Port Sudan families can barely afford water as shortages persist

Port Sudan, Sudan – Every day, Amina Khalafallah spends 10, 000 Sudanese pounds ($1 at the parallel market rate) on water for herself and her four children.

Key points

• After his expenses, Osman typically makes a profit of regarding 70, 000 pounds ($7) per day, split between him and his partner.
• The UNDP remarked the restored system could supply water to almost 230, 000 individuals.
• Khalafallah lives in the Deim Mayo neighbourhood of Port Sudan, in eastern Sudan, where her home is not connected to a piped water network.
• But in August 2024, heavy rainfall and flooding caused the dam to collapse, destroying villages downstream and damaging pipelines and wells.
• According to the African Development Bank (AfDB), access to safe water is one of Sudan's most urgent needs, with millions of children at risk of waterborne diseases.

Khalafallah lives in the Deim Mayo neighbourhood of Port Sudan, in eastern Sudan, where her home is not connected to a piped water network. Instead, she depends on street vendors. This person charge 1, 000 pounds ($0.10) for 18 litres.

While her husband works in another state and sends funds to assist her out when he can, khalafallah works in a cafeteria at a private institution.

Between them, the family barely scrambles enough funds to secure by, but Khalafallah notes she often has to borrow capital. It's a typical story in Sudan, where, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the country's more than three-year-long war has pushed average incomes back to levels last seen in the early 1990s.

As water costs rise and vendors become harder to find, the hotter months bring extra challenges.

"We make sure to set aside money for water in the summer before covering our other household needs, even if that means going without some essentials, " Khalafallah informed Al Jazeera.

In Port Sudan, relatively safe from the fighting that has plagued other areas of the country, the arrival of individuals displaced by the war has put further pressure on already fragile infrastructure. The AfDB has documented that the city's water supply was gathering less than 40 percent of demand.

One of the major problems Port Sudan has faced is the collapse of the Arbaat Dam. Located in the Red Sea Hills northwest of Port Sudan, it once supplied half of the coastal city's daily water needs.

Since of the collapse, entire neighbourhoods are dependent on expensive water deliveries by truck. Rising costs for water vendors.

Ahmed Osman, 30, has spent the past three years working at a water distribution station that supplies street vendors who deliver water to households.

When Sudan's war began in April 2023, Osman remarked he charged vendors 4, 000 Sudanese pounds ($0.40) to fill a donkey-drawn cart carrying at least 250 litres of water.

Since of increasing operating costs, particularly the fuel needed to transport water to his distribution station, those rates have since risen sharply, he stated.

"A water tanker carrying 50, 000 litres of water now costs 1.5 million Sudanese pounds, compared with about 450, 000 pounds before the war, " Osman informed Al Jazeera.

Osman keeps the water in storage tanks before pumping it into the vendors' carts. He charges 16, 000 pounds ($1.60) to fill a cart carrying 250 litres.

After his expenses, Osman typically makes a profit of regarding 70, 000 pounds ($7) per day, split between him and his partner. Repairs yet to end water shortages. Rehabilitation work has restored parts of the damaged water network.

As well as installing solar-powered pumps, according to the UNDP, the restoration work has included drilling or rehabilitating 15 boreholes, laying 17 kilometres (10.5 miles) of new pipelines.

Notably, the UNDP remarked the restored system could supply water to almost 230, 000 individuals.

Nevertheless, that would still not be enough to supply water to all of Port Sudan. It the UNDP estimates to now have a population of one million residents.

Other projects are therefore necessary to meet the water needs of residents – including one introduced in June by the AfDB and UNICEF. It intends to expand access to safe water for up to 750, 000 residents in the city. Water shortages threaten public health.

Emad Hafez, medical director of the emergency department at Port Sudan Teaching Hospital, informed Al Jazeera the water crisis poses serious risks to public health, increasing the risk of waterborne diseases and making it harder for families to maintain basic hygiene.

He cautioned that disruptions to water supplies can force families to rely on untreated water, increasing the risk of cholera and other diarrhoeal diseases, particularly during the rainy season and in overcrowded displacement camps.

"Water shortages can also make it harder for families to maintain adequate hygiene, increasing the risk of skin infections and other hygiene-related illnesses, " Hafez remarked. "Meanwhile, storing water in uncovered containers can create breeding sites for mosquitoes, raising the risk of vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever."

Water shortages additionally threaten healthcare services, Hafez stated, explaining that hospitals require reliable supplies for infection prevention, cleaning and patient care.

"Beyond its immediate health consequences, water insecurity can worsen food shortages and malnutrition by disrupting agricultural activities and placing additional financial pressure on already vulnerable households, " he remarked. "Children under five and pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to the effects of inadequate nutrition."

Taken together, the developments around port Sudan families can barely afford water as shortages persist point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.