Science et changements planétaires / Sécheresse
MENUSmall reservoirs of Northern Côte d’Ivoire: Inventory and hydrological potentialities Volume 20, issue 1, janvier-février-mars 2009
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- Key words: Côte d’Ivoire, dam, hydrology, inventory, remote sensing
- DOI : 10.1684/sec.2009.0164
- Page(s) : 112-22
- Published in: 2009
Thousands of small reservoirs were built after the severe droughts that occurred in West Africa during the seventies and eighties. Numerous and scattered, these small masses of water constitute a perennial network in the northern part of the Côte d’Ivoire. Synoptic studies, associated to field works, made it possible to: 1) evaluate the contribution of these small reservoirs to the availability of water resources, particularly during the dry season; 2) assess at different scales the constraints that control their hydrological properties; 3) propose simple and fundamental relations to summarize their capacities; 4) highlight the growing impact that the anthropogenic evolution of watersheds exerts on their hydrological potentialities. If for a long time drought and decreased rainfall have been the principal constraints, it seems that in the future excess runoff could constitute one of the major threats to their continued existence.