IWMI Working Paper Water Resources Assessment of the Volta River Basin
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IWMI Working Paper Water Resources Assessment of the Volta River Basin Marloes Mul, Emmanuel Obuobie, Richard Appoh, Kwabena Kankam- 166 Yeboah, Emmanuel Bekoe-Obeng, Barnabas Amisigo, Frederick Yaw Logah, Benjamin Ghansah and Matthew McCartney 1985 2015 Working Papers The publications in this series record the work and thinking of IWMI researchers, and knowledge that the Institute’s scientific management feels is worthy of documenting. This series will ensure that scientific data and other information gathered or prepared as a part of the research work of the Institute are recorded and referenced. Working Papers could include project reports, case studies, conference or workshop proceedings, discussion papers or reports on progress of research, country-specific research reports, monographs, etc. Working Papers may be copublished, by IWMI and partner organizations. Although most of the reports are published by IWMI staff and their collaborators, we welcome contributions from others. Each report is reviewed internally by IWMI staff. The reports are published and distributed both in hard copy and electronically (www.iwmi.org) and where possible all data and analyses will be available as separate downloadable files. Reports may be copied freely and cited with due acknowledgment. About IWMI IWMI’s mission is to provide evidence-based solutions to sustainably manage water and land resources for food security, people’s livelihoods and the environment. IWMI works in partnership with governments, civil society and the private sector to develop scalable agricultural water management solutions that have a tangible impact on poverty reduction, food security and ecosystem health. IWMI Working Paper 166 Water Resources Assessment of the Volta River Basin Marloes Mul, Emmanuel Obuobie, Richard Appoh, Kwabena Kankam- Yeboah, Emmanuel Bekoe-Obeng, Barnabas Amisigo, Frederick Yaw Logah, Benjamin Ghansah and Matthew McCartney International Water Management Institute The authors: Marloes Mul is Senior Researcher - Hydrology and Water Resources, Richard Appoh is Research Officer – Agriculture Water Management and Benjamin Ghansah is GIS/ Spatial Analyst, all at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Accra, Ghana; Emmanuel Obuobie is a Research Scientist, Kwabena Kankam-Yeboah is the Chief Research Scientist, and Emmanuel Bekoe-Obeng, Barnabas Amisigo and Frederick Yaw Logah are Senior Research Scientists, all at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research - Water Research Institute (CSIR-WRI), Accra, Ghana; and Matthew McCartney is Theme Leader – Ecosystem Services at IWMI, Vientiane, Lao PDR. Mul, M.; Obuobie, E.; Appoh, R.; Kankam-Yeboah, K.; Bekoe-Obeng, E.; Amisigo, B.; Logah, F. Y.; Ghansah, B.; McCartney, M. 2015. Water resources assessment of the Volta River Basin. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 78p. (IWMI Working Paper 166). doi: 10.5337/2015.220 / water resources / environmental impact assessment / river basins / international waters / water management / water governance / water quality / water use / water demand / water power / water availability / ecosystem services / natural resources / infrastructure / wetlands / lakes / dams / climate change / demography / living standards / agriculture / irrigation schemes / administration / policy making / strategies / livestock / fishing / industry / geology / soils / sedimentation / land use / hydrology / energy generation / riparian zones / institutions / economic aspects / Ghana / Burkina Faso / ISSN 2012-5763 ISBN 978-92-9090-829-6 Copyright © 2015, by IWMI. All rights reserved. IWMI encourages the use of its material provided that the organization is acknowledged and kept informed in all such instances. Please direct inquiries and comments to: [email protected] A free copy of this publication can be downloaded at www.iwmi.org/Publications/Working_Papers/index.aspx Acknowledgements The authors are grateful to Kingsley Kurukulasuriya for his valuable editorial assistance. Project This work was undertaken as part of the Water Infrastructure Solutions from Ecosystem Services Underpinning Climate Resilient Policies and Programmes (WISE-UP to Climate) project. The project is generating knowledge on how to implement mixed portfolios of built water infrastructure (e.g., dams, levees, irrigation channels) and ‘natural infrastructure’ (e.g., wetlands, floodplains, forests) that contribute to poverty reduction; water, energy and food security; biodiversity conservation; and climate resilience at a landscape scale. ‘WISE-UP to Climate’ aims to demonstrate the application of optimal portfolios of built and natural infrastructure developed through dialogue with stakeholders and decision-makers at multiple levels (local to national) to identify and find consensus on trade-offs. The project also seeks to link ecosystem services to water infrastructural development in the Volta River Basin (Ghana, principally, and also Burkina Faso) as well as the Tana River Basin in Kenya. The project is led by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and involves the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research - Water Research Institute (CSIR- WRI); African Collaborative Centre for Earth System Science (ACCESS), University of Nairobi; International Water Management Institute (IWMI); Overseas Development Institute (ODI); University of Manchester; and the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3). This project is part of the International Climate Initiative. Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz, Bau und Reaktorsicherheit (BMUB) (Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety), Germany, support this initiative on the basis of a decision adopted by the German Bundestag. For further details about the project, visit: www.waterandnature.org or www.iucn.org/ water_wiseup Collaborators This research study was a collaboration of the following organizations: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) Council for Scientific and Industrial Research – Water Research Institute (CSIR-WRI), Ghana Donors This research study was funded by the following: Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz, Bau und Reaktorsicherheit (BMUB) (Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety), Germany. This work has been undertaken as part of the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE). IWMI is a member of the CGIAR Consortium and leads this program. Contents Summary ......................................................................................................................................vii Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 1 1. Assessment Background .......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Assessment Scope ............................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Methodology ..................................................................................................................... 1 2. Basin Context ........................................................................................................................... 2 2.1 The Volta River Basin ....................................................................................................... 2 2.2 Historical Background ...................................................................................................... 3 2.3 Administration and Policy ................................................................................................. 6 2.4 Modern Challenges ......................................................................................................... 13 2.5 Strategic Action Programme (SAP) ................................................................................ 18 2.6 Demographics .................................................................................................................. 20 2.7 Livelihoods ...................................................................................................................... 21 3. Physical Geography ............................................................................................................... 25 3.1 Geology ........................................................................................................................... 25 3.2 Soils ................................................................................................................................. 27 3.3 Climate ............................................................................................................................ 28 3.4 Land Cover and Use ........................................................................................................ 35 4. Water Resources and Use ...................................................................................................... 37 4.1 Hydrology ....................................................................................................................... 37 4.2 Natural and Built Infrastructure ...................................................................................... 43 5. Ecosystem Services ............................................................................................................... 48 5.1 Provisioning Services .....................................................................................................