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Tano Basin IWRM Plan

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Tano Basin IWRM Plan WATER RESOURCES COMMISSION TANO RIVER BASIN - Integrated Water Resources Management Plan October 2012 PREAMBLE Right from the establishment of the Water Resources Commission (WRC) a priority task has been to introduce the basic principles of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) at local level in selected river basins. Towards this aim, WRC is elaborating IWRM plans for priority basins, and so far five plans have been prepared, i.e. for the Densu River, the White Volta River, the Ankobra River the Dayi River and Pra River Basins during the period 2007-2012. The Tano River Basin IWRM Plan is the sixth of its kind, and this basin was chosen due to several water resources management issues especially Land degradation from deforestation, agriculture, mining and settlements leading to water quality deterioration. The Tano River Basin like all the River basins require basin-wide planning approach involving stakeholder participation, awareness raising, capacity building and training, and environmental engineering. It is believed that this approach could lead to the sustainable implementation of effective measures to improve land use practices and management of liquid and solid wastes from the mining activities as well as from the towns and communities within the basin Several activities have been invested over the past few years in creating a basin-based IWRM structure for the Tano River Basin. The decentralised IWRM structure, which has evolved through a targeted participatory and consultative process, combines the following partners: a broadly anchored stakeholder-oriented coordinating body, i.e. the Tano Basin Board, respective planning officers of the District Assemblies and WRC’s Tano Basin office in Sunyani (serving as secretariat for the Board). In parallel to the organisational arrangements, activities of a more technical nature have been ongoing, which eventually resulted in the IWRM Plan. This plan should also be viewed as an integral part of the stipulations in the WRC Act 522 of 1996 to “propose comprehensive plans for utilisation, conservation, development and improvement of water resources” in adherence with the overall National Water Policy of June 2007. Inasmuch as IWRM is a cyclic and long-term process, the document can be seen as a milestone in this process, in which the status of the water resources situation is documented – a process that should be subject to continuation and updates as the need arises in the future. I wish to express my sincere appreciation to all those who worked tirelessly to produce this plan and to the European Union for funding the development of the plan. It is WRC’s sincere hope that this plan can be a useful catalyst towards accelerating concrete water management activities in the Tano Basin, and importantly, may also serve as a source of inspiration to advance collaboration among the stakeholders, namely the riparian communities and the mining operations – who all in one way or another depend on the resources of the basin. Paul Derigubaa Chairman, Water Resources Commission Accra, October 2012 Water Resources Commission Tano Basin IWRM Plan TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................................... ii LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................. iii ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ................................................................................. iv 1.0 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 1 1.1 IWRM in an international context ................................................................................. 1 1.2 IWRM planning in the Ghanaian context ..................................................................... 1 1.3 Purpose and institutional setting of the IWRM plan ..................................................... 3 1.4 Preparation and structure of the Tano Basin IWRM plan ............................................ 5 2.0 BASELINE DESCRIPTION OF THE TANO BASIN .................................................... 7 2.1 Location and physical characteristics ............................................................................... 7 2.2 Topography and Land cover/Land use .......................................................................... 8 2.3 Socio-economic characteristics of the basin .................................................................... 9 2.3.1 Demography, Administrative setting and settlement patterns ................................... 9 2.3.2 Employment profile in the basin .......................................................................... 11 2.3.3 Tradition knowledge ............................................................................................. 13 2.4 Water Resources Potential .......................................................................................... 13 2.4.1 Climatic characteristics............................................................................................ 13 2.4.2 Surface water resources availability ..................................................................... 15 2.4.3 Groundwater occurrence ....................................................................................... 16 2.4.4 Water Resources Availability .................................................................................. 17 2.5 Water resources utilisation .......................................................................................... 17 2.5.1 Domestic water supply ......................................................................................... 17 2.5.2 Industrial/mining water use .................................................................................. 18 2.5.3 Agriculture Water use ........................................................................................... 19 2.5.4 Environmental flow considerations ...................................................................... 20 2.6 Water Quality and Pollution ........................................................................................ 20 2.6.1 Surface Water quality ........................................................................................... 20 2.6.2 Groundwater quality ............................................................................................. 21 2.7 Water Quality Index (WQI) ........................................................................................ 22 3.0 ANALYSES OF WATER AVAILABILITY AND DEMAND PROJECTIONS ......... 24 3.1 Generalities of the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) System ....................... 24 i Water Resources Commission Tano Basin IWRM Plan 3.1.1 Schematization...................................................................................................... 24 3.1.2 Prioritization of water demands ............................................................................ 25 3.2 Data input to the WEAP model ................................................................................... 25 3.2.1 Hydro-meteorological data ................................................................................... 26 3.2.2 Land cover/land use and projections .................................................................... 26 3.2.3 Demography and domestic water requirements ................................................... 26 3.2.4 Irrigation water requirements ............................................................................... 26 3.2.5 Mining water requirements ................................................................................... 27 3.2.6 Environmental flow .............................................................................................. 27 3.3 Current accounts and Reference scenario years .......................................................... 27 3.4 Climate change scenarios ............................................................................................ 27 3.5 Results from the scenario analyses.............................................................................. 28 3.5.1 Assessment of water resources available .............................................................. 28 3.5.2 Water Demand in the basin .................................................................................. 28 3.5.3 Unmet water demand ............................................................................................ 29 4.0 CONSULTATIVE PROCESS ........................................................................................ 31 4.1 Application of SEA in the IWRM planning process ................................................... 31 4.2 Water resources management issues and challenges .................................................. 31 5.0 objectives and Strategic Actions for the tano Basin ....................................................... 35 5.1 Management objectives for the Tano Basin IWRM Plan ........................................... 35 5.2 Strategic Actions ......................................................................................................... 35 6.0 MECHANISMS FOR IMPLEMENTING THE BASIN PLAN ....................................... 42 6.1 Operational Structure .................................................................................................. 42 6.2 Gender Mainstreaming ...............................................................................................
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