Assessing the impact of land cover changes on water balance components of White Volta Basin in West Africa

Awotwi, Alfred, Yeboah, Francis and Kumi, Michael 2015. Assessing the impact of land cover changes on water balance components of White Volta Basin in West Africa. Water and Environment Journal 29 (2) , pp. 259-267. 10.1111/wej.12100

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Abstract

Land use and land cover (LULC) have been and still changing, through human activities, creating variability in hydrological cycle. This paper investigates the hydrological impacts of LULC changes on water balance in the White Volta Basin located in the West of Africa using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). Two LULC data for 1990 and 2006 and two plausible scenarios of land use change were evaluated. Results show a link between land cover and the hydrologic response with a decrease in land cover corresponding to decrease in surface water and base flow and increase evapotranspiration (ET). The results indicated that different LULC contributed to various effects in annual water yield and ET. The results also indicate the capability of the SWAT model to be used in the West African subregion even though there are data limitations associated with the model in West Africa. Overall, the model results support the existing efforts of Volta Basin water resource managers to protect the area along the Volta river against farming and indicate that additional emphasis should be placed on improving land management practices.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Earth and Environmental Sciences
Publisher:	Wiley
ISSN:	1747-6585
Last Modified:	20 Dec 2021 14:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/145078

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