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The Volta Basin
| The Volta Basin is located in West Africa and lies within latitudes 5o.30 N and 14o 30 N and longitudes 2o.00 E and 5o.30 W. The main river is 1400 km long and drains 400,000 km2 of the semi-arid and sub-humid savanna and forest area. The basin lies mainly in Ghana (42%) and Burkina Faso (43%) with minor parts in Togo, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali and Benin. Ghana occupies the downstream part of the basin. A dominating feature of the basin is Lake Volta, which is the largest man-made lake in the world in terms of surface area (4% of total area of Ghana). The lake was created to generate hydropower at and Kpong (1060 MW), which is 100 km north of its estuary. |
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The Volta River Basin is rich in natural resources and has significant potential for development. However, the riparian states are among the poorest countries in the world, and economic activities are quite similar in all the countries: crop production, livestock breeding, fishing, lumber, agro-industry, transportation, and increasingly tourism. Besides its hydropower dams, smaller dams and reservoirs have been built throughout the Volta River Basin in order to regulate water for agricultural and other purposes. |
| The number of large and small dams continues to expand as population pressure grows. Increasing storage and use of water - and probably decreasing precipitation in the region - threaten the sustainable management of the water in the basin. |
Akosombo Dam
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Although there are a number of international projects to evaluate the region’s water resources, the information provided on this topic is generally insufficient or not reliable. While information on projected demand for water is quite extensive, data on currently available surface and groundwater resources or groundwater recharge are not as comprehensive or lacking. |
| Extremely high rainfall rates and the uncoordinated building of dams without appropriate planning and management practices are normally blamed for the flooding which has become relatively frequent in the basin over the past decades. Land-use changes and agricultural practices such as slash and burn also exacerbate the problem causing significant economic loss. |
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