Burkina Faso: Rehabilitating nine large water reservoirs

A consortium led by consultancy firm Witteveen+Bos has been awarded a project to rehabilitate nine large water reservoirs in Burkina Faso. The consortium also includes BERA, Deltares, Netics and Bureau M2.

The first phase of the project is to develop, together with local stakeholders, scenarios for a sustainable use of these reservoirs.

Burkina Faso is a relatively flat country where hundreds of water reservoirs have been built in the river basins of the Volta and Niger. These reservoirs store water for the purpose of drinking water, agriculture, industrial activities and fishing. 

Siltation, aggravated by land erosion, climate change and an increase in water demand is putting the water availability at risk for millions of people.

Also, due to a lack of maintenance, the dams need to be renovated.

In the first phase of the project, the current situation in terms of biophysical, social and institutional aspects will be established.

In this phase rehabilitation scenarios will be developed together with the local stakeholders which will include sediment management strategies, dam strengthening and dredging to protect and secure the scarce water resources. 

In the second phase the developed solutions will be further refined into detailed designs to protect the water resources now and in the future and generate income for the local communities.

The tender documentation for the rehabilitation works will be prepared in phase three.