Transboundary water management in the Jordan River basin and the Blue Nile basin has historically been difficult. While water diplomacy surrounding the Jordan River is obstructed by decades of geopolitical conflicts between the riparians and unilateral infrastructure projects, cooperation over the Blue Nile has been hampered by conflicting views on water ownership and resource utilization for most of the 20th and 21st century.

With an area of 1.8 million km², Sudan is the third-largest country in Africa. It consists generally of flat plains, with a few mountain outcrops such as Jebel Marra in the west, the Red Sea Hills in the east and the Ingessna Hills and the Nuba Mountains in the centre.

The source of the Nile is in the Nyungwe Forest in Rwanda. From there, it travels northwards for 6,718km, making it the longest river in the world

Data on surface water quality is both scarce and old. These were mainly on the White and Blue Niles . Water characteristics are subject to the source and the types of soils it runs through . The only possible sources of pollution are from agricultural residues and sugar industry, even though the self-purifying capacity of the natural systems is high

There are no official data on the total water use in Sudan by sector or region, and data collected by international institutions and United Nations’ (UN) agencies are scant

Dams are the major Water infrastructure in Sudan .There are six dams across the Nile in the Sudan. These are:

• Sennar on the Blue Nile. Built in 1925 (capacity 0.07BCM);
• Jebel Awlia on the White Nile. Built in 1937 (capacity 3.0BCM);
• Khashm al-Girba on the Atbara. Built in 1964 (capacity 0.8BCM);
• Roseires Dam on the Blue Nile. Built in 1966 (heightened in 2014, capacity 7.0BCM);
• Merowe Dam on the Nile. Built in 2009 (capacity 12.0BCM);
• The Atbara/Setit Dam C

The Ministry of Water Resources, Irrigation and Electricity is the central ministry responsible for all water issues.

The Nile River is the main shared surface water resource. The management of the Nile basin waters has historically been staggered and sectorial

Using 1990 as a baseline year, it was calculated that in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for water and sanitation by 2015, Sudan would have to attain 82% access to improved drinking water sources and 67% access to adequate sanitation.

Concerted efforts are necessary at national, state and county levels to maintain existing facilities and accelerate service delivery