One of the key areas of climate change impacts is the water resources. Surface water has been compromised by climate change, and so has groundwater. Sub-Saharan Africa has been one of the major sufferers of climate change since the early 70s. The limitations of current global climate models in the prediction of the future climate over the continent have been a source of research challenges in the last decade. Over the decades, West Africa and the Sahel region have been subjected to major droughts and recurrent dry spells. While most studies in the region have tackled climate change effects on surface water and agriculture, a few have highlighted its effects on groundwater. This study investigates climate change impacts on both surface and groundwater in the Kou basin in Burkina Faso. The Kou River and its tributaries have experienced depletion over the last decades. Therefore, it has become necessary to investigate the deficit of the river flow and how the groundwater that forms the springs that feed the rivers is affected by climate change. The study resorts to integrated hydrologic modelling approach using the SWAT surface model and the MODFLOW groundwater model to assess the impact of climate change. Simulations from selected Regional Climate Models (RCMs) are used. Investigations from the RCMs show that the study area is expected to be drier with less precipitation and higher temperatures. Furthermore, the SWAT model results show that as rainfall reduces, future stream flows also significantly decrease. Results from the MODFLOW model also follow the trend of the SWAT model. Groundwater levels are declining whatever the RCM outputs used. Overall, all the models predicted a severely decreasing trend in surface and groundwater in the Kou basin. The study results will be particularly useful for water resources managers in the Kou River basin. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

One of the biggest upcoming challenges to the international community is the problem of a changing climate. The earth’s surface temperature is rising and associated impacts on physical and biological systems are increasingly being observed. Science tells us that climate change will bring about gradual changes, such as sea level rise, and shifts of climate zones due to increased temperatures and changes in precipitation patterns. A changing climate affects the entire world but will strike hardest against the poorest as they are the ones most dependent on agriculture which is a sector that is very vulnerable to changes in temperature and precipitation patterns. One region that will be especially vulnerable and has experienced the problems of shifting climate zones before is the Sahel region that borders to the south end of the Sahara desert where problems of desertification have occurred before. This region will in large extent be affected if the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) predictions of a rising temperature will become a reality. This is one of the reasons why I have chosen Burkina Faso, situated in the south end of the Sahel region, as the objective for my MFS. The question of rising temperatures will be especially important here as the region is very sensitive to differences in temperature. A crucial topic in this part of the world as well as the topic of this study is the process of adapting to the new climatic situation.