Application of SWAT hydrological model for assessing water availability at the Sherigu catchment of Ghana and Southern Burkina Faso

Abstract

Water is an important resource needed in every aspect of life, e.g. human habitats, economic prosperity, food security, etc. There is a need to simulate and quantify the availability of water using hydrologic models with reliable data. For this reason, this study successfully calibrated and validated the water balance of the Sherigu catchment using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model. The model performed satisfactorily with statistical values of Nash-Sutcliffe and correlation coefficient greater than 0.7. Evapotranspiration consumed 72% of the total annual precipitation. The total discharge was estimated to be 14%, which comprises surface runoff of about 9% and baseflow of 5%, whiles percolation into the unconfined and confined aquifers as soil and groundwater storages also accounted for 14%. The average soil storage across the catchment suggests that the shallow aquifer store more water with the potential of a high water table for extraction during the dry season.

Keywords

• SWAT hydrological model
• Hydrological processes
• Water availability