Spillage from Bagre, Kompienga dams cannot impact Black Volta River basin

The Daily Graphic has repeatedly reported that spillage of excess water from the Bagre and Kompienga dams in Burkina Faso inundate large areas within the White and Black Volta River basins, adversely affecting farmlands. 

Refer to articles on Bagre and Kompieng a dam spillage in Daily Graphic of August 19, 21, 29, 2024, which repeatedly refer to communities downstream the White and Black Volta being affected by flood waters. This is inaccurate.

Location

While the Bagre Dam is located some 70 km due north of Bawku, the Kompienga hydro-electric dam lies not far from the eastern corner of the northern border of Togo with Burkina Faso.

Referring to the map of Ghana, the Bagre Dam is, therefore, located within the White Volta River basin while the Kompienga dam lies in the northern reaches of the Oti River.

From this geographical outlay, excess water from the Kompienga dam is wholly contained within the Oti River basin and so has no impact whatsoever on the situation in the White Volta river system.

Flow direction

Similarly, the Bagre dam lying within the White Volta river basin is the only dam which impacts downstream farming communities along the White Volta.

The excess water from the Bagre Dam would in future, flow directly into the reservoir of the proposed Pwalugu multi-purpose dam when it is constructed.

From the above, the Black Volta River, which forms our western border separating Upper West and Northern regions from Burkina Faso and La Cote d’Ivoire, is totally separated from the Bagre and Kompienga dams, watering the western parts of the Upper West and Northern regions.

For the avoidance of doubt, the excess water from the Bagre dam may only impact a small number of communities on the Black Volta when there is a simultaneous and coincidental spilling of excess water from both the Bagre and Bui dams.

This would cause the water levels in both the Black and White Volta rivers to rise, and so at the confluence of the two rivers, at Mpaha in the Gonja Central District, leading to the backing up of water, creating much higher than normal river water levels to flood higher grounds. 

The writer is a Civil & Irrigation Engineer
Email: robert.k.b.austin@gmail.com