |
Public Pump Schemes | 150,000 | 550,000 | Various |
Private Pump Schemes | 150,000 | 400,000 | Sugar and others |
rahad Scheme | 160,000 | 300,000 | Cotton, groundnuts, sorghum |
Es Suki Scheme | 60,000 | 90,000 | Cotton, groundnuts, sorghum |
El Guneid Scheme | 60,000 | 80,000 | Sugar, cotton, groundnuts |
New Halfa Scheme | 180,000 | 450,000 | Sugar, cotton, groundnuts |
gezira Scheme | 1,200,000 | 2,200,000 | Cotton, groundnuts, sorghum |
Kenana Sugar Scheme | 80,000 | 100,000 | Sugars |
NW Sennar Scheme | 10,000 | 17,000 | Sugar |
Abu Naama Scheme | 8,000 | 30,000 | kenaf |
Seleit and others | 15,000 | 40,000 | mainly livestock |
Water use in Domestic sector
The domestic sector consumes only 3.5% of the used water in Sudan.[7] The coverage of water services in Sudan is low, with only 60.2% of the population with access to at least basic drinking water services in 2017 [8]. The percentages are lower with sanitation as only 60% of the urban population and 24% of the rural population access safe sanitation services. In the same year, the mortality rate of unsafe water constitutes 17.1 for each 10,000.[9]
Water use in Industry
The industrial sector accounts for 0.3% of Sudan’s used water. This share has been increasing gradually and is primarily consumed in oil production, sugar manufacturing, food processing and construction.[10]
[1] Elamin, A.W.M., 2013, ‘Water Resources in Sudan’, Available at : https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275016737_Water_Resources_in_Sudan, accessed [19/8/2017].
[2] Ministry of Electricity and Dams, 2012, Dams Implementation Unit. Available at : http://www.oicvet.org/Presentations/Water_Management_Symposium/Sudan/Sudan.pdf, accessed [19/8/2017].
[3] FAO, 2015. AQUASTAT Information System on Water and Agriculture. Sudan Country Profile. Available at http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/countries_regions/SDN/index.stm
[4] United Nations Environment Programme, 2020. Sudan: First State of Environment and Outlook Report 2020. Available at https://www.unep.org/resources/report/sudan-first-state-environment-outlook-report-2020
[5] Ibid
[6] FAO, 2015. AQUASTAT Information System on Water and Agriculture. Sudan Country Profile. Available at http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/countries_regions/SDN/index.stm
[7] Central Bureau of Statistics CBS, UNICEF Sudan (2016). Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2014 of Sudan, Final Report. Khartoum, Sudan. Available at http://mics.unicef.org/files?job=W1siZiIsIjIwMTYvMDUvMTgvMjEvNTkvNTEvODg3L1N1ZGFuXzIwMTRfTUlDU19FbmdsaXNoLnBkZiJdXQ&sha=32907fc39e6e2e6e
[8] The World Bank Data. Available at https://data.worldbank.org/country/sudan
[9] Ibid
[10] FAO, 2015. AQUASTAT Information System on Water and Agriculture. Sudan Country Profile. Available at http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/countries_regions/SDN/index.stm