Integrated Future Needs and Climate Change on the River Niger Water Availability

The river Niger is the 3rd longest river in Africa, with a stream length of 4200 km, a drainage basin of 2,170,500 km super( 2) of which 1,500,000 km super( 2) is an active basin, and an average discharge of about 6000 m super( 3)/s. The natural variability of its rainfall and discharge is analyzed...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of water resource and protection 2013-09, Vol.5 (9), p.887-893
Main Author: Lienou, Gaston
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Freshwater
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Summary:The river Niger is the 3rd longest river in Africa, with a stream length of 4200 km, a drainage basin of 2,170,500 km super( 2) of which 1,500,000 km super( 2) is an active basin, and an average discharge of about 6000 m super( 3)/s. The natural variability of its rainfall and discharge is analyzed for several major sub-basins, in the context of the West African drought which has lasted for nearly 40 years, showing two paradoxes: the increase of Sahelian runoff since the beginning of the drought due to land degradation, and the steep decrease of sudanian runoff over the same period, substantiated by the long-lasting de-crease of the groundwater tables. Much information about the water resources available in the basin is collected and analysed by the NBA1, which is summarized in this paper including surface water resources, rainfall over the basin, existing and projected dams. It is very important before building these dams to take into account the past years variability of climate and river regime.
ISSN:1945-3094
1945-3108
DOI:10.4236/jwarp.2013.59090