Assessing the Sustainability of Raw Water Supply in Nawuni River for Tamale Metropolis and Environs

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Date
May, 2016
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Water supply service arguably is the most essential of all public service in Ghana and any obstruction to its delivery threating human survival. A major challenge to water supply is the rapid urbanisation that has increased demand for water in the urban areas; putting pressure on service provider to meet demand of urban dwellers. Perennial water shortages in Tamale is linked to several factors including the inability of the service provider to keep pace with the demand of the rapidly increasing population of the city. Looking forward, this situation could be exacerbated by competing water uses upstream the city supply source and natural climate variation. Assessment of the reliability of water supply to satisfy future demand is therefore crucial in order to plan and make informed decisions towards preventing possible future water crises. This study investigates the sustainability of water supply to Tamale metropolis and environs using Water Evaluation and Planning Model (WEAP). Operating on the basic principle of water balance, WEAP can be applied to municipal as well as agricultural water systems, complex or single catchment system. The assessment was made based on the analyses of the following scenarios: Reference scenario, Scenario 1: High Population and Socio-economic growth, Scenario 2: Intensifying upstream water use and Scenario 3: Extended Dry Climate under above scenarios. The alternative scenarios were then evaluated which aimed at possible future situations up to the year 2035. The model results revealed that, intensifying upstream water use as projected in the study do not have impact on the downstream water availability for sustainable water supply for Tamale Metropolis and environs. However, the assessment based on Scenario 1: High Population and Socio-economic growth results showed significant value (229 million cubic meter) of Unmet Demand in year 2035 for Urban and rural demand site; indicating that there will be shortage of water in the future if this scenario occurred. Finally, under Scenario 3, where supply and resources data was adjusted using the Water Year Method to see how natural variation in climate data (stream flow, rainfall etc.) affect demand and supply, the results showed that, the water demand will outstrip raw water supply by 2029 when Extended Dry Climate is inherited from scenario 1: High population and Socio-economic growth. In 2030, there is deficit of supply of 10 million cubic meter which increased to 342 million cubic meter in 2035 under Urban and rural demand site. It is therefore recommended to investigate possible options of water storage reservoir to mitigate the effect of extended dry season.
Description
A Thesis submitted to the Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master Of Science Water Resources Engineering and Management
Keywords
Citation