This paper applies the principles of water-use accounts, developed in the first of the series, to the Volta River basin in West Africa. The Volta Basin covers 6 countries, with 85% of its area in Ghana and Burkina Faso. The three main tributaries, the Black Volta, White Volta and Oti River, all rise in Burkina Faso. The major feature of the Basin is the Akosombo dam, which creates the world's largest man-made lake. Precipitation increases strongly from the dry upper reaches in the north of the Basin towards the south, where the river discharges into the Gulf of Benin.
The paper reports on runoff, land use, and water use by rainfed and irrigated agriculture. Possible impacts of climate change on the water cycle are discussed.
CPWF Working Paper: Basin Focal Projectseries, BFP04. Colombo, Sri Lanka: The CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food. 28 pp.
BFP04. Water-use accounts in CPWF basins: Simple water-use accounting of the Volta Basin.