Dynamique d’occupation et d’utilisation des sols et la hausse de la nappe dans la basse vallée du Dallol Maouri

L’état de surface de la zone sahélienne a subi plusieurs mutations ces dernières années suite au changement climatique et aux activités anthropiques, ce qui amplifie les évènements extrêmes. L’analyse de la dynamique d’occupation  et d’utilisation des sols s’avère un outil excellent pour renforcer la résilience de la population. L’état de surface de la basse vallée du Dallol Maouri, qui constitue un affluent fossile du fleuve Niger, a subi plusieurs modifications depuis les années 70. L’objectif de cet article est d’évaluer l’impact de la dynamique d’occupation des sols sur la hausse du niveau piézométrique de la nappe libre de la basse vallée du Dallol Maouri. L’analyse de la dynamique d’occupation et d’utilisation des sols montre une nette régression de la classe de savanes arborées et arbustives, et nette progression de mosaïque cultures-jachères.  La classe des savanes arborées et arbustives, qui était largement représentée dans cette région, a perdu 61 % de sa superficie en 42 ans, soit 38 000 ha de 62 000 ha qu’elle représente en 1973. La progression importante des mosaïques cultures jachères et de sols nus et habitats, montre l’emprise des activités anthropiques telles que l’agriculture extensive et urbanisation. Le suivi de l’évolution de la nappe libre de la zone durant la période étudiée a montré une certaine remontée du niveau piézométrique de 3,4 m sur le plateau, et 1,6 m dans la vallée du Dallol Maouri. The Sahelian environment zone has undergone several changes in recent years due to climate change and human activities, which amplifies extreme events. The analysis of the dynamics of land occupation and use is an excellent tool for strengthening the resilience of the population. The surface condition of the lower Dallol Maouri valley, which constitutes a fossil tributary of the Niger River, has undergone several modifications since the 1970s. The objective of this article is to assess the impact of the occupation dynamics soils on the rise in the piezometric level of the unconfined aquifer of the lower Dallol Maouri valley. The analysis of the dynamics of land occupation and use shows a clear regression of the class of tree and shrub savannahs, and a clear progression of crop-fallow mosaic. The class of wooded and shrubby savannahs, which was widely represented in this region, has lost 61% of its surface area in 42 years, i.e. 38,000 ha from the 62,000 ha it represented in 1973. The significant progression of mosaic fallow crops and of bare soils and habitats, shows the influence of human activities such as extensive agriculture and urbanization. The monitoring of the evolution of the unconfined aquifer in the area during the period studied showed a certain rise in the piezometric level of 3.4 m on the plateau, and 1.6 m in the Dallol Maouri valley

A Multicriteria Analysis of Groundwater Development Pathways in Three River Basins in Sub-Saharan Africa

Reliance on groundwater in Sub-Saharan Africa is growing and expected to rise as surface water resource variability increases under climate change. Major questions remain about how groundwater will be used, and who informs these decisions. We represent different visions of groundwater use by ‘pathways’: politically and environmentally embedded socio-technological regimes for governing and managing groundwater systems. We presented policy actors (9 sets), development and research stakeholders (4 sets), and water users (6 sets) in three river basins in Ethiopia, Niger and Tanzania with information on the social and environmental impacts of six ‘Groundwater Development Pathways’, before gathering their opinions on each, through Multicriteria Mapping (MCM). Participants preferred pathways of low-intensity use, incorporating multiple agricultural, pastoral and domestic purposes, to high-intensity single-use pathways. Water availability and environmental sustainability, including water quality, were central concerns. Participants recognised that all groundwater uses potentially impinge upon one another affecting both the quantity and quality of abstracted water. Across participant groups there was ambiguity about what the most important water use was; each expressed demands for more detailed, certain modelling data. Water users preferred community or municipal-scale management regimes, perceiving that water quality was more likely to be safeguarded by institutions at these levels, whereas policy and development actors preferred individual-scale management, viewed as more efficient in terms of operation and maintenance. We conclude that MCM, combined with more detailed modelling, can provide an effective framework for policy actors to understand other stakeholders’ perspectives on groundwater development futures, enabling equitable, inclusive decision-making and governance

Observed controls on resilience of groundwater to climate variability in sub-Saharan Africa

Groundwater in sub-Saharan Africa supports livelihoods and poverty alleviation1,2, maintains vital ecosystems, and strongly influences terrestrial water and energy budgets. Yet the hydrological processes that govern groundwater recharge and sustainability—and their sensitivity to climatic variability—are poorly constrained4. Given the absence of firm observational constraints, it remains to be seen whether model-based projections of decreased water resources in dry parts of the region4 are justified. Here we show, through analysis of multidecadal groundwater hydrographs across sub-Saharan Africa, that levels of aridity dictate the predominant recharge processes, whereas local hydrogeology influences the type and sensitivity of precipitation–recharge relationships. Recharge in some humid locations varies by as little as five per cent (by coefficient of variation) across a wide range of annual precipitation values. Other regions, by contrast, show roughly linear precipitation–recharge relationships, with precipitation thresholds (of roughly ten millimetres or less per day) governing the initiation of recharge. These thresholds tend to rise as aridity increases, and recharge in drylands is more episodic and increasingly dominated by focused recharge through losses from ephemeral overland flows. Extreme annual recharge is commonly associated with intense rainfall and flooding events, themselves often driven by large-scale climate controls. Intense precipitation, even during years of lower overall precipitation, produces some of the largest years of recharge in some dry subtropical locations. Our results therefore challenge the ‘high certainty’ consensus regarding decreasing water resources in such regions of sub-Saharan Africa. The potential resilience of groundwater to climate variability in many areas that is revealed by these precipitation–recharge relationships is essential for informing reliable predictions of climate-change impacts and adaptation strategies

La petite irrigation par les eaux souterraines, une solution durable contre la pauvreté et les crises alimentaires au Niger ?

Dans les pays du Sahel, le développement de l’agriculture irriguée est une des solutions pour améliorer la sécurité alimentaire. À travers l’exemple du sud-ouest du Niger, cette étude montre que le développement d’une irrigation à faible coût est possible par pompage de l’eau des nappes phréatiques, ressource renouvelable et mieux répartie dans l’espace que les eaux de surface. Les ressources en eau et en terres irrigables de la zone ont été localisées, quantifiées et leur potentiel à long terme réévalué à partir de données actualisées. Les résultats montrent que 50 000 à 160 000 ha (3 à 9 % de la surface totale cultivée) pourraient être mis en valeur par la petite irrigation à partir des eaux souterraines les plus accessibles (jusqu’à 20 m de profondeur). Cette estimation est du même ordre de grandeur que celle déjà avancée pour les seules eaux de surface, doublant ainsi le potentiel irrigable de la zone

Constraining Groundwater Modeling with Magnetic Resonance Soundings

International audienceMagnetic resonance sounding (MRS) is a noninvasive geophysical method that allows estimating the free water content and transmissivity of aquifers. In this article, the ability of MRS to improve the reliability of a numerical groundwater model is assessed. Thirty-five sites were investigated by MRS over a ∼5000 km2 domain of the sedimentary Continental Terminal aquifer in SW Niger. Time domain electromagnetic soundings were jointly carried out to estimate the aquifer thickness. A groundwater model was previously built for this section of the aquifer and forced by the outputs from a distributed surface hydrology model, to simulate the observed long-term (1992 to 2003) rise in the water table. Uncertainty analysis had shown that independent estimates of the free water content and transmissivity values of the aquifer would facilitate cross-evaluation of the surface-water and groundwater models. MRS results indicate ranges for permeability (K = 1 × 10−5 to 3 × 10−4 m/s) and for free water content (w = 5% to 23% m3/m3) narrowed by two orders of magnitude (K) and by ∼50% (w), respectively, compared to the ranges of permeability and specific yield values previously considered. These shorter parameter ranges result in a reduction in the model's equifinality (whereby multiple combinations of model's parameters are able to represent the same observed piezometric levels), allowing a better constrained estimate to be derived for net aquifer recharge (∼22 mm/year)

Long term changes in groundwater storage in the Lake Chad Basin, central Africa, as a function of drought periods and lake fluctuations in Aqua 2015

International audienceThe tropical Lake Chad, central Africa, is often seen as an example of the impact of climate variability on water resources, with large fluctuations in its surface recorded through the 20th century. These changes were shown by hydrological modeling to be mostly due to relatively small climate shifts, having huge impact on the lake surface area (25,000 to 3,000 – 14,000 km2 over the past few decades). Lake Chad is a fresh water lake, connected by seepage to the underlying quaternary aquifer (500,000 km2). Groundwater recharge occurs by direct infiltration of rainfall through the vadose zone but also locally by seepage from surface water (Lake, main rivers). Long-term groundwater surveys (1960s-1980s; 1990s-2015) indicate (1) drops (few cm / years) in the water table at short distance from the Lake, followed by (2) stabilization or even recovery in the water table for recent years. At distance, where the water table is mostly fed by rainfall infiltration through sand dunes, more important drops were recorded during the drought periods of the 1970s-80s. In the northern part of the lake, groundwater modeling taking into account rapid changes in lake surface area indicate that measured trends in groundwater storage through the past decades (1990-2015) can be explained by changes in recharge rates from the Lake, using calibrated subsurface magnetic resonance soundings data for estimating aquifer hydraulic parameters (T, Sy)

Identification of a Representative Stationary Period for Rainfall Variability Description in the Sudano-Sahelian Zone of West Africa during the 1901–2018 Period

Many studies have been undertaken on climate variability in West Africa since the drastic drought of 1970s. These studies rely in many cases on different baseline periods chosen with regard to the reference periods defined by the World Meteorological Organization. A method is developed in this study to determine a stationary baseline period for rainfall variability analysis. The method is based on an application of three statistic tests (on deviation and trend) and a test of shifts detection in rainfall time series. The application of this method on six different gridded rainfall data and observations from 1901 to 2018 shows that the 1917–1946 period is the longest stationary period. An assessment of the significance of the difference between the mean annual rainfall amount during this baseline period and the annual rainfall amount during the other years shows that the “Normal” annual rainfall amount is defined by an interval delineated by ±the standard deviation (STD). With regard to this interval, a very wet/dry year is defined with a surplus/gap over/below the STD. Overall the 1901–2018 period, the 1950–1970 period presents the most important number of significant wet years and the 1971–1990 period presents the most important number of significant dry years

Reconstruction of megalake Chad using shuttle radar topographic mission data

In the 2,500,000 km2 Lake Chad Basin in central Africa, the 2000 Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM) data have been used to supplement the existing topographic data. SRTM data produce much sharper images of the region\u27s topography and provide new insights into debates about the nature and extent of late Quaternary Lake Chad. This paper shows that the accuracy of SRTM30, the recently released 30 arc seconds topographic data from SRTM, largely surpasses that of previous global Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) available in the region. Using a GIS we identified from SRTM30 elevation data key features in the landscape topography providing further evidence for the existence of a Megalake Chad. The SRTM30 data corroborate the presence of two ancient shorelines associated with stillstands of the paleolake at the elevation of the Mayo Kebbi and Bahr el Ghazal spillovers. We found a general flattening of the topography in the region covered by Megalake Chad which is most likely the result of wave-cut action. The SRTM30 data show that the remains of the highest paleoshoreline have a constant elevation of 325 &plusmn; 5 m amsl. At its maximum extent, Megalake Chad had an area of about 340 000 km2 (only 8% less than the present-day world\u27s largest lake, the Caspian Sea). The SRTM30 data also revealed ancient drainage networks in the Sahara that lead to Megalake Chad. We compiled available 14C dates to constrain Holocene Megalake Chad events. The results presented in this paper have significant consequences for improving our knowledge of regional paleohydrology and continental climate change. This study is also the first step for a GIS-based reconstruction of late Quaternary paleohydrology in tropical Africa.<br /

Aquifer Depletion in the Arlit Mining Area (Tim Mersoï Basin, North Niger)

Located in northwestern Niger, the Tim Mersoï Basin (TMB) is an important mining region in the scale of West Africa. Groundwater is considered the main source of fresh water in the basin, especially for mining activities. It, therefore, appears essential to monitor their responses to these activities. However, no study has been carried out in the Tim Mersoï Basin. This study aims to evaluate the groundwater storage changes (GWSC) of the TMB and to analyze the spatio-temporal evolution of the Tarat aquifer under the effect of mining activities in the Arlit region. For this purpose, Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE), Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS), and in-situ data were used. The results show a variation of the GWS from 2002 to 2019 of about −0.1310 cm/year on the scale of the basin and −0.0109 cm/year in the Arlit mining area. The GWSC at the basin scale and the one at the Arlit region scale were shown to be linked with an RMSE between the two datasets of 0.79. This shows the potential of GRACE for contextualizing studies in small areas. The study also highlighted that the groundwater flow direction was highly modified; the drawdown of the Tarat water table was more than 50 m in the areas heavily impacted by mining activities, with an increasing intensity from the northwest to the southeast of Arlit