Solar water systems built by Concern preventing spread of cholera in South Sudan amid deadly outbreak

Over 465 people have died from the water-borne disease since an outbreak was declared in October in the East African nation.  

The outbreak began in a town near the border with neighbouring Sudan, which is dealing with its own cholera epidemic during an ongoing conflict. 

Access to clean drinking water is critical to help prevent the spread of cholera, which up until the end of November last year infected close to 734,000 people globally, causing 5,162 deaths. 

In South Sudan, Concern used UNICEF funding to build two new water systems in Rubkona County. The water systems include wells, solar powered pumps with back-up batteries, elevated towers with water storage containers, taps and drainage.  

They also fixed four other water pump stations that are providing clean water to almost 32,000 people.  

Many of those people were previously collecting water in stagnant, brown-coloured pools that made them very sick, according to local community leader Nyagai Mut Bilroal. 

“Life was very difficult because everyone was getting dirty water, but because of this new water system our lives have improved,” said Nyagai, who is one of over a million people who arrived from Sudan due to conflict that began there in April 2023. 

“We can now manage domestic activities and we have water for drinking. If this facility was not here we would have had to migrate from the area.” 

Nyagai said they still face many challenges, which include the need for more food to prevent malnutrition. 

Concern’s programme manager who oversaw the water system’s construction, Khurshid Wisal, said the borehole was drilled 115 metres (377 feet) underground to reach the water source.  

He said they worked closely with the authorities to ensure the site of the well was not contaminated by the hydrocarbons in this oil rich area and to conduct continuous water quality testing. They hope to get more funding from donors to build more water systems and further prevent the spread of waterborne diseases.  

“Without safe water it is not possible to control outbreaks and to ensure the good health and nutrition of people,” Wisal said. 

Concern has been operating in South Sudan since the nation was formed 13 years ago and has responded to its many humanitarian needs that followed a long history of conflict and displacement in the area.  Concern has also been supporting some of the 1.4 million people affected by flooding in the country last year due to heavy rains. 

In November, the alarm was raised by the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the World Health Organisation and UNICEF over the worsening hunger, malnutrition, and disease outbreaks in the world’s youngest nation. The WFP warned that the food situation in South Sudan has reached critical levels, with more than half of the population already facing crisis-level hunger. 

For more information or interview requests, please contact Nicole Bayes-Fleming at [email protected]