Analysis of the Hydrological Budget using the J2000 Model in the Pendjari River Basin, West Africa

In a semi - arid region where water scarcity is a major problem, quantify the water balance variables is very essential for sustainable water management. In a condition where meteorological input data are often not available in a sufficient spatial and temporal resolution, simulating the water balance variables is a big challenge. This research assesses the water balance for the Pendjari River basin, a 23208 km² sub-basin of the Volta basin in West Africa. The main purpose of this study is to assess how much water is available in the Pendjari River basin in terms of blue water and green water. To assess the water balance variables the distributed hydrological model J2000 has been used. The model has been manually and automatically calibrated for the period 1982 – 1990 using 24 parameters and validated for the period 1998 – 2008. 17 of the parameters have been selected for regional sensitivity analysis. The performance of the model has been measured using objective functions: Root Mean Square Error, Percent Bias, Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency, Relative Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency and Coefficient of Determination. The findings of this study have indicated that 58.67% of annual rainfall represents the evapotranspiration, which is considered as the amount of green water used to support natural vegetation productivity and agricultural system. The total actual evapotranspiration is estimated at 87% of annual rainfall. 12.53 % of annual rainfall end up as surface runoff and 9.92% of annual rainfall represents the groundwater recharge rate. Approximately 21% of annual rainfall represents the water yield, which is devoted to blue water source in the Pendjari River basin. The meteorological simulations are globally acceptable and the hydro-meteorological component simulation has shown very good model performances in comparison with the observed discharge data, indicating the potential of J2000 model to reproduce the geographical environment of the Pendjari River basin. Keywords: J2000; Green water; Blue water; Hydrological budget; Pendjari Rive

Effects of Illegal Artisanal Gold Mining Operations on Groundwater Quality in Ghana: The Case of Ahafo-Ano South District

The general properties and overall chemical quality for potability of groundwater in Ahafo-Ano South District of the Ashanti Region of Ghana have been evaluated. With respect to pH, about 92% of groundwaters were potable while 8% were acidic and not potable. Approximately 4%, 32%, 56% and 8% of sampled groundwater were soft, moderately soft, hard and very hard respectively. The overall chemical quality analysis of groundwaters showed that 20%, 28%, 40%, 4% and 8% had excellent, good, poor, very poor and unsuitable drinking water qualities respectively. Approximately 12%, 40% and 84% of As, Ni and Pb exceeded their respective WHO limits while 32% of Cd and Fe exceeded their respective limits for potable water. These higher concentrations of heavy metals were observed to have occurred in communities with intensive illegal gold mining operations. Inhabitants in these areas could potentially be more predisposed to potential health hazards including cancer, nervous system damage, low IQ in children, reduced growth of foetus and premature birth in pregnant women, and kidney damage. It is expected that illegal artisanal gold mining activities will be banned while policies aimed at providing alternative livelihood be instituted to minimize any potential health hazards on humans in the District

Assessment of past and future land use/cover change over Tordzie watershed in Ghana

Land use/ land cover (LULC) change has been identified as the main driving force of global change. The study investigated LULC change in Tordzie watershed in Ghana and predicted the future development. The supervised classification procedure was applied to Landsat images of 1987, 2003, and 2017. The cellular automata–Markov model embedded in IDRISI 17 software was employed to model LULC for the years 2030 and 2050. The trend of LULC change was exploited from 1987 to 2003, from 2003 to 2017, and projected to 2030 and 2050. Settlement and crop land, respectively, increased from 2.68% to 16.46% in 1987 to 3.65% and 53.47% in 2003 and finally to 20.61% and 58.52% in 2017. Vegetation cover declined from 23.2% in 1987 to 13.9% in 2003 and finally to 11.3% in 2017. The annual rate of change was determined. In 2030 and 2050, the dominant land use type will be crop land (56%). However, it decreased between 2017 and 2030 by −1.73%. The findings of the study are very relevant to land and water resource planners, policy formulators and implementers, and environmental and climate change advocates. Sustainable land use policy and its implementation are recommended

Modelling soil erosion response to sustainable landscape management scenarios in the Mo River Basin (Togo,West Africa)

The rural landscapes in Central Togo are experiencing severe land degradation, including soil erosion. However, spatially distributed information has scarcely been produced to identify the effects of landscape pattern dynamics on ecosystem services, especially the soil erosion control. In addition, relevant information for sustainable land and soil conservation is still lacking at watershed level. On this basis, using the LAndscape Management and Planning Tool for the Mo River basin (LAMPT_Mo), we (1) modelled soil erosion patterns in relation with land use/cover change (LUCC), land protection regime, and landforms, and (2) examined the efficiency of landscape redesign options on soil erosion amounts at basin scale. We found that Simulated historical net soil loss (NSL) for the Mo basin were approximately 26, 23, 27, and 44 t/ha/yr, for 1972, 1987, 2000, and 2014, respectively. These simulated NSLs were higher than the tolerable soil loss limits for the Tropics. Steep slopes (≥ 15°), poorly covered lands (croplands and savannas), and riversides (distances ≤ 100 m) are critical areas of sediment sources. The local appraisal of soil loss was in line with the simulated outputs even though quantification was not accounted for when dealing with rural illiterate people. Furthermore, results showed that the examined management measures, such as controlling the identified erosion hotspots through land protective measures, could help reduce the NSL up to 70%, to values closer to the tolerable limits for the Tropics. The model implementation in the basin showed insights for identifying erosion hotspots and targeting soil conservation planning and landscape restoration measures

The impact of crop farmers’ decisions on future land use, land cover changes in Kintampo North Municipality of Ghana

Purpose - This paper aims to assess the rate and land category contributing to the changes in seven land-uses in the Kintampo North Municipality of Ghana and the effect of the decisions of land users on future landscapes. Design/methodology/approach - LANDSAT images were classified to generate land use/cover maps to detect changes that had occurred between 1986 and 2014. In total, 120 farmers were also interviewed to determine their perceptions on land use changes. Interval, category and transition levels of changes were determined. Savanna woodland, settlement and forest were mostly converted to farmland in both intervals (1986-2001 and 2001-2014). Findings - Results showed that rock outcrop, plantation, cropland and savanna woodland increased at an annual rate of 13.86, 1.57, 0.82 and 0.33 per cent, respectively, whilst forest, settlement and water body decreased at 4.90, 1.84 and 1.17 per cent annual rate of change, respectively. Approximately, 74 per cent of farmers will not change land use in the future, while 84.2 per cent plan to increase farm sizes. Research limitations/implications - The study shows that more land cover will be targeted for conversion as farmers expand their farmlands. There is the need for strict implementation of appropriate land use/cover policies to sustain food production in the region in this era of changing climate and population increase. Originality/value - This research assessed the land use changes in the Kintampo North Municipality and its impacts on agriculture and carbon stocks release via land use changes. It identified how the decisions of the local farmers on land management will affect future landscape

Trickle irrigation using porous clay pot

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:DX174615 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Non-formal education as a means to poverty reduction and community development? : a comparative study of adult literacy in four communitiesin the Ho municipality, Ghana

This research work examines the impacts of the literacy programme on the improvement of literacy, education, reduction of poverty and community development, especially in the rural and poor communities. The work sets out to put across a measure of knowledge on how literacy could assist in making non-literates and the poor in society functionally literate, at the same time provide them with livelihood skills towards improved living standards and the development of their various communities. Non-formal education, that is the functional literacy programme, was set up in communities with the aim of providing literacy and life skills to the poor, illiterate and marginalised in the community. It makes the above population to be able to read and interact favourably with the environment. By implication, the literacy programme ultimately helps to achieve the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of universal basic education by mopping up those who could not get access to formal education; reducing extreme poverty through training of the poor population in life skills and income generating activities; and reducing mother and child mortality, diseases and deepening democracy through the teaching of the above related topics in the adult literacy class. Findings from the research show that most of the adult learners in the four communities (Kpedze, Akome, Mawuli Estates and Beh) have acquired reading, writing and calculation skills through the literacy class organised under the National Functional Literacy Programme (NFLP). These skills were exhibited by the learners in their everyday life activities including writing down their income and expenses, creditors and debtors, reading the Bible, singing from the church hymnal, writing and reading simple letters and notes, etc. These are educational achievements made by the adult learners. Through the NFLP classes, quite a number of the learners have also acquired income generating skills and entered into gainful employment, raising their income levels, thereby contributing to the reduction of poverty in the local communities. The learners also gradually became active members of their communities, initiating and executing community development programmes that they have been learning from the NFLP activities which are indications of development efforts. However, the adult learners faced challenges such as poor infrastructure, non-availability and late delivery of teaching and learning materials, poor remuneration of their facilitators, poor monitoring and evaluation systems, difficulties in time management and health constraints on the part of the learners, and political interference in the NFLP and the NFED. What the adult learners have not fully achieved is sustainability that is easily forgetting what they have learnt due to lack of continuity in the NFLP, among other things

Changes in the ecosystem services of the Volta Lake and their impacts on local livelihoods along its catchment areas in Ghana

The Volta Lake in Ghana was created due to the construction of a hydroelectric dam, named the Akosombo dam, over the river Volta in the 1960s. This dam currently generates 1020 megawatts of electricity, which provides a cheaper and relatively non-polluting source of electrical power to communities and industries in the country and neighbouring states. However, the creation of the Akosombo dam has displaced communities and farmlands along the lake due to the flooding of the lake. The lake has expanded to cover about 8,500 square kilometres of farmlands, forests and cash crop plantations including about 700 communities, who were later resettled into 52 resettlement communities. Consequently, houses and other properties of these communities were lost to the flooding. Also submerged in the lake were trees, and this caused difficulties in fishing and navigation on the lake. This research work was therefore carried out to investigate the changes that occurred after the construction of the dam, and the impacts on local livelihoods. About 100 respondents made up of fisher folks, resettlement communities, irrigation farmers, local residents, local authorities and other stakeholder institutions were sampled for data collection. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, observations and document analysis. Problems associated with the dam construction included the widespread non-payment, and in some cases inadequate payment, of compensation for land lost, crops, houses and other properties. On the other hand, host communities were either not paid or given a meagre sum for the lands lost to the resettlement programme. This brought about conflicts between the settlers and their hosts. In addition, the local communities have been experiencing low fish catch, and increased boat accidents on the lake. There has also been increase in contamination of the lake due to its stagnant nature, and the prevalence of diseases such as malaria, cholera and bilharzia in the local communities. In order to reduce these negative impacts, resettlement and compensation schemes should be adequate, prompt, geared towards meeting the needs of the recipients and implemented long before the execution of such dam projects, and the inclusion of the affected local people in decision making at all levels. Submerged trees should be harvested in such a way that it will improve transportation on the lake at the same time help improve aquatic life. Effective education and regulatory measures need to be employed to reduce contamination of the lake

Development Of An Agricultural Land Drainage And Reclamation Design Software

Good drainage is a pre-requisite for effective soil and water management. In humid areas the removal of excess water is seen as an important aspect of water management, while the provision of drainage in semi-arid irrigated areas is of particular importance to the maintenance of a well aerated root zone and the prevention of the build-up of salinity. The design of appropriate drainage structures however often involves complex hydrological, hydraulic and engineering computations and the use of charts, tables and nomographs, etc. which can lead to errors. In this study an attempt has been made at developing a Windows-based computer programme that facilitates easier and more accurate agricultural land drainage and reclamation design. The Rational formula and Manning\'s equation were used for surface drainage design whiles Hooghoudt\'s equation was used for subsurface drainage design. The software automatically checks if the design satisfies other requirements as specified in the design code. If the input data are unable to satisfy both the Rational and Manning\'s equation and other requirements as specified in the code, the software will give suggestions on how to revise the design so that the requirements can be met. The land reclamation component computes leaching fraction, drainage coefficient, amount of drainable water, salinity, sodicity and then designs a ditch drain to convey the leached water out of the field. Keywords: Surface and subsurface drainage design, computer application, land reclamation, salinity, sodicity, drainsJournal of the Ghana Institution of Engineers Vol. 5 (1&2) 2007: pp. 39-4

Stochastyczny model ARIMA do prognozowania rocznego opadu i maksymalnej temperatury w zlewni Tordzie w Ghanie

The forecast of rainfall and temperature is a difficult task due to their variability in time and space and also the inability to access all the parameters influencing rainfall of a region or locality. Their forecast is of relevance to agriculture and watershed management, which significantly contribute to the economy. Rainfall prediction requires mathematical modelling and simulation because of its extremely irregular and complex nature. Autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model was used to analyse annual rainfall and maximum temperature over Tordzie watershed and the forecast. Autocorrelation function (ACF) and partial autocorrelation function (PACF) were used to identify the models by aid of visual inspection. Stationarity tests were conducted using the augmented Dickey–Fuller (ADF), Mann–Kendall (MK) and Kwiatkowski–Phillips–Schmidt–Shin (KPSS) tests respectively. The chosen models were evaluated and validated using the Akaike information criterion corrected (AICC) and also Schwartz Bayesian criteria (SBC). The diagnostic analysis of the models comprised of the independence, normality, homoscedascity, P–P and Q–Q plots of the residuals respectively. The best ARIMA model for rainfall for Kpetoe and Tordzinu were (3, 0, 3) and (3, 1, 3) with AICC values of 190.07 and 178.23. That of maximum temperature for Kpetoe and Tordzinu were (3, 1, 3) and (3, 1, 3) and the corresponding AICC values of 23.81 and 36.10. The models efficiency was checked using sum of square error (SSE), mean square error (MSE), mean absolute percent error (MAPE) and root mean square error (RMSE) respectively. The results of the various analysis indicated that the models were adequate and can aid future water planning projections.Prognozowanie opadu i temperatury jest trudnym zadaniem z powodu zmienności tych parametrów w czasie i przestrzeni, a także nieznajomości wszystkich czynników wpływających na opady w regionie czy w danej miejscowości. Prognozowanie opadów jest ważne dla rolnictwa i gospodarki zlewniowej, mających znaczący wkład w gospodarkę regionu. Przewidywanie opadu wymaga modelowania matematycznego i symulacji z powodu jego skrajnie nieregularnego i złożonego charakteru. Do analizy i prognozowania rocznych opadów i maksymalnej temperatury w zlewni Tordzie wykorzystano autoregresyjny zintegrowany model średniej ruchomej (ARIMA). Do zidentyfikowania modeli metodą oglądu wizualnego użyto funkcji autokorelacji (ACF) i cząstkowej autokorelacji (PACF). Testy stacjonarności przeprowadzono za pomocą testów Dickeya–Fullera (ADF), Manna–Kendalla (MK) i Kwiatkowskiego–Phillipsa–Schmidta–Shina (KPSS). Wybrane modele poddano ocenie i walidacji z użyciem skorygowanego kryterium Akaike (AICC) i Bayesowskiego kryterium Schwartza (SBC). Diagnostyczna analiza modeli obejmowała niezależność, normalność, homoscedastyczność, wykresy P–P i Q–Q dla reszt. Najlepsze modele ARIMA dla opadu w Kpetoe i Tordzinu miały postać (3, 0, 3) i (3, 1, 3), gdy wartości AICC równe odpowiednio 190,07 i 178,23. Modele dla maksymalnej temperatury w Kpetoe i Tordzinu miały postać (3, 1, 3) i (3, 1, 3), a ich odpowiednie wartości AICC wynosiły 23,81 i 36,10. Wydajność modelu sprawdzano, wykorzystując sumę błędu kwadratowego (SSE), średni błąd kwadratowy (MSE), średni bezwzględny błąd procentowy (MAPE) i pierwiastek ze średniego błędu kwadratowego (RMSE). Wyniki różnych analiz wykazały, że modele są odpowiednie i mogą stanowić pomoc w przyszłej gospodarce wodnej