Drinking water crises throughout Darfur

Obtaining drinking water in South Darfur proves to be difficult for the residents of one village, owing to the stalling of the only operating water engine in the area. Meanwhile, people in Adila locality continue to suffer from the drinking water crisis. Displaced people in North Darfur camps face the same problems.

The residents of El Tomat village, at the border of Dimso and El Radoom localities, revealed to Radio Dabanga that this water engine has stalled since mid-February. The people currently fetch water from an area named Karti Karti, about 10 km from the village.

One of the villagers appealed to the local authorities to speed up the reparation of the water engine, stressing that summer approaches.

In East Darfur's Adila locality, the drinking water crisis entered its tenth consecutive day. The water engines in the area have broken down and residents have to pay more for barrels of water. They, too, appealed to the local authorities to immediately sovle the problems with the engines. Reportedly six out of the nine water pumps are not working anymore.

Tawila sources contaminated

The UN humanitarian office (OCHA) reported in its latest weekly bulletin that an inter-agency mission to three camps for internally displaced people in Tawila locality, North Darfur, discovered a significant water supply problem. Particularly in Argo camp, besides Dali and Rwanda camps, it is difficult to obtain drinking water.

From 40 different water sources tested, 14 samples were contaminated with bacteria, according to the State Ministry of Health’s (SMoH) Environmental Health Department. Water chlorination has been recommended for all camps in Tawila locality