Eastern Chad faces water shortages and deadly disputes over access

Chad's eastern city of Abeche and nearby desert areas face serious water shortages that affect daily life and contribute to violent disputes over wells and other resources. In Abeche, the country's second biggest city, local officials estimate the population at more than 500,000, and rapid growth has put pressure on limited water services. Some districts have a water distribution system, but residents said supply is irregular. Trader Issa Mahamat said taps can run dry at certain times of the day and flow returns late at night. Resident Kadidja said people in her area still buy water because they do not yet have normal access to tap water. The United Nations said less than 10 percent of Chadian households had access to safe, continuously running water in 2024.

Authorities have tried to expand supply through a project at Biteha, 35 kilometres from Abeche, where boreholes draw groundwater to supply two water towers in the city. Project manager Bakhit Diki Barkai said the population was in dire need of water and that the Biteha 2 project would increase production for households. He said the shortage had not been completely solved but was under control, and said the project aimed to reach production of 25,000 cubic metres by the end of the year. Ahmed Youssouf, a resident of Abeche's Chiteye neighbourhood, said a new water tower had improved access after years without drinking water.

The new infrastructure does not cover everyone. Some outlying neighbourhoods of Abeche and surrounding rural areas still lack access, forcing residents to fetch water themselves, sometimes far from home. Nour Saleh Haggar, secretary-general in Chad's water and energy ministry, said the country needed more investment in drinking-water and storage infrastructure, including dams and spreading weirs, to meet the needs of livestock, people and agriculture.

Water access remains unequal between urban and rural areas, and disputes over shared resources can turn deadly. President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno told a July 15 forum in N'Djamena that when water recedes or runs short, poverty advances, people and livestock suffer and conflicts multiply. The UN describes Chad, a landlocked country of 19 million people at the crossroads of north and central Africa, as one of Africa's countries most vulnerable to climate change. The source says conflicts between farmers and nomadic Arab herders over land, cattle and water have affected eastern Chad for several years. In April, a dispute over a well in Wadi Fira province led to clashes that killed 42 people. Six months earlier, a similar dispute killed 33 people in Hadjer-Lamis province. NGOs regularly warn that Chad urgently needs more investment in drinking-water production and distribution, especially in rural areas.