Premium
Assessing the impact of land cover changes on water balance components of W hite V olta B asin in W est A frica
Author(s) -
Awotwi Alfred,
Yeboah Francis,
Kumi Michael
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
water and environment journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1747-6593
pISSN - 1747-6585
DOI - 10.1111/wej.12100
Subject(s) - water balance , land cover , evapotranspiration , environmental science , hydrology (agriculture) , land use , soil and water assessment tool , water cycle , structural basin , water resource management , water resources , swat model , drainage basin , streamflow , geography , geology , ecology , cartography , paleontology , geotechnical engineering , biology
Land use and land cover ( LULC ) have been and still changing, through human activities, creating variability in hydrological cycle. This paper investigates the hydrological impacts of LULC changes on water balance in the W hite V olta B asin located in the W est of A frica using the S oil and W ater A ssessment T ool ( SWAT ). Two LULC data for 1990 and 2006 and two plausible scenarios of land use change were evaluated. Results show a link between land cover and the hydrologic response with a decrease in land cover corresponding to decrease in surface water and base flow and increase evapotranspiration ( ET ). The results indicated that different LULC contributed to various effects in annual water yield and ET . The results also indicate the capability of the SWAT model to be used in the W est A frican subregion even though there are data limitations associated with the model in W est A frica. Overall, the model results support the existing efforts of V olta B asin water resource managers to protect the area along the V olta river against farming and indicate that additional emphasis should be placed on improving land management practices.