Ecology: Seepage and displacement

Mohamed Ahmed Al Filabi

The word “Naz” is Arabic f9r whatever liquid that oozes, emulsifies, or flows out of the underground water, and the plural word is “Nuzooz.” The phenomenon has various impacts, causing many people to be displaced due to the destruction of homes and the flooding of crops.

In 2017, it was reported that the Merowe Dam in Sudan traps about 130 million tons of silt annually, due to storing water for electricity production. Sequestration of silt in this way increases leaking water into the ground, causing the phenomenon of seepage, which affected a number of areas in the Northern State.

Within a few years, the phenomenon destroyed dozens of homes and farms, and threatened areas rich in antiquities to extinction, such as the Dafufa area, which includes one of the ancient and most important human civilizations on earth, as well as threatening the areas of Nuri, Tanqasi, al-Qurair on the river and al-Buraiq north of the city of Dongola.

At that time, the number of victims  reached 460 families, whose homes were completely destroyed, while 780 families remained in dilapidated homes. Citizens faced a poor response in light of the increasing fear of a gradual increase in the rate of land damage.

The inhabitants of the region have no idea about the reasons that led to the exacerbation of the phenomenon, according to the Victims’ Committee, while the relevant government authorities disagreed over the causes.

Some farmers suggested that water saturation of the soil as a result of the shift of irrigation from the system of surface wells (meters) to Nile canals contributed to the increase in the phenomenon.

Geological researcher Samir Mustafa says: “A study conducted earlier concluded that the water oozing out of the silt drainage gates from the Merowe Dam Lake, which is located below the dam, descends at a very high speed due to the pressure of the lake water, which created gaps in the sandy rocks that leaked the water that found its way” to the areas northwest of the dam site.

He added, “The hard rocks in the Tembes region prevented the water from leaking, which prompted it to recede towards the surface of the earth in the Karma and Al-Buraiq regions.”

This scientific analysis confirms that the Merowe Dam was the cause of 70 percent of the phenomenon.

Drowning or dumping?

Advocates of the dam assert that, in 2018, catastrophic results were warned of the phenomenon of seepage in Omdurman, central Sudan, as homes and institutions collapsed in the neighborhoods adjacent to the Nile, and the collapse of more than 100 houses was monitored in  Beit Al-Mal area, while Abbasiya neighborhood adjacent to Khor Abu Anja came under the same threat.

The head of the scientific research committee at the ministry attributed the cause of the phenomenon to the osmotic pressure with no upper venting, due to the weakness of the drainage system.

Recently, authorities have responded to requests for studying the issue, but the matter requires more studies on the environmental impact of the dam with the involvement of stakeholders from among the inhabitants to apply transparency and credibility.

(environmental specialist)