By Abdullahi Salad - Reporter
MOGADISHU, 28 September 2026 — The Horn of Africa Marine Environment & Blue Economy (HOMEBE) has warned that growing pollution in Somalia’s rivers poses a serious threat to public health, livestock and the marine environment. The warning came at a World Rivers Day event the organisation held in Mogadishu on Sunday.
HOMEBE Chairman Abdisalan Mohamed Haji said whatever is dumped into the rivers causes harm in three ways.
“First, it damages the river itself. Second, it harms the people and livestock in the surrounding communities. And third, it flows into the sea,” he said.
He said waste and pollution carried by rivers eventually reach the ocean, where they pose a threat to marine life.
The chairman said HOMEBE had carried out an assessment of Somalia’s rivers that found them to be in poor condition. According to the assessment, towns along the rivers have increasingly used them as dumping grounds for waste.
“We can see that a very great danger is coming, and no one has taken responsibility for it,” the chairman said, adding that there was no adequate system in place to protect and manage the rivers.
The event was attended by environmental experts and community members, many of them farmers who depend on the rivers and live in areas affected by pollution.
Meanwhile, Mohamed Omar, CEO of Mashar Consulting, highlighted other problems affecting Somalia’s rivers, saying years without dredging had reduced their capacity.
“Our river has not been dredged for several years, and that has caused it to shrink. It can no longer carry the water it used to,” Omar said.
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He said flooding had become increasingly frequent.
“Floods used to happen once every 10 years, then once every five years, once every two years, and then every year. Now they happen every season, in Gu’ and Deyr, and sometimes even in Xagaa,” he said.
Omar added that some flooding was caused by human activity, including deliberate breaches of riverbanks.
“There is interference that comes from us. Somalis, whether farmers or people with other activities, breach the river. They are even called man-made floods,” he said.
He also discussed why river levels fall significantly during the Jiilaal dry season, pointing to the loss of a system that previously stored excess water during rainy periods.
“There used to be a system where excess water from the rainy season was stored in the Hawaadle Reservoir and released back into the river when its level dropped. That plan no longer exists,” he said.
Omar said the project had been funded by Saudi Arabia, built by a Chinese company and cost $34 million.
“Various canals have been cut from the river without any planning, taking a lot of water from it, along with unregulated irrigation,” he concluded.
World Rivers Day is marked annually on the fourth Sunday of September. Organisers said Sunday’s gathering was the first event held in Somalia specifically to discuss the state of the country’s rivers.