THE NAAM RIVER DREDGING AND ITS IMPACT ON WATER SECURITY IN SOUTH SUDAN
Abstract
Purpose of the study: The study examined the impact of the Naam River dredging project on water security in South Sudan, with particular attention to hydrological, ecological, livelihood, and governance dimensions within the Sudd wetland system.
Statement of the problem: Although dredging has been promoted as a response to recurrent flooding in Unity State, its site-specific effects remain uncertain. The project has also been repeatedly authorized, suspended, and resumed without a comprehensive peer-reviewed assessment of its implications for the Naam River and the wider Sudd system.
Research methodology: The study adopted a pragmatic, convergent mixed-methods case-study design. The empirical phase combined household surveys, key-informant interviews, focus-group discussions, remote-sensing-based hydrological analysis, water-quality and sediment sampling, and documentary review across communities along dredged and undredged reaches of the Naam River.
Results of the study: The literature synthesis indicates that unmanaged dredging is commonly associated with increased turbidity, altered channel morphology and flow regimes, aquatic habitat loss, and disruption of wetland sediment and carbon dynamics. However, the Sudd's distinctive low-gradient hydrology and limited gauging record make direct transfer of international findings inappropriate without local validation. The policy chronology further reveals recurrent project authorization and suspension in the absence of the impact evidence repeatedly called for by public authorities and academic actors.
Conclusion and recommendation: A rigorous environmental and social impact assessment should precede further large-scale dredging. River management should be integrated with basin-scale flood planning, sustained hydrological and ecological monitoring, and participatory governance so that short-term flood relief does not create longer-term water insecurity.
Keywords: Naam River, dredging, water security, Sudd wetland, South Sudan, Nile Basin
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