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Research Article Volume 9 Issue 4
Analysis of water demand and management rules in the Senegal River watershed: contribution of the weap21 model
Abdoulaye Faty
Received: October 14, 2025 | Published: December 24, 2025
Citation: Faty A. Analysis of water demand and management rules in the Senegal River watershed: contribution of the weap21 model. Int J Hydro. 2025;9(5):173-178. DOI: 10.15406/ijh.2025.09.00418
Abstract
Covering an area of 325,000 km² with average rainfall of 700 mm, the Senegal River basin, like all river basins in West Africa, was affected by the droughts of the 1970s, leaving it vulnerable. In response to this situation, the Organization for the Development of the Senegal River has implemented a number of programs and projects aimed at optimizing water resource management in the various sub-watersheds. It is in this context that the inadequacy of drinking water production from groundwater has been noted, resulting in the use of surface water through reservoirs and dams to meet this ever-increasing demand. Unfortunately, however, this new approach has encountered certain difficulties, largely due to high evaporation, silting, and rapid population growth. Faced with such difficulties in mobilizing water resources, the OMVS decided in 1986 and 1988 to build the Diama and Manantali dams to offer more opportunities for water, electricity, and hydro-agricultural development. With a view to improving the management of this infrastructure, the methodological approach adopted in this study consisted of using WEAP models as decision-making tools for water assessment and allocation. This approach is based on several axes: simulating watershed flows using WEAP; evaluating the capacity of the various structures; and evaluating the satisfaction of water dLemand in a context of climate change. Our results first reveal a break in 2006 in terms of rainfall, characterized by an upward trend in rainfall. This daily time step modeling using WEAP shows that the model performs well, with satisfactory performance parameters (performance criteria: NASH=0.79, R² =0.89, BIAS=-0.07, and RMSE=3.99).
Keywords: WEAP21 model, hydroelectric regulation, transboundary water management, governance of the Senegal River basin
©2025 Faty. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially.