Water Allocation in The Lower Niger River Basin, Nigeria Using WEAP Model

Abstract The study explores the use of the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) model to determine the water resources available and allocate them among competitive users, comprising domestic, agricultural, industrial, and hydropower users. The resultant optimization result shows the initial total water demand for the base year (2010) to be 3.74 Mm 3 , which increases to 8.32 Mm 3 for the projected year 2035. The study has provided valuable insights into optimizing available water resources, with total unmet demand estimated at 0.92 Mm 3 for 2010 and 2.04 Mm 3 for the foreseeable year 2035. The correlation coefficient between simulated ungauged (Shonga) rainfall and convoluted runoff (0.72) to a similar nearby basin (Jebba) with known rainfall and runoff data shows a good NSE validation result (0.63). Beyond water allocation modelling, the study suggests strategies such as water conservation policies, infrastructure improvements and community engagement for efficient regulation of the basin’s water use.