Water quality and water-use conflicts in Lake Taabo (Ivory Coast)

Abstract

The Lake Taabo (Ivory Coast, Africa) results of the construction of the Taabo dam on the Bandama River. The changes in the water level of the 69-km² lake depend on 1) the rainfall linked to alternating dry/wet seasons; 2) the extraction of water for human uses; 3) the discharge of water from the upstream dam and the volumes tur-bined by the Kossou dam; 4) the various anthropic effects (discharge of untreated waste water from towns and industries, and leaching from agricultural land). The average concentrations of nutrients (NH 4-N: 1.1 mg/L, NO 3-N: 1.62 mg/L, PO 4-P: 10 mg/L, SiO 2 : 15 mg/L) and chlorophyll a (from 4.8 to 16.5 µg/L, average 11.4 µg/L) indicates some degree of eutrophication. The cumulated effects that threaten the ecosystem (degradation of water quality and eutrophication) are such that they are likely to interfere with various water uses. In a context of growing health and environmental concerns in Africa, this study demonstrates conflicts between different uses of this water resource and the urgent need for an appropriate policy including specific monitoring of lake water quality, wastewater control, and a programme to reduce agricultural fertilizers.

Spatial and Temporal Variation of Faecal Indicator Bacteria in Three Reservoirs of Ivory Coast (Taabo, Kossou, and Fae)

“…The Kossou reservoir covers an area of 1700 km 2 in the center part of the country. The Taabo reservoir, located 120 km downstream of the Kossou reservoir, covers an area of 62 km 2 [6,16]. The Fae hydroelectric dam covers an area of 16.28 km 2 located in South-western region of Ivory Coast [17].…”

“…Watershed of Taabo, Kossou and Fae hydroelectrics reservoirs covers, an area of 58700 km 2 , 32400 km 2 and 2424 km 2 respectively. These watersheds are mostly composed by rural area and agriculture [6,7]. Invasive aquatic plants are present and occupy a large part of the surface of the different water bodies.…”

“…Dams of Taabo, Kossou and Fae are three hydroelectric reservoirs in Ivory Coast, which are highly impacted by domestic and agricultural wastewaters, causing mortality of fish and diseases for fishers and other users of water bodies [6][7][8]. Indeed, household waste, aquaculture, cattle farming and agriculture developed around these hydroelectric dams, brought nutrients and other pathogenic microorganisms into these reservoirs [6][7][8]. The microbiological water quality of these reservoirs is unknown while the waters of these hydroelectric reservoirs are often used for domestic purposes, aquaculture and agricultural activities.…”

Fishermen’s perceptions and experiences toward the impact of climate change and anthropogenic activities on freshwater fish biodiversity in Côte d’Ivoire

“…The high rate of urbanisation, combined with agriculture expansion, are susceptible to impact aquatic ecosystems, especially those of the freshwaters, in this country. Pollution of aquatic ecosystems from the discharge of untreated domestic, industrial, and agricultural wastes have been reported in the country [17][18][19]. Regarding the climate of this country, from the 1980s to 2000s temperature increased on average by 0.5 °C, and from 2001 to 2010 a temperature rise of 0.8 °C was recorded [20].…”

Phytoplankton functional groups structures and ecological quality of tropical lake (Taabo, Côte d’Ivoire)

“…Although some data are available on physical, chemical and phytoplanktonic characteristics of Lake Taabo (Groga et al, 2012), there are no data on phytoplankton biomass and functional groups of this lake. Thus, this research focused on determining the ecological quality of the lake's waters by analysing the structure of phytoplankton functional groups in relation to the environmental parameters.…”