Quantification of Soil Deep Drainage and Aquifer Recharge Dynamics according to Land Use and Land Cover in the Basement Zone of Burkina Faso in West Africa

Moussa Bruno Kafando (), Mahamadou Koïta, Cheick Oumar Zouré, Roland Yonaba and Dial Niang
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Moussa Bruno Kafando: Laboratoire Eaux HydroSystèmes et Agriculture (LEHSA), Institut International d’Ingénierie de l’Eau et de l’Environnement (2iE), Ouagadougou 01 BP 594, Burkina Faso
Mahamadou Koïta: Laboratoire Eaux HydroSystèmes et Agriculture (LEHSA), Institut International d’Ingénierie de l’Eau et de l’Environnement (2iE), Ouagadougou 01 BP 594, Burkina Faso
Cheick Oumar Zouré: Institut de Génie de l’Environnement et du Développement Durable (IGEDD), Université Joseph KI-ZERBO, Ouagadougou 03 BP 7021, Burkina Faso
Roland Yonaba: Laboratoire Eaux HydroSystèmes et Agriculture (LEHSA), Institut International d’Ingénierie de l’Eau et de l’Environnement (2iE), Ouagadougou 01 BP 594, Burkina Faso
Dial Niang: Laboratoire Eaux HydroSystèmes et Agriculture (LEHSA), Institut International d’Ingénierie de l’Eau et de l’Environnement (2iE), Ouagadougou 01 BP 594, Burkina Faso

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 22, 1-22

Abstract: Groundwater is a vital water supply for local populations and ecosystems globally. With the continuous population growth, the anthropic pressure on groundwater is ever increasing, thus reducing the amount of available water resource. Yet, estimating the impact of anthropogenic activities on aquifer recharge is still a significant challenge for research, especially in basement aquifers. This study aims to improve the actual knowledge of deep drainage and deep aquifer recharge pathways and dynamics in the basement as affected by land use/land cover (LULC). The methodology used in this study accounted for hydraulic processes in soil layers within both unsaturated and saturated zones in an integrated approach. An experimental setup consisting of three (3) experimental plots, respectively under natural vegetation (NV), cropped millet (CM) and cropped groundnut (CG) on which deep drainage was monitored during the years 2020 and 2021. The results show significant differences between the LULC types after two years of implementation. Deep drainage is improved under CM and CG plots located in the central valley, as compared to the NV plot located in the ridge zone. Deep drainage is estimated at 8%, 24% and 25% of the annual rainfall, respectively for NV, CM and CG. The ratio between the recharge value obtained by the water table fluctuation (WTF) method and the deep drainage tends to 1 for the CM and CG plots, highlighting a rapid water transfer between unsaturated and saturated zones. The central valley, which seems to be a preferential recharge pathway, provides promising insights under specific conditions for the implementation of artificial recharge infrastructures.

Keywords: aquifer recharge; water balance; land use/land cover; soils layers; deep drainage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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