Water shortage as Kalma camp pumps are ‘badly maintained’

Displaced people in Kalma camp, South Darfur, have complained of a severe drinking water shortage caused by deferred maintenance. Prices for water have gone up since April.

Sheikh Abdallah Abdelrahman, who is an official for the religious affairs at Kalma camp, reported to Radio Dabanga that the crisis has forced displaced people to fetch water from areas far from the camp. They need donkeys in order to reach these areas and return with tanks and buckets filled with water.

He attributed the water shortage to the depletion of wells in the camp. “There has not been any work on the solar energy system to make it more efficient, and the pipes in the hand pumps have not been replaced recently.”

As a result, the prices for water have gone up in Kalma camp because of the difficulties in obtaining it.

West Kordofan

Also in En Nahud in West Kordofan, water has become more expensive. It amounted to SDG30 ($1.06) as the town districts suffer from a severe water shortage.

A housewife in En Nahud informed Radio Dabanga that all the districts suffer from thirst as the water supply of the water network has been interrupted, with cuts lasting sometimes for more than two weeks.

“This led to a rise in the price of a barrel of water. Trees bearing fruit around the houses are drying up. I pay a monthly amount of SDG96 ($3.40) for the water bill and am not receiving any water!”

Gas shortage

Meanwhile in eastern Sudan in El Gedaref state, bakery owners have threatened to close their shops because of the shortage of gas and the doubled price of firewood.

A bakery owner told Radio Dabanga that the gas shortage started a month ago. “So we have resorted to the use of firewood.” His bakery was no the only one to start using firewood instead of gas. Now, the price of pieces of firewood has risen from SDG8* to SDG15.

“I’m threatening to stop working because of the lack of gas and the financial losses from the use of firewood.”

According to other bakery owners, only nine out of the more than 300 bakeries in El Gedaref currently operate with diesel; the rest is used to working with gas.

* Based on the indicative US Dollar rate quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan