Monthly Hydrological Bulletin: May 2020

The 2019/2020 hydrological year which started in June 2019 in the Niger River Basin ended in this month of May 2020 with the low flow water observed over the entire Niger River basin. The flows were supported by the releases from the Sélingué dams in Mali and Kainji dams in Nigeria, the base flow and gradual onset of rainy season.

The data used for the various analyses below came from Hydrological observation networks of the National Hydrological Services and Dam Authorities of nine (9) member countries.

The flow analysis situation was carried out by dividing the basin into four sub-catchments also represented with reference gauging stations as follows: Upper Niger at Koulikoro (Mali), Inland Delta at Dire (Mali), Middle Niger in Niamey (Niger) and Lower Niger at Lokoja (Nigeria) as shown in figure 1.
Figures 2 to 5 show the comparative hydrographs for present hydrological year 2019/2020 compared with last year 2018/2019, the inter-annual mean as well as the five-year dry period.