In brief
Water scarcity in Port Sudan, fueled by war, displacement, and infrastructure collapse, has pushed families to exhaust their salaries for basic water needs. Amina Khalafallah, a mother of four, spends approximately 300,000 Sudanese pounds per month—equal to her entire income—on water from street vendors. Despite restoration attempts, the city’s supply remains less than 40 % of demand, endangering public health.
Port Sudan’s water crisis has reached a point where families such as Amina Khalafallah’s must use every pound of their monthly salary to buy water. She spends 10,000 Sudanese pounds (about $1 at the parallel market rate) a day, totaling 300,000 pounds ($30) in a month, which is the equivalent of her entire income.
She lives in the Deim Mayo neighbourhood, where her home is not connected to a piped water network. Instead, she relies on street vendors who charge 1,000 pounds for 18 litres. Because she has no other reliable source, she often borrows money to keep her family hydrated.
"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 told Al Jazeera, highlighting the financial strain on ordinary households.
UN Development Programme data shows that Sudan’s war has dragged average incomes back to levels seen in the early 1990s, leaving many families like Khalafallah’s unable to afford basic necessities. The African Development Bank labels safe water access as the nation’s most urgent need, warning that millions of children are at risk of waterborne diseases.
Restoration work has been slow. The African Development Bank reports that Port Sudan’s water supply currently satisfies less than 40 % of demand, exacerbated by the collapsed Arbaat Dam. In August 2024, heavy rainfall caused the dam to give way, destroying downstream villages and damaging pipelines and wells.
With ongoing displacement and a fragile infrastructure that still has to be rebuilt, the city’s water scarcity remains a public health emergency that threatens to worsen if no immediate, comprehensive solutions are implemented.
