HYDROLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF RIVER BASINS: A Case of Nasia, a Tributary of the White Volta River Basin of Ghana

Hydrological studies for a river basin are essentially carried out to achieve the following objectives: to know the response of a river basin for a given precipitation input, estimation of water yield at specific locations, formation of floods, flood routing and flood forecasting, estimation of design storm/floods for water resources structures drainage problems (storm water and irrigation) and designing drainage network and sedimentation and similar other studies. Most years, rivers in the White Volta basin, including Nasia River flows only three or four months, causing seasonal deficits across the region. The book therefore sought to study the hydrology of the Nasia River basin for socioeconomic development of the rural communities in and around the basin. Historic daily river flows and climatic data for Nasia River, soil and geological information about the basin and topographic maps with a scale of 1:50000 were acquired for the study. The results for the study suggested that the Nasia river basin has enough surface water resources which could be harvested for development. The results established gives reference for water resource planning and development of the river basin.

The author is a lecturer of University for Development Studies, Ghana. Lecturing in the Faculty of Agriculture, with special interest in water resource development. Holds an MSc in Soil and Water Engineering from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and a BSc in Agricultural Technology, from the University for Development Studies.