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Hydrologie Du Continent Africain = Hydrology in Africa

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Hydrologie Du Continent Africain = Hydrology in Africa .’ _. 1 i 5 Hydrology in Africa J. Rodier Ingénieur en Chef à l’&lectricité de France, Chef du Service Hydrologique de l’Office de la Recherche Scien- tifique et Technique Outre-Mer, Coordinateur du Réseau de Correspondants de la Commission de Coopération Technique en Afrique pour l’Hydrologie . If Hydrology Introduction . 181 North African Mediterranean regions . 184 The .Sahara and adjacent regions. 186 Tropical Sahelian regions . 187 Tropical regions in the Northern Hemisphere . 189 Equatorial regions . 191 Southern tropical regions . P93 The southern desert zone . : . 194 The Republic of South Africa . 195 Conclusions . 195 Bibliography . 197 INTRODUCTION long period of somewhat irregular rainfall from September to May. The maximum precipitation is just as likely The object of this critical study is to provide a general to be recorded in November as in March. Road com- review of present knowledge concerning the hydrology munications are good, the population density is relative- of the whole .of the African continent. Little specific ly high and the standard of education is also fairly high. information is given on the hydrological characteristics All these are factors which favour the development of of individual river basins. For such information the hydrological studies, and since water supplies can be reader is referred to the works mentioned in the biblio- used for productive farming it is only normal that graphy at the end of this study. considerable financial resources should be made available Any real assessment of the state of hydrological re- for hydrological survey. Unfortunately, however, the search in the different parts of Africa can only be made frequent shifting of watercourses and the irregularity in relation to local conditions and requirements. of the flow of water make the work of interpreting Natural conditions are so varied and degrees of eco- measurements extremely difficult. There is a great deal nomic development differ so widely that comparisons of erosion, the water is often salty and underground are not always possible. The organization of a hydro- waters are frequeptly abundant. metrical network, which is relatively easy in the temperate Towards the south the climate becomes more and zones, becomes almost impossible in the zone situated more arid. The Mediterranean regions give place to the between the desert and tropical regions. Sahara desert, which extends from the Atlantic to the While the study of certain branches of hydrology may Red Sea, broken only by the Nile valley, the lower part be of very little importance in certain territories, it may of which, in Egypt, is in many ways similar to the zone well be essential in others. For example, the amount of described above. Much of the Sahara is complete desert. research done on surface run-off in the desert is negli- Rain is very rare. It may fall at any time of the year gible, since this is an exceptional phenomenon in such except in the extreme south where it occurs only during areas. On the other hand, hydrogeological studies, which the northern summer. Surface run-off is of very short are only slightly developed in the area of West Africa duration and occurs only in the more favoured zones. where the crystalline base crops out, are well advanced On the other hand, however, the sedimentary rock may in the arid or semi-arid regions of sedimentary forma- contain considerable reserves of underground water. tion. The measurement of water salinity is hardly Losses by evaporation are extremely high. The climatic necessary at the head of the Gulf of Guinea, where conditions are exacting and the sparsity of the popu- the rainfall is abundant and the water very soft, but lation and the difficult travelling conditions render obser- in East Africa the scarcity of water and the need for vations of every kind extremely difficult. irrigation make it an essential and normal activity. The region immediately south of the Sahara is known For this reason it may be as well, before going any to hydrologists as the Sahelian zone. It is a region of further, to outline the conditions under which hydro- climatic contrasts; the nine months of almost complete logical studies are carried out in the various zones. These drought from October to June are followed by a rainy conditions can be grouped under three headings : climate, season which transforms the greater part of the region, communication facilities and the local availability of where the relief is in general fairly low, into swamps. competent staff. The run-off, which is torrential, unpredictable and fre- First of all, Africa may be divided roughly into cli- quently concealed, presents the hydrologist with a number matic belts following the parallels of latitude; this is of perplexing problems. Travel during the rainy season, particularly the case north of the equator. The coastal which is when observations have to be made, can be a areas of North Africa have a Mediterranean climate, very trying experience for the hydrologist, who usually with a well-defined period of drought in summer and a prefers to wprk in the desert. 181 I I IL \ \ 30° 60° 0 30" O" - 30" 30" I I \ \ I I I Map of the main catchment areas in Africa [from D.O.S. (Misc.) 230/4] 4 Chief rivers Approximate limits of the major catchment areas 182 P Map of the main catchment areas of North and West Africa. Mean annual rainfall (mm.), 1926-50 (from Reviews of Research on Arid Zone Hydrology, Paris, Unesco, 1953) U 183 Hydrology The characteristically tropical regions, which lie south date of exploration of these regions, the very great of a line running from Dakar to Cape Guardafui, have a difficulty experienced in recruiting observers and the typical hydrographic system. These regions are traversed poor communications. by great rivers-the Senegal, Niger, Volta, Sanaga, South of the equatorial régime towards the northern Shari and the principal tributaries of the Nile-which limits of the Zambezi, the southern limits of the Congo have clearly a uniform régime: a rainy season from May Basin, Lake Nyasa and south of the Tanganyika Terri- or June to September or October, followed by a distinct tory, the tropical régime is found once again. In the dry season. In the west the annual rainfall is abundant, most northerly districts there is a rainy season from exceeding 2,000 mm. in some parts. Further east it November to April and a dry season of equal duration. decreases fairly regularly to 900 mm. in the Nile basin. Towards the south the rainy season becomes shorter. It increases again on the slopes .of the Ethiopian highlands In general the annual rainfall increases from the west and then decreases very rapidly towards the eastern coast, which is semi-arid or arid, towards the east where extremity of Africa where the climate becomes semi- the pattern of isohyets is much less simple than in the arid, and even arid on the. coast, with annual precipita- northern hemisphere. In particular, the east coast is tions of only 100 mm. fairly well watered down to the southern extremity of Despite the vast extent of this zone there is very Africa; even in the latitudes between 20 and 30 degrees, little variation in geological conditions. One often finds, the northern counterpart of which is around Rio de OFO, especially in the west, the old granite gneissic shelf and the rainfall is more than l.,OOO mm. a year. As against the pre-Cambrian metamorphic terrains or the cover of this, in the centre of southern Africa the precipitation Ordovician sandstone. In the first of these cases there is decreases from north to south, and is as little as 100 mm. no possibility of finding deep undergound reserves, and in the Kalahari desert. One then encounters the inter- in the second case very little possibility. Towards the mediary régimes similar to those in the northern tropical east, on the contrary, the terrains are much more varied region, from the Guinean régime in Katanga to the and volcanic and sedimentary zones occur with some desert régime, including the zone of hydrographie degra- substantial underground water reserves. ~ dation. In these regions as in the preceding zone the varia- In general the ordinary régime is easily traced, and tions in land relief have a great effect on precipitation. communications are not difficult except in the most In the Kalahari desert, studies of any kind are ex- easterly third of this zone, where swamps and mountains tremely difficult to carry out. On the other hand, further are often insurmountable obstacles. In many regions it eastward, in the territories from south of the Zambezi to is difficult to train competent observers. Cape Province, the degree of economic development increases as one travels south, communications are easier Typically, the equatorial régions have two dry seasons no longer an insoluble and two rainy seasons. These regions are situated along and the recrdtment of observers is problem. the south coast of West Africa, south of the Cameroon Finally the southern extremity of Africa has a Medi- Republic, in the Ogowe Basin, the greater part of the terranean climate with a full winter season in the south- Congo Basin, the extreme north of Angola, the principal east and rains distributed throughout the year in the branches of the Nile, the greater part of the Great Lakes south. In the eastern part of South Africa a gradual and the coast of Kenya and Tanganyika (except the ex- transition of the rainfall pattern is to be observed, from treme south). The rainfall pattern varies considerably. The a short regular rainy season in the north, to irregular coastlands of the Gulf of Guinea, many parts of which distribqtion throughout the whole year, with summer have an annual precipitation of more than 3,000 mm.
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