Hydrologic response to climate change in the Densu River Basin in Ghana
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Date
2020-08-11
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Heliyon
Abstract
Climate change continues to pose a threat to the sustainability of water resources. Global warming can have
several effects on the water resources and water demands in the Densu River Basin especially household water use
and agriculture use among several others. However, the extents to which the hydrology of the Densu River Basin
is will be altered in the future remains unknown. In this research, the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP21)
system was used to study the impacts of future climate change on water resources in the Densu River Basin. Future
climate data (rainfall and temperature) for the period 2051–2080 was generated from the Swedish Meteorological
and Hydrological Institute's climate models (ICHEC-EC-EARTH and RCA4) for RCP4.5 scenario under CORDEX
experiment. The results of the study indicate that the Densu River Basin will experience a temperature increase by
8.23% and a 17% reduction in rainfall resulting in 58.3% reduction in water resources in the area. The climate
change impact analysis indicates a reduction in the river streamflow due to decrease in rainfall. It is recommended
that future research on climate change adaptation for water management in the Densu River Basin should be
conducted.
Description
Keywords
Climatology, Climate change, Environmental impact assessment, Earth-surface processes, Hydrology, ACE: Energy and Environmental Sustainability, University of Energy & Natural Resources