Hydroclimatology of the Kaduna River Basin

Temi E Ologunorisa,Ademola Akinbobola,Olufemi S Durowoju

doi:10.4236/ajcc.2021.103017

Abstract

This study examined the hydroclimatology of the Kaduna River Basin (KRB) in northern Nigeria. In achieving this, monthly data on temperature (T) and rainfall (P) were sourced from ten hydrometeorological stations across the basin from 1990 to 2018. DrinC (Drought Indices Calculator) software was deployed to calculate Potential Evapotranspiration (PET) adopting Thornthwaite approach. Water Balance (WB) model was used further to estimate other WB components i.e. soil moisture (SM), actual evapotranspiration (ETa), Water surplus (S) and Runoff (R). WB components are used to examine the temporal and spatial variability of the KRB for hydrological years (1990-2018). KRB was divided into two sub-basins (Lower and Upper KRB). The WB analyses indicated the peak of R generally occurs during the wet season (i.e. April through October) most especially at the Upper KRB. The study further reveals that the runoff efficiencies imply that i.e. November through March) across the basin while the majority of S is generated during wet season months, particularly from April through October when ~95% of S occurs on average with the peak S in August. The results of this study provide a baseline understanding of the hydroclimatology of the KRB which can be used as a starting point for further analyses, especially for water resources management.

Highlights

The Kaduna River Basin (KRB) is one of the most important river basins in West Africa, accounting for 8% of Nigeria’s landmass with 923,768 km2
It is notable that the peak of R generally occurs during the wet season (i.e. April through October) most especially at the upper KRB
Because Potential Evapotranspiration (PET) exceeds P for all the locations, all P is evaporated and transpired while ETa and P are almost equal in magnitude, resulting in R being consistently generated in the basin every year for the hydrological years under consideration

Summary

Introduction

The 550 km long River Kaduna is the third-longest river in the country after Rivers Niger and Benue flowing through different topographic and geologic zones in the north-west direction towards Kaduna metropolis and thereafter takes a south-west direction turn at Mureji and drains into River Niger at Nupeko. River Kaduna takes its source from Sherri Hills (1280 sl.) in Plateau State. The Kaduna River Basin (KRB) approximately covers 65,878 km area cutting across mainly two States-Niger and Kaduna. The KRB is an important food-producing region, responsible for more than half of Nigeria maize production, among other crops (Agronews, 2019; The Kaduna State Bureau of Statistics, 2019). Its highest headwater is free-flowing and is the only river feeding Shiroro dam (Chinwendu et al, 2017)

Methods

Results

Conclusion