Auteurs : Tshimanga, R.M., Hughes, D.A.

Review : Water Resources

Lien : https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2013WR014310

Abstract

Gaps in hydrological information of the Congo Basin increase uncertainties in understandinghydroclimatic processes in the basin, and consequently the risks associated with decision making for majorwater resources development plans. There is also uncertainty about the predictions of future climate andland use change. These challenges make it essential to explore possible approaches to close theinformation gaps. Some of the gaps can be filled using hydrological simulation models, which if they provepractical, can be established with available data, but generate sufficiently reliable information formanagement purposes. This paper discusses the results of applying a semidistributed rainfall-runoff modelwhich was established for the whole Congo Basin, using the available historical data, with an ultimate goalof understanding processes of runoff generation as well as assessing the impacts of future climate and landuse changes on water resources availability, including options for water resources development in thebasin. Issues of water resources assessment in the basin, approaches used to address them and somedirections for future research are discussed. It is noted that the hydrological model applied in this study forthe Congo Basin is able to capture the timing and magnitude of high and low flows satisfactorily,irrespective of the subbasins are located in headwater areas, downstream areas or at the outlets of regionsstrongly affected by wetlands and lakes. There remain a number of opportunities to improve the methodsused for water resources assessment within the basin.