Expert Urges Basic Engineering for Somaliland Water

On 29 March 2017, Global Construction Review reported a warning from Adan Iman, a management consultant at the Los Angeles City public works department and writer on Somaliland. Iman urged the unrecognised state to carry out basic civil engineering to save its underground water reserves, according to the article by David Rogers.

Iman told the publication that Somaliland has no permanent rivers or lakes and relies largely on herding sheep, camels and cattle for export to the Gulf states. Its government declared a state of drought in August 2015 after two failed rainy seasons. The population was put at 3.5 million. Global Construction Review reported that Somaliland, along with Yemen, South Sudan and areas of northern Kenya and Nigeria, was experiencing famine brought by a prolonged drought.

Iman argued that because the government has an annual budget of $250m, it should allocate some of it to water. He said British-era surveys identified where water is located, but the government's response was to "drill, drill, drill", leading to depletion of the water table. He noted that people moving into urban centres and building homes with septic tanks had increased per capita consumption. "When I was growing up in the 1960s you could reach water right away; now it's going deeper and deeper," he said.

The article describes two techniques Iman proposed. Spreading grounds are relatively inexpensive in civil engineering terms: basins with porous subsoil connected to an aquifer, filled by storm drains. The City of Los Angeles has 27 of them. Recharge dams similarly prevent storm run-off from flowing past an aquifer's recharge zone. Iman said if the international community sees Somaliland helping itself, it will get assistance to build dams and spreading grounds. He argued the water department budget could be raised to third after defence and education.

Global Construction Review also reported that Somaliland spends half its revenue on security due to chronic instability in its surroundings, and that all international aid is given to the government of Somalia, leaving Somaliland with minimal support. An unidentified commenter, claiming to be an engineer for Somaliland's Ministry of Public Works, Housing and Land, wrote that he had participated in assessments with UN-HABITAT, World Bank and UN-ILO, but never received feedback reporting and had not seen government leaders raise the issue. The comment cannot be verified.

The report does not establish what happened after 29 March 2017. It gives no evidence that Iman's proposals were adopted, that funds were allocated, or that dams or spreading grounds were built. A further-reading link mentioned DP World investing $440m in a Somaliland port, but no details were provided, and that investment should not be treated as verified or current based on the headline alone.