African Journal of Water Conservation and Sustainability

African Journal of Water Conservation and Sustainability ISSN 2375-0936 Vol. 14 (3), pp. 001-018, March, 2026. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Review

Sustainable Water Harvesting and Management for Climate Resilience in Sudan

Abdeen Mustafa Omer

Energy Research Institute (ERI), UK. E-mail: [email protected].

Accepted 26 October, 2025

For the thirty-nine million who live in Sudan, environmental pollution is a major concern; therefore industry, communities, local authorities and central government, to deal with pollution issues, should adopt an integrated approach. Most polluters pay little or no attention to the control and proper management of polluting effluents. This may be due to a lack of enforceable legislation and/or the fear of spending money on the treatment of their effluent prior to discharge. Furthermore, the imposed fines are generally low and therefore do not deter potential offenders. The present problems related to water and sanitation in Sudan is many and varied, and the disparity between water supply and demand is growing with time due to the rapid population growth and aridity. The situation of the sewerage system in the cities is extremely critical, and there are no sewerage systems in the rural areas. There is an urgent need for substantial improvements and extensions to the sewerage systems treatment plants. Further development of water resources for agriculture and domestic use is one of the priorities to improve the agricultural yield of the country, and the domestic and industrial demands for water. This article discusses the overall problem and identifies possible solutions.

Key words: Sudan, water resources development, community water supply, effective water-supply management, environment.
 

African Journal of Water Conservation and Sustainability ISSN 2375-0936 Vol. 14 (3), pp. 001-011, March, 2026. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Integrating Socio-Environmental Benchmarks for Sustainable Irrigation Management

Sanjay Sitaram Phadnis¹* and Mukul Kulshrestha²

¹Research Scholar, MANIT-Bhopal, and Executive Engineer, MP, Water Resources Department, Bhopal, India.
²Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology, MANIT Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.

Accepted 13 September, 2025

It is a proven fact that the quantity and quality of available water resources have been recognized as limiting factors in development of most of the arid and semi-arid regions. The function of the conveyance and distribution systems and services should be providing sufficient water in a timely manner so that it can be used efficiently for crop production. Reliability, flexibility and efficiency are the keywords for a modernization plan. Optimal use of available surface and groundwater, in any canal command area would result in their better utilization by maximizing the benefits from the crop production and the environmentally sustainable development and management of water resources in an integrated and participatory approach. Irrigation sector is the highest water consumer; therefore it is a sector where performance assessment is necessary to ensure optimum utilization of water. The major system deficiencies are low canal carrying capacity, over utilizations of water in rabi irrigation, flooding irrigation practices, low yield per unit irrigated area, low-cost recovery in the Samrat Ashok Sagar irrigation project. This paper presents a need of benchmarking of major irrigation projects for socially and environmentally sustainable development in India based on integrated and participatory approach.

Key words: Benchmarking, participatory approach, environmentally sustainable development, water management.
 

African Journal of Water Conservation and Sustainability ISSN 2375-0936 Vol. 14 (3), pp. 001-005, March, 2026. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Assessment of Radiation Doses from Ingestion and Inhalation of Radon in Drinking Water

A. Binesh¹*, S. Mohammadi², A. A. Mowlavi³ and P. Parvaresh²

¹Department of Physics, Payam Nour University, Fariman, Iran.
²Department of Physics, Payam Nour University, Mashhad, Iran.
³Department of Physics, Sabzevar Tarbiat Moallem University, Sabzevar, Iran.

Accepted 13 September, 2025

Radon and its radioactive progenies in indoor places are recognized as the main sources of public exposure from the natural radioactive sources. The tap water used for drinking and other household uses can increase the indoor radon level. In the present research, drinking water samples were collected from various places and supplies of public water used in Mashhad city which has about 4 million population. Then radon concentration has been measured by PRASSI system three times for each sample. Results show that about 75% of water samples have radon concentration gathered than 10 Bq/L which advised EPA as a normal level. According to measurements data, the arithmetic mean of radon concentration for all samples was 16.238 ± 9.322 Bq/L. Similarly, the annual effective dose in stomach and lung per person has been evaluated in this research. According to the advice of WHO and EU Council, just 2 samples induced the total annual effective dose greater than 0.1 mSv/y.

Key words: Radon, effective dose, drinking water, PRASSI system, Mashhad city.
 

African Journal of Water Conservation and Sustainability ISSN 2375-0936 Vol. 14 (2), pp. 001-014, February, 2026. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Impact of Fertilizer Plant Effluents on the Water Quality of the Lakhya River, Bangladesh

Mohammad Hafizul Islam¹*, Md. Mafizur Rahman² and Fahmidah Ummul Ashraf³

1Public Works Department, Sub-Divisional Engineer, Bangladesh.
2Department of Civil Engineering, BUET, Bangladesh.
3Water Resources Engineering, BUET, Bangladesh.

Accepted 21 November, 2025

A study was carried out in Polash and Ghorasal Urea fertilizer factories to assess the impact of effluent on water quality of the Lakhya River. Comprehensive waste water sampling by grab sampling method and flow measurement by float velocity method were carried out for five weeks (one sample per week) at five sampling stations at Polash and Ghorasal Urea fertilizer factories during June to July, 2007. Water quality samplings by grab sampling method were also carried out for five weeks (one sample per week) at four stations in the Lakhya River at the same time and River flows on the period of October 2006 to September 2007 were collected from Institute of Water Modelling. Effluents at both the factories and water sample from selected points in the river were analysed for pH, temperature, DO, BOD5, COD, NH3-N, NH4-N, TS, TSS, and TDS during June to July, 2007 at the Environmental Engineering Laboratory of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Bangladesh. The results showed that the effluents were alkaline while the level of DO, BOD5, COD, NH3-N, NH4-N, TS, TSS, and TDS relatively high and 17425-20012 kg/day Ammonia load discharged from fertilizer factories into the Lakhya River. The upstream water was near to neutral pH (average pH, 7.66 ± 0.102) with high dissolved oxygen but low in the levels of the other parameters. The river water after the effluent receiving points was basic (average pH, 8.16 ± 0.08) and the levels of other parameters were high due to heavy pollution load especially Ammonia discharged from fertilizer factories. The results suggested that water in the river was polluted and not good for human consumption. It is therefore recommended that the disposal of improperly treated or untreated wastes should be stopped to save the river water from further deterioration.

Key words: Industrial effluents, Impact, river water, pollution, water quality.
 

African Journal of Water Conservation and Sustainability ISSN 2375-0936 Vol. 14 (2), pp. 001-009, February, 2026. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Modeling Oil Recovery Efficiency of Belt Skimmers in Dynamic Environmental Conditions

Sadek Z. Kassab

Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University Alexandria, 21544, Egypt. E-mail: [email protected].

Present address: Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering and Technology, Arab Academy for Science and Technology and Maritime Transport, Alexandria, Egypt.

Accepted 02 November, 2026

The present study is predicting, by deducing empirical correlations, the effect of varying the operating and the environmental parameters on the performance of belt skimmer. The belt linear speed, belt inclination angle and oil film thickness are the operating parameters. The current speed and the wave height are the environmental parameters. The oil recovery rate, ORR and the oil recovery efficiency, ORE, the two most important parameters displayed the performance of the belt skimmer, are predicted by empirical correlations as function of these operating and environment parameters. Sets of published experimental data in the open literature were used to obtain these empirical correlations. Five different cases are studied. In each case two equations are deduced, one for ORR and the other for ORE. These cases covered the static and dynamic belt skimmer working conditions. The empirical correlations are obtained by using the least squares method (Regression analysis). Comparisons are performed between the results obtained, for ORR and ORE, using the deduced empirical correlations and the used experimental data. Finally, general empirical correlations, cover practical operating belt skimmer ranges, are obtained and show reasonable agreement with the experimental data.

Key words: Empirical correlations, belt skimmer, performance.

African Journal of Water Conservation and Sustainability ISSN 2375-0936 Vol. 14 (1), pp. 001-011, January, 2026. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

The Challenge of Safe Drinking Water: Analyzing Domestic Well Quality in Nigeria

B. A. Adelekan

Department of Agricultural and Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering and Technology, Olabisi Onabanjo University, P. M. B. 5026, Ibogun, Ogun State, Nigeria. E-mail: [email protected]. Tel: +234-08062373443, 08023277499.

Accepted 26 November, 2025

Several African communities obtain their domestic water supplies from dug wells and this study takes Ibogun, Pakoto and Ifo communities in Ogun State, Nigeria as being typical. The objective is to assess the quality of the water supply from these dug wells, ascertain the contamination problems that may confront the consumers, and provide appropriate remedies. Twenty dug wells were randomly selected in each community. Water samples from the selected dug wells were collected during July - August 2009. The samples were checked for odour, colour and taste; and through standard methods, they were analyzed for pH, total solids, total hardness, chlorides, sulphate, nitrates, magnesium, calcium, manganese, sodium, copper, zinc, iron and lead; total viable count, total coliform count, faecal coliform count and faecal streptococci count. Most of the pH values of the samples were outside the recommended range of 6.5 – 8.5 for drinking water. Predominantly, the ionic dominance pattern observed were Na > Ca > Mg and HCO3 > Cl > SO4, indicating typical cationic characteristics and anionic characteristics of groundwater. For total solids and total hardness, guideline values were largely met. Levels of iron did not exceed the WHO guideline value of 0.2 mg/l for Fe in drinking water. Mean levels of Mn measured were far in excess of the average of 0.01 mg/l for fresh water, while in relation to the WHO guideline value of 0.4 mg/l for Mn in drinking water, the levels measured were low. Generally, the levels of nitrates, sulphate, chlorides, magnesium, manganese and iron were moderately high, but the WHO guidelines were not exceeded. The WHO guidelines for microbiological quality of water were met in several cases. Matching of non-technical and techno-social remedial measures is recommended. These include sensitization of the populace on merits of qualitative domestic hygiene and environmental protection practices such as cleaner compounds and strict enforcement of environmental protection laws.

Key words: Dug wells, water, physico-chemical analyses, microbial analyses.