Sudan Between Two Dams: The Technical Water Resources Authority – The Constant in Sudan’s Water Equation Amid Changing State Structures (Part 3 of 3)

Dr Ammar Abkar Abdalla
Specialist in Water Resources, Integrated Water Resources Management, and Transboundary Water Cooperation
While public attention in Sudan is focused on Nile water levels, the operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), and storage levels in Sudanese reservoirs, a more fundamental question remains largely absent from public debate: Which institution collects the data, analyses it, links climate forecasts with the day-to-day operation of dams, and translates regional agreements into national measures that support decision-making?
The answer leads us to the Technical Water Resources Authority—the institution that has, for decades, served as the scientific repository and institutional memory of the Sudanese state in the management of water resources, despite successive governments, changing administrative structures, and repeated ministerial reorganisations.
Today, following the operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and amid accelerating climate change, the role of this institution is no longer an administrative luxury. Rather, it has become one of the principal pillars of Sudan’s national water security. Sudan occupies a unique geographical position between the two largest hydraulic structures in the Eastern Nile Basin: the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam to the south and Egypt’s High Aswan Dam to the north. In such a strategically sensitive location, water management can no longer rely solely on operational experience; it must be underpinned by an integrated system of monitoring, analysis, forecasting, and regional coordination. This makes the existence of a stable technical institution not merely desirable, but a national necessity.
A State Institution, Not Merely a Department Within a Ministry
Over the decades, Sudan has witnessed successive governments and repeated changes to the structure of the state. At times, there has been an independent Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources—or simply a Ministry of Water Resources—while at other times these responsibilities have been merged with electricity, agriculture, or other sectors. Regardless of these administrative changes, water resource management has consistently required an institution capable of preserving the state’s technical knowledge and ensuring continuity of policy, irrespective of political or bureaucratic restructuring.
It was from this recognition that the Technical Water Resources Authority emerged as Sudan’s national centre of expertise in hydrological studies, planning, information management, regional cooperation, and the provision of scientific advice to decision-makers.
This philosophy is fully consistent with the Water Resources Act of 1995, which established the National Water Resources Council under the supervision of the President of the Republic. The Council was entrusted with formulating national water policy, coordinating among relevant institutions, advising on shared water resources, and promoting scientific research, while its General Secretariat was tasked with collecting, analysing, and preparing information to support both the Council and national policymakers.
The significance of the Technical Water Resources Authority therefore lies not in its administrative affiliation but in its role as the institution that safeguards the state’s institutional memory in one of the sectors most closely linked to national security and sustainable development.
Water is not merely a sectoral resource belonging to a particular ministry. It underpins food security, energy production, agriculture, public health, environmental protection, investment, foreign relations, disaster management, and economic development. Its management therefore extends well beyond routine executive administration.
For this reason, the Sudanese state entrusted the Authority with responsibility for some of its most sensitive water-related issues, foremost among them cooperation with Nile Basin countries, the technical supervision of joint committees, monitoring regional agreements, and preparing the technical studies upon which national decisions are based.
The relationship between the Director of the Technical Authority and the responsible Minister is founded upon institutional consultation and complementarity. The Authority provides independent scientific advice, while executive and political decisions remain the responsibility of the competent authorities under the law. This arrangement ensures that national decisions are grounded in scientific evidence while remaining aligned with the state’s broader priorities.
Sudan: The Central Link in the Eastern Nile System
Sudan differs from many other countries because it does not merely manage a national river; it manages the most strategically sensitive section of the Eastern Nile system, extending from the Ethiopian Highlands through the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and Sudan’s Roseires, Sennar, Merowe, and Jebel Aulia reservoirs before reaching Egypt’s High Aswan Dam.
This geographical reality places Sudan under a dual responsibility. It is directly affected by operational decisions taken upstream, while its own operational decisions influence downstream conditions in Egypt. Consequently, technical coordination and accurate decision-making have become matters of strategic importance.
With the commissioning of GERD, it is no longer sufficient simply to monitor water levels within Sudan. The country must also monitor rainfall across the Ethiopian Highlands, dam operating plans, climate forecasts, reservoir storage, irrigation requirements, power generation, infrastructure safety, and technical obligations towards neighbouring states.
Water management has therefore evolved into a comprehensive scientific discipline integrating hydrology, engineering, meteorology, remote sensing, mathematical modelling, risk management, and water diplomacy.
At the centre of this system stands the Technical Water Resources Authority, transforming raw data into knowledge, knowledge into operational alternatives, and those alternatives into scientific recommendations that support national decision-making.
How Sudan’s Dams and Reservoirs Are Managed
Many assume that operating dams simply involves opening and closing sluice gates. In reality, modern dam management is considerably more complex.
Operations begin long before water reaches a reservoir and depend upon integrated systems incorporating hydrological monitoring networks, rainfall observations, satellite imagery, radar information, numerical weather prediction, climate forecasting, storage data, domestic water demand, irrigation requirements, electricity generation, and infrastructure safety.
These datasets are integrated into hydrological and mathematical models to generate multiple operational scenarios that help decision-makers respond to floods, droughts, and sudden variations in water inflows.
This highlights the importance of hydrological analysis, which extends far beyond reading figures. It involves assessing data quality, comparing observations with historical records, analysing long-term trends, calculating water balances, and developing operational alternatives that maximise water utilisation while maintaining infrastructure safety.
The success of any operational decision ultimately depends upon the quality of this analysis. Accurate information delivered at the appropriate time can prevent significant losses, whereas even extensive datasets become worthless if they cannot be converted into practical knowledge.
The Technical Authority: From Analysis to Negotiation and Operations
The Technical Water Resources Authority collects information from multiple sources, analyses it, links it to operational realities, and transforms it into recommendations that support decision-makers.
Its work extends far beyond receiving data. It integrates climate forecasts, satellite imagery, outputs from regional forums, bilateral agreements, and historical databases to provide a comprehensive scientific assessment of Sudan’s water situation.
Its role is equally forward-looking. Rather than simply describing present conditions, it forecasts developments over the coming days and weeks, enabling national decisions to become proactive rather than reactive.
The Authority’s responsibilities begin well before any round of international negotiations by preparing technical studies and formulating national technical positions. They continue after agreements are signed by translating them into operational measures within Sudan, including updating operating rules, improving models, preparing contingency plans, supervising implementation, and evaluating outcomes.
In this way, the Authority serves as the essential bridge between international agreements and domestic implementation, ensuring that institutional procedures are completed, commitments are monitored, and compliance is evaluated.
Updating Operating Rules: A Necessity Rather Than an Option
The operation of GERD has fundamentally altered many of Sudan’s traditional concepts of water management.
Previous operating rules are no longer sufficient to address a reality characterised by rapid change, increasing reliance on forecasting, continuous data exchange, and regional coordination.
Updating reservoir operating rules has therefore become a continuous process that must incorporate evolving hydrological conditions, climate change, technical agreements, advances in modelling, remote sensing technologies, and artificial intelligence.
Leading this process, in coordination with the relevant institutions, is one of the Technical Authority’s principal responsibilities.
The Khartoum Agreement of 2022: When a Document Becomes a Risk Management Tool
Technical cooperation between Sudan and Ethiopia reached an important milestone with the signing in Khartoum on 26 October 2022 of the document entitled:
Technical Rules and Guidelines for First Filling and Annual Operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
The agreement was the product of years of technical dialogue conducted through the Sudanese–Ethiopian Joint Technical Committee on Water Resources (ESTAC), whose activities are overseen by the Technical Water Resources Authority.
Its objective is to improve the safe operation of GERD and Roseires Dam, reduce operational risks, and strengthen mechanisms for data exchange.
Among its provisions are daily and monthly data sharing, prior notification of annual operating and refilling plans, and the establishment of both a joint technical committee and a ministerial follow-up mechanism. Together, these arrangements enable Sudan to prepare in advance for changes in water inflows.
The value of this agreement, however, lies not simply in its signature but in its effective implementation, the regular exchange of information, and the conversion of data into operational measures that strengthen national decision-making.
Sudan’s Regional Window
Technical cooperation extends well beyond Ethiopia.
Sudan also participates in the Permanent Joint Technical Commission for Nile Waters with Egypt, established under the 1959 Nile Waters Agreement, as well as the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), the Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office (ENTRO), the Eastern Nile Flood Forecasting and Early Warning System (EN-FFEWS), and the Greater Horn of Africa Climate Outlook Forum (GHACOF).
These frameworks provide Sudan with advanced information, datasets, and forecasts that improve flood and drought management, strengthen early warning systems, and enhance national technical capacity.
The Technical Water Resources Authority’s central responsibility is to integrate these diverse sources into a unified national information system so that all available data are transformed into a single scientific assessment upon which dam and reservoir operations can be based.
In this role, the Authority serves as the bridge between domestic and international institutions, between negotiation and implementation, and between scientific knowledge and public policy.
A Vision for the Future
The next stage requires transforming the Technical Water Resources Authority into a comprehensive national decision-support centre that integrates hydrological monitoring, climate forecasting, remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), mathematical modelling, and artificial intelligence to produce indicators, early warnings, and operational scenarios.
This also requires stronger institutional coordination among the Technical Authority, the General Administration of Reservoirs, the General Administration of Nile Waters, the Sudan Meteorological Authority, universities, and research institutions, alongside continued investment in national expertise and regional and international partnerships.
Conclusion
International experience has consistently demonstrated that water security is achieved not merely by constructing dams, but by building strong scientific institutions capable of managing them efficiently—transforming information into knowledge, knowledge into policy, and policy into decisions that promote development while safeguarding national interests.
If dams and reservoirs constitute the physical infrastructure of water security, then the Technical Water Resources Authority represents its institutional foundation. It safeguards institutional memory, ensures the continuity of technical expertise, and supports the effective management of Sudan’s water resources in the face of regional and climatic change.
Sudan does not lack expertise, technical capacity, or international agreements. What it requires is stronger institutional integration that enables the Technical Water Resources Authority to fulfil its mission as the state’s principal scientific and research reference in water resource management and shared river basins.
Only then can it successfully balance the demands of national development, cooperation with Ethiopia, coordination with Egypt, and Sudan’s regional obligations within the Nile Basin.
Between the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and Egypt’s High Aswan Dam, the real challenge is not simply the volume of water available, but the quality of governance, the strength of institutions, the independence of technical advice, and the state’s capacity to transform scientific knowledge into sound decisions—and challenges into opportunities—in order to safeguard Sudan’s water security for both present and future generations.

Shortlink: https://sudanhorizon.com/?p=16249