Dogara Bashir

Contributions of the evapotranspiration components (radiation, saturation deficit and wind speed) were estimated and compared for six areas in northern parts of Nigeria using Penman's combination formula. It was found that, in the rainy season when conditions were humid, radiation contributed up to 97% of potential evapotranspiration (PET). However, during the harmattan season when conditions were dry and windy, contributions of radiation term was small, and the aerodynamic term controlled evapotranspiration. In this season wind contributed as much as 50% of PET and saturation deficit term contributed as much as 45% in areas at high altitudes. As such, any evapotranspiration model that does not take into consideration the influence of wind and saturation deficit is likely to underestimate ETP during the harmattan season, especially in the extreme northern parts of Nigeria.

The paper presents the research mandates, philosophy, focus and procedures of the National Water Resources Institute, Kaduna, Nigeria. The paper was presented at the internal seminar series of the Institute as a lead paper for discussion and further elucidation.

Water is life, only when it's safe and wholesome, and therefore an essential ingredient for the maintenance of life as well as safe and healthy environment. The significance of access to safe water and effective sanitation is fundamental for any developmental transformation and linked to the overall achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Water quality is usually not given the required attention it deserved in Nigeria. Government and private sectors involved in water supply projects are yet to meet the targets of providing sufficient and safe access to good water supply to the populace, despite being requisite and vital to the social, health and economic wellbeing of the people, which undoubtedly are the overriding factors that determines food security. Though there are a number of bottlenecks to achieving this social responsibility, particularly in developing countries like Nigeria. In situations where these services are provided, consistent maintenance and sust...

... D. Bashir and Yaya OO National Water Resources Institute, Kaduna ... 1 Paper presented to a Consultative Forum on “Borehole Regulation in Lagos State” organized by Lagos State Water Corporation at Events Center, Plot 1, Block B, Hakeem Balogun Street, off Alhaji Lateef ...

Page 1. 1 1 HYDROLOGICAL STUDIES FOR SMALL HYDROPOWER PLANNING1 D. Bashir National Water Resources Institute, Kaduna ... Aliyu and Elegba (1990) have classified small hydropower schemes as installations with generating capacities of 1 to 10 MW. ...

A water quality assessment was conducted on the levels of some parameters in drinking water from ground and surface sources in the communities affected by mined lead poisoning in Bukuyyum and Anka LGAs of Zamfara State, Nigeria. Based on the sizes of the communities visited, a total of 18 drinking water sources were strategically selected to cover the various sections of each community. Among the non-toxic chemical parameters analysed only pH was found to be a major problem with 61% of the sampled wells having values higher than the National Standards for Drinking Water Quality (NSDWQ) Maximum Allowable Limit. All other parameters were found in only few wells. In the category of toxic metals, only Lead was found to be in concentrations above the NSDWQ MAL in most of the wells. The results show that 15 out of the 18 (83%) sampled drinking water sources in the affected villages had lead concentrations within the range of 0.04–0.062 mg/l which were well above the NSDWQ & WHO recommended guideline value of 0.010 mg/l for drinking water. The presence of high concentrations of lead in most of the drinking water sources is of great concern as the affected communities have no other sources of drinking water. The source of the lead in the groundwater sources might be the intensive processing activities of mined rocks that were taking place even within the households. This can be attested to by the insignificant lead concentration recorded in the drinking water source in Rumbuki, an unaffected village located between two affected villages (Yargalma and Tungar Guru).

The socio-economic and cultural characteristics of Uta-Ewa (Ikot Abasi LGA) and Ibaka (Mbo LGA) Communities in Akwa Ibom State were examined. A sample size of 300 respondents was obtained and used for the study. Data for the study was obtained mainly from primary sources with the use of questionnaires as well as interviews with key informants and with a cross section of opinion leaders. After retrieving the questionnaires, the data were coded and subjected to analysis with the use of descriptive statistical tools. The inhabitants of these two communities were primarily engaged in fishing but they also cultivated food crops such as cassava, yam, vegetables, etc. In both communities, the average monthly income was between N5,000 – N20,000.

There was a near absence of potable source of drinking water in the communities except for a few boreholes provided by the government and private individuals. Household wastes were disposed of indiscriminately in surrounding bushes and nearby dumps and human wastes were disposed of using the streams and rivers. The communities have a poor sense of sanitation and personal hygiene as they practice open defecation into the streams and surrounding bushes and seldom wash their hands with soap. Lack of space and cost were given as the major reasons for non provision of latrines by households. It is important therefore that options that are deemed appropriate must be economically feasible given the average income levels of the communities. Sustained and well organized sanitation awareness campaigns on the need for proper excreta and general wastes disposal, as well as general hygiene is stressed.

Impacts of disasters are exacerbated by a number of factors that include poor land-use planning, population growth, environmental mismanagement, increasing levels of vulnerability, poor planning, poor governance, climate change, lack of regulatory mechanisms and corruption. The situation in Nigeria is such that the fundamental problems of development are the very same problems that contribute to its people’s vulnerability to disasters. This is because among other things, development and disaster-related policies have largely focused on emergency response, with virtually no strategies and programmes for hazard prevention and mitigation. It is therefore necessary to device a proactive perspective to reduce the impact of water related disasters through a comprehensive approach that encompasses both pre-disaster risk reduction and post-disaster recovery. This should be framed by new policies and institutional arrangements that support effective action.

Lagos State, Nigeria has for some time now experienced increased industrialization and “population explosion” due to urbanization. These developments have put so much pressure on its fresh water resources as people and industries are major and important water consumers. Furthermore, the principal source of water supply is groundwater development. The State has been reported by well development practitioners to experience salt water upconning and water quality degradation due to ingress of organic contaminants from various pollution sources as a result of aquifer overexploitation. These problems were evaluated and appropriate methods of protection and remediation were highlighted and recommended.

The slow but steady desertification of vast areas of northern parts of Nigeria coupled with continuous land cultivation and massive deforestation have resulted in the destruction of much of the natural vegetation to the extent that only traces of it remain. This lack of vegetative cover coupled with severe aridity, steady winds, occasional violent air currents and a flat topography led to large scale movements of soil. The paper gives a brief account of the extent of desertification in Nigeria, its causes, the efforts being made to combat it and finally recommends some strategies to enhance the efforts.

It has since been realized that Nigeria has immense potential for irrigated agriculture. The country has potential for formal irrigation of approximately 1.4 million ha and 2 to 3 million ha for informal irrigation. Thus, despite the present disappointment with the performance of the formal irrigation projects so far, there are quite considerable potentials within existing irrigation systems with the employment of appropriate management strategies for their sustainable utilization. In addition, with appropriate changes in perceptions of the various stakeholders toward development and management of irrigations schemes, the full potentials of the country in irrigated agriculture can be realized. This paper attempts to highlight the prospects for appropriate involvement of the various stakeholders, especially the farmers, at all stages of irrigation development from planning to operation and maintenance.

Major issues relating to water resources development and management in Africa are discussed with a view to determining the main causes for low access to water for community water supply, agricultural and industrial purposes. It has been found that Africa has abundant water resources with an estimated amount of about 5,570.2 km3/year. Central Africa Region has about 45% of this amount while North Africa has only 1%. However, only about 3.8% of this amount is being exploited. Of the amount utilized, 67% is used for agriculture, 25% for community water supply and 8% for industries. There are over 80 shared water basins in Africa with 20 of them very large.

The main issues causing the dismal exploitation of water resources in Africa include; (i) growing water scarcity, (ii) multiplicity of trans-boundary water basins, (iii) Inadequate institutional and financing arrangements, (iv) inadequate data and human capacity, (v) insufficient access to water for human health, food and energy security, and (vi) threats to environmental stability. Recommendations are then given for the development of framework for streamlining and development of synergies between national, regional and continental initiatives towards effective and sustainable exploitation of the available water resources in Africa.

A study was carried out to determine the tractive utilization of camels in the north western part of Nigeria where the population of camels is steadily increasing. The study area, Sokoto and Kebbi states, was divided into seven zones for data collection. In each zone, two stations were selected; four were selected in the central zone. In each zone, 50 camel herders/owners were randomly selected and interviewed by using a structured questionnaire. The leaders of the camel herders (Sarkin Zango) were also interviewed. In addition, where ever possible, group interviews of the herders were conducted either in the house of the village head or in the livestock section of the markets (kara) when visits were on market days.

It was found that average herd size ranged from 27 in the northern parts of the study area to just one in the southern parts. Nearly all the camels in the study area are used for transportation (riding and pack and baggage). It was only in Gummi that some 12% of the camels were exclusively used for land cultivation. Generally camels are used for transportation, land cultivation, water drawing and sugarcane crushing in that order of importance. Results also show that camels can travel a distance of 103 km without rest when carrying no load. They can carry, on the average, 400 kg load over short distances (5 to 10 km) and 239 kg load over longer distances (20 to 25 km). On the farm, a camel can plough about 0.7 hectares in an 8-hour day depending on the age and experience of the camel. The depth of plough was up to 18 cm.

Properly planned, coordinated and encouraged, tractive utilization of camels in the drier parts of Nigeria has the potential for tremendous increases in food production, transportation, processing and marketing especially in the less developed rural areas. The people are receptive to the idea of increased utilization of camels and the required technologies are appropriate and affordable; and therefore sustainable.

Zamfara Grazing Reserve, which started as a forest reserve in 1919, was a well forested area containing various species of flora and fauna. In 1960, the Northern Regional Government, with the help of the United State Agency for International Development (USAID) selected it for the development of grazing. A combination of factors that include the 1972/73 drought, shift in national focus during the oil boom period, the advent of the Local Government Areas and massive deforestation resulted in its misuse and neglect.

Present efforts aimed at rehabilitation and management of the reserve are not yielding the desired results because of lack of coordination of such efforts, encroachment on the reserve due to the tremendous increase in population of the surrounding settlements, high level illiteracy resulting in ignorance and poverty, and the ineffective top-down decision making process that erodes confidence in and acceptability of Government development programs.

A holistic approach is imperative for sustainable development and management of the reserve. Such comprehensive and coordinated programs should include; a well defined right of use and control of the reserve, agrosilvopastoralism, mass awareness campaigns stressing self-help, self reliance and literacy, appropriate incentives based on local initiatives, and effective grazing management that would ensure adequate provision of infrastructure, control of indiscriminate grazing and ensure discipline in the use of the reserve.

The paper identified and discussed the challenges of manpower development and training in the irrigation and drainage subsector in Nigeria. As a case study, the paper presented the outcome of the participatory institutional assessment for capacity development of Chad Basin Development Authority (CBDA) recently conducted by the National Water Resources Institute (NWRI) which revealed shortage of manpower and inadequate skills and knowledge. A summary of training needs and stakeholders involved are outlined in the paper. The paper also highlighted some training strategies for effective scheme operation and efficient service delivery, suggesting that effective manpower development and training programme should be need-driven and should consist of a systematic process.

The paper also categorized training needs for successful development of irrigation schemes as follows: professional training; technical training in irrigation; vocational training; participatory irrigation management (PIM) training; training needs for scheme officials; training needs for farmers and training needs for policy makers. Institutions and their roles with plan of execution for manpower development and training are also highlighted in the paper. The paper concluded that government at all levels as well as the non-governmental organizations contributing to the development of improved irrigation schemes, have vital roles to play in the development of an effective national water resources manpower and training programme.

Generally, hydropower systems use the energy of flowing water to produce electricity or mechanical energy as the case may be. Large hydropower schemes have proven to be detrimental to the environment and they are too expensive to run. In addition, remote areas such as most of our rural areas are difficult to be connected to the centralized national grid. Thus, small hydropower schemes, that are simple and relatively cheap to establish and managed, are becoming attractive to many policy makers world wide. Furthermore, they can be operated in a decentralized manner.

This paper has tried to highlight the various hydrological studies that are required to assess the viability of the planned project and the appropriateness of the site. In addition, the various methods presented are appropriate for the effective planning of small hydropower schemes and easy-to-use procedures.

Sustainable management of water, as a resource for various developmental activities in a river basin, is dependent on adequate information that will guide towards understanding the hydrological system. This entails a comprehensive and effective hydrological monitoring system that encompasses the processes of collecting, processing, storing, manipulating and evaluating data on quantitative and qualitative characteristics of surface and subsurface waters in our basins as well as the subsequent dissemination of the information resulting from the analysis of such data. The ability to provide real-time information for planning and management purposes require the services of an automated information system that provides for efficient data handling in a way not possible manually.

This paper supports the recommendations of the draft National Water Resources Management Policy on the need to use river basins as the basic units of water resources management in Nigeria. This can best be achieved by rationalizing the existing 12 River Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs), with politically demarcated boundaries, to 8 RBDAs based on the existing hydrological boundaries. The paper also recommended the establishment of a Catchment Management and Development Committee (CMDC) in each RBDA, comprising of all stakeholders and with the responsibility of resolving conflicts and harmonizing and ensuring complementarity of the activities of the stakeholders.

The paper also proposes a 4-level national water resources data management structure under a suitable coordinating agency that will coordinate the rehabilitation and/or establishment as well as effective management of hydro-meteorological stations in the country. The National Water Resources Institute is recognized as the Coordinating Agency. In the short term, the institute should coordinate and standardize data collection techniques, equipments and methods for water resources data collection as well as coordinate the processes of collection, collating, analyses, storage and dissemination of hydro-meteorological data. In the long term, the paper suggested the establishment of a National Hydrometric Monitoring Network that will consist of well equipped hydrological laboratories in the RBDAs capable of continuous recording, analysis and disseminating required data and information electronically. Effective utilization of the recently launched Nigeria Sat1 will facilitate the network.

A comprehensive review of the public and private stakeholders in the water sector has been attempted with capacity gaps identified through different water resources assessment and studies conducted by the National Water Resources Institute (NWRI) in areas of capacity building, research and the moderate achievements made so far have also been reported. There is no doubt that the number of courses conducted over the years has also recorded a steady decline. This could be attributed to inadequate funding and the will to implement the 5% recommended for capacity building in the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) in the water sector and non implementation of a compulsory positional progression courses that will ensure mandatory attendance of such prerequisite courses before staff could be promoted as practiced in other sectors. The paper also reviewed capacity building challenges and the way forward through the NWRI reform programme to reposition itself to discharge its mandates of coordinating capacity development in the nation’s water sector. Some of these programmes include Induction Course for New Entrants into the Water Sector, Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Training, Development of more code of practices, Competency Based Education and Training and Establishment of Centres of Excellence including Network collaborations programmes. All these capacity building programmes are geared towards improved water supply services in Nigeria.

In Nigeria, the hydro-meteorological data collection system is weak and grossly inadequate and there are many gaps in the collected data. The period between the early 1970s up to the late 1980s witnessed a period of aggressive data collection in the Hadejia-Jama’are-Komadugu-Yobe Basin (HJKYB). However, by the mid 1990’s, data collection had virtually stopped largely because of outright neglect in the maintenance of the installations as well as absence of the required investment. Furthermore, the quality of the already generated data is also worrisome. This could be attributed largely to inadequate capacity and lack of incentives/motivation of those involved in data collection, and negligence from the side of the responsible organizations.

These and many more have contributed to the need for a review in the hydro meteorological monitoring system in the country for effective water resources data generation and management. To address these short comings and gaps, the National Water Resources Institute (NWRI) has embarked on the National Water Resources Data Management Rehabilitation Project with the main aim of rebuilding and modernizing the Nigerian water resources data gathering, banking and retrieval systems. The Project is piloting in Hydrological Area 8 (i.e. HJKYB). This will complement the Hadejia-Jama’are-Komadugu-Yobe Basin-Trust Fund (HJKYB-TF) in its efforts towards rehabilitation and upgrading of the hydro-meteorological monitoring network for sustainable management of land and water resources of the Basin.