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

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

While the annual yield of the Zayandehroud River has been significantly increased as a result of water transfers in the past decade

The primary source of water in the marshlands is the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, with several major tributaries flowing from Iran towards Tigris and Hawizeh. From the head of the Upper Mesopotamian Plain to the Gulf, the rivers meander slowly.