Feasibility of Transferring Drinking Water from the Senegal River in the East (Backel) to the West Center (Fatick) in Senegal

Every year, 24 billion m³ of fresh water are thrown into the sea by the Senegal River, while most of the country’s populations do not have permanent access to drinking water. Also, agricultural land, which extends as far as the eye can see, is only used during winter periods, thus slowing down the development of agriculture. It is in this context that this article studies the feasibility of transferring drinking water from the Senegal River in the east of the country to the center-west through a transfer canal to meet the drinking water needs of the populations. In addition, we intend to flood the fossil valleys from this canal and recharge the aquifers. The watershed resulting from the juxtaposition of the two watersheds which dominate central Senegal has a slightly descending profile from Bakel to Fatick. This promotes gravity flow of water over 542 km. This analysis is carried out by the Glabal Mapper software and SRTM1 images. We report that all water needs have been estimated at approximately 70 m³/s based on the ANDS census in 2023, the distribution of arable land and groundwater recharge areas in the country. The waters flowing in the canal have depths (draft) not reaching 4.6 m. These results are obtained by applying the Manning Strickler equation, on a channel with a straight cross-section in the shape of a trapezoid and lined with sand concrete. The canal thus designed will bring water to populations and arid zones in the central and central-western regions of the country where problems persist. However, it will be necessary to overcome a difference in altitude of 96 m over 30 km to raise the water from the river to the threshold of the canal in order to ensure the flow in the latter. We have retained two calculation variants (Canal + Pumping or Single Pumping) whose pumping stations will be powered by solar fields. Due to the heavy investments, the installations upstream of the canal will be modular over time. Consequently, the central canal project will be constructed in six (6) phases of ten (10) years.