Volta Basin

Volta BasinOlufunke Cofie and Philippe Cecchi

CPWF-Volta

3.6.2013, Lima, Peru

Andes • Ganges • Limpopo • Mekong • Nile • Volta

Presentation Outline

• Geographic location• Challenges and opportunities in the Volta Basin• Small Reservoirs: what and why?• Planning for small reservoirs• Management of small reservoirs for multiple uses• Conclusions


CPWF Basins

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Andes – Benefit-sharing mechanismsGanges – Floods and salt in the DeltaLimpopo – Small reservoirs, rainwater and livelihoodsMekong – Dams and livelihoodsNile – Rainwater management in EthiopiaVolta – Small reservoirs, rainwater and livelihoods


Findings for the Volta Basin …

Climate change is making already variable rainfall less reliable. Farmers must have access to reliable water supplies. • Rainwater productivity can be increased by in-field water harvesting and soil

fertility improvement • Integrated strategies are needed for effective innovations• Need to improve soil water management under rainfed condition; improve

small reservoirs management, tools for water quality management, use of groundwater

• Small reservoirs, locally maintained and requiring no recurrent energy input are a sustainable supply option to improve water access and increase water related benefits for local communities


Challenges in the Volta Basin …

National specificity in history, governance, exploitation and management of SR, so difficult to make many generic statements. Large comparison will allow to

capture important generic drivers

Integrated Management of Rainwater and Small Reservoirs for Multiple Uses

Objective: “Improving rainwater and small reservoir management to contribute to poverty reduction and improved livelihoods resilience while taking account

of downstream and upstream water users including ecosystem services”


Source: McCartney & Smakhtin (2010). IWMI Blue paper.

Small Rerservoirs compliment other storage options

Small Reservoirs should be viewed in the continuum of water storage options


Small Reservoirs in West Africa …

In West Africa: Small Reservoirs are structures• located at the top of the

hydrological network • store a portion of the flow

(rainy season) for future use (dry season)

• dikes greater than 15 meters (m) high or with storage capacity up to 3 Mm3

Unit cost is about half a million Euros and often much less.

Small Reservoirs in the Volta


• Small reservoirs support adaptation to climate variability• Small but numerous and largely scattered• Allow targeting a largely scattered rural population • Represent thousands of kilometers of shoreline

Small Reservoirs … Today

1 reservoir ≈ 2500 rural people with secure water access all year long


Small Reservoirs … Future

250 million people in 2040 in the Niger and Volta Basins High population density in the context of other global changes (climate, markets, ...).

The impact unclear but will necessitate:- securing water resources available- increasing storage- intensification of agriculture


The multiple uses characteristic of small reservoirs is the main reason for successful adoption by local communities:

▪ agriculture: off-season crops, vegetable garden▪ livestock watering, fisheries, fish farming▪ domestic uses: laundry, dishes, bath,…▪ groundwater recharge of deep and shallow wells▪ gender: equity in risks and benefit sharing▪ different ecological services providing diversification and incomes

Multiple Use is indeed fundamental, in particular for the household diversification of livelihood activities

Small Reservoirs … Multiple Uses


Whether allocation of water to distributed storage is a good policy rests on excess of evaporative losses and collective impact of the reservoirs place an inequitable burden on downstream users. Our work demonstrates that …

• Evaporative losses are less than 50% of what had previously been assumed.

• Collective downstream impact of small reservoirs is minimal. For instance, in the Volta Basin, even quadrupling the number of small reservoirs would result in the consumption of less than 1% of the total available water.

• Efficiency of small reservoirs is linked to coordinated institutional arrangements for decision making and the ability of local governance to cope with managerial and organization capacities of several

stakeholders

Small Reservoirs … Lessons


Small Reservoirs … Toolkit

Tools for improved participatory decision making in planning and maintenance and stakeholders’ understanding of Small Reservoirs have been developed

• Storage and Hydrology

• Ecosystems, Water Quality & Human Health

• Water Allocation and Economics

• How science based information can be presented most effectively?

• How to make sure the opinions and ideas of the stakeholders heard?

• How to share the better options available to stakeholders?

Visit: http://www.smallreservoirs.org/full/toolkit/index.htm

http://www.smallreservoirs.org/full/toolkit/index.htm


Small reservoirs are already used in many countries, but there is still potential to increase the number, without impacting significantly the catchment hydrology. No. of small reservoirs in selected countries

Burkina Faso > 1,500Ethiopia > 100Ghana > 1,000Ivory Coast > 600Mali > 800Mauritania > 350Mozambique > 600Uganda > 500Zimbabwe > 9,000Zambia > 2,000

Small Reservoirs … Potential

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

1801-1840

1841-1911

1912-1939

1940-1956

1957-1973

1974-1987

1988-2001

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

source : Philippe Cecchi (IRD)

Number of Dams and Small Reservoirs in Burkina Faso


Small Reservoirs Governance(N > 400 SRs)

Line ministries

Donors ContractorsLocal

governmentTraditional authorities

WUA's Community Farmers Others

construction 41 6 33 8 2 2 3 2 2extension role 75 3 0 3 3 6 3 0 8

major maintenance

39 13 6 22 2 7 4 2 3

minor maintenance

4 0 0 5 5 36 42 6 2

setting management rules

4 0 0 4 22 42 21 6 2

implementing & monitoring rules

5 0 0 4 13 49 21 5 4

relation with other actors

11 1 0 9 12 42 18 3 5

conflict resolution5 0 0 8 54 20 11 1 2

environmental protection

7 0 0 4 10 35 33 9 2

exploitation & marketing 13 0 0 1 5 14 12 47 6

Source: Venot JP, Sept. 2011

Many actors with complimentary roles


• New stakeholders (agro-business) are emerging in the field, with various strategies to maximize investments in the short term

• New ‘predators’ have appeared in the landscape, particularly “mines” with high consumption of water; pollutions; social disorders; etc.

• Increased human population, associated land use and intensification of agricultural practices (nutrients, pesticides) contribute to the eutrophication of SR with serious threats on quality and productivity of SR as well as health status of dependent rural poor

Small Reservoirs … Emerging issues

Controlling consequences of intensification is a necessity


Uses and users require water (quantity and quality)Uses and users impact the resource (quantity and quality)There exist trade-off between impacts and requirements that determine the nature of available resources

Water Uses and Users

Requirements

Resources

Impacts

Key wordsIntegrated managementsLocal scale/ multi scale

So..


A necessity for management …

To document

To inform

To predict

Cross-scaling in termsof resource management and/but also in terms of

processes involved

Multiple scales of information gathering (farm household, community, watershed, country, basin)


‘‘The challenge lies not merely in reducing vulnerability [against Climate Change] but also in getting the structures in place so governments and investors can tackle adaptation in the most effective manner possible.

The good news is we can improve lives today while building the crucial infrastructure needed for tomorrow.’’

Source: ‘‘Global Warming and Adaptability’’ Wall Street Journal, 12 Dec. 2011

In Conclusion

More efforts are needed to promote the high potential of small reservoirs for dry environments by increasing their numbers and

improving their management.


Thanks for your Attentionwww.volta.waterandfood.org

http://www.volta.waterandfood.org/


Volta: Rainwater and small reservoirs Identified successes (soil-water conservation, small reservoirs, and small pumps) and failures (culture and gender-sensitivity) to extrapolation domainsBetter link crop-livestock farming with market value chains through innovation platformsResilience analysis helps evaluate common threads driving or limiting innovations (e.g. water quality in small reservoirs)

Volta Basin

Education

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