Sokoto Basin is one of the major sub-basins of the Illummedan basin of West Africa. The Basin lies in the sub-Saharan Sudan belt of West Africa in zone of Savanna-type vegetation generally classified as semi-arid. It lies in northwestern Nigeria between latitudes 8°301 and 14°001 N and longitudes 3°301and 7°001 E occupying a total of about 6.4 x 104 km2 of land area with Niger Republic to the North, and covers Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara to the East; it also borders Niger State to the South-east, and Benin Republic to the west. The available water resources in the basin is marred with many challenges including high spatial and temporal variability in rainfall, global climate change, deforestation, land degradation, desertification and high population growth rate. These challenges put immense pressure on the water resources. The basin experiences a prolonged dry season when many rivers and streams dry up. As a result, surface water supplies are unreliable and insufficient to meet the water demands for socio-economic development in many places in the basin, thereby making groundwater sources the preferred and most cost-effective means of supplying water to the largely rural and dispersed population in the basin. A key prerequisite for efficient and sustainable management of the groundwater resource is the understanding and quantification of the groundwater recharge. This study estimates the total amount and spatial distribution of the groundwater recharge at different scales in the Sokoto Basin using water table fluctuation. The water table fluctuation method was used in the basin to evaluate the seasonal and annual variations in water level rise and to estimate the groundwater recharge. The results show that annual water level rise ranged from 2200 to 9750 mm in 2014. Based on standard values of specific yield and the measured water level rise, the estimated annual recharge ranged from 20.5 to 380.5 mm in 2014.
[Full Text:PDF]
© Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research
Frontier Theme