Monthly hydrological Buletin October 2013

ARRIVAL OF BLACK FLOOD IN NIAMEY

The flow discharge of the river Niger has started rising in the Middle Niger basin in Niamey, as a result of the incoming black flood from the Upper Niger in Guinea and Mali. The total flow volumes are recorded in 2013/2014 hydrological year from June to October 2013 recorded in Niamey was about 11.40 billion m3 and was higher than mean Five Years Return Period (5YRP) as shown in Figures 4 and Table 1..
The analyses on hydrological situation in the Niger basin in October 2013 was carried out by sub-dividing the basin into 4 sub-catchments with a representative stations as follows; Upper Niger at Koulikoro (Mali);
Inland Delta at Dire (Mali); Middle Niger at Niamey (Niger); Lower Niger at Lokoja (Nigeria) as shown in Fig1.
Fig. 2 to 5 showed the comparative hydrographs of the different stations from 1^st June to 31^st October 2013 using the mean, the wet and dry 5YRP as well as the flow in 1967, 2011 and 2012.
The water level situation within the major reservoirs such as the Sélingué (Mali) and Kainji (Nigeria) are shown in Fig. 6 and 7 respectively. The water lever in Selingue dam is still rising while that in Kainji dam is constant. Table 1 and 2 are respectively showing the cumulative flow volume in October 2013 and the flow characteristics of some hydrological stations in the basin. The monitoring of River Niger is carried at the
Technical Directory under the framework of the Niger-HYCOS project. Data collection is carried out from METEOSAT Satellite Controlled Data Collection Platforms and from National Hydrological Services of the NBA member Countries and from the management of Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro dams in Nigeria.