Photo: IRIN The arid north disappoints; government moves west in search of water (file photo)
OUAGADOUGOU, 22 March 2010 (IRIN) - Dwindling rainfall, shorter rainy seasons and a growing population in Burkina Faso have spurred the government to build dams near wetlands in the west of the country to expand supplies.
"We do not have the choice, we must do this," the director of water financing in the Ministry of Water Resources, Albert Beré, told IRIN. On average, people are getting only half the water they need for drinking, bathing and farming – an estimated 2,000 cubic metres per person per year, according to the government.
"Climate change is making rain more erratic - we are hit with droughts, then pounded by floods. Dams are a way to regulate our water supply," said Beré.
The water ministry is looking into building multi-million dollar dams near wetlands in Samandéni and Ouessa in the southwest of the country that could deliver a combined five billion cubic metres of water. The Samendéni dam will cost an estimated US$134 million, while three more dams under construction elsewhere will be completed by year-end at a cost of $18 million.
"If we want more water, we have to go where there is more rainfall," said Beré. Forty percent of the country's 1,200 dams are built in the arid north, they are too small, and collect too little rain to supply the country, said the Ministry of Water Resources.
Eighty percent of Burkina Faso's dams hold less than one million cubic metres, not enough to meet the annual need of 2.5 billion cubic metres of water – 64 percent for agriculture and 20 percent for drinking – Beré added.
The population is growing by 400,000 people per year after factoring in deaths, based on 2006 government data.
"Population growth has translated into more water needs, not only for people, but also for agriculture," the government's director of water resources, Ousséni Tanou, told IRIN.
A government survey in 2007 noted that 58 percent of urban dwellers had access to a modern and relatively safe source of drinking water, but only 19 percent of rural residents had the same access. The population was estimated at 14 million in 2006.
Agriculture
The water-intensive cultivation of rice, which urban dwellers prefer, has placed a further strain on dwindling water supplies, water resources director Tanou commented.
Almost 20 percent of the country's vegetable and rice production – some 673 million tons – depends on dam-fed irrigation, said water finance director Beré. "During the dry season, we have seen the excitement around what can be produced off-season on small irrigated plots."
In the end, how much the dams can pump out depends on the quantity going in. "Our main source of water comes from rain," said Tanou.
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