Located at the heart of the Dakar-Thiès-Mbour triangle, a strategic region for Senegal’s development, the Somone catchment area is undergoing profound changes that are disrupting land use and increasing pressure on its water resources.
The result is growing competition between uses, including drinking water, market gardening, intensive agriculture, the processing industry, the extractive industry and tourist activities.
In addition, this basin leads to the Somone lagoon, a RAMSAR marine protected area, where the quality of the aquatic environment and biodiversity are now threatened by upstream activities.
As part of an institutional cooperation project with the Seine-Normandie water agency and the International Office for Water (OiEau), the Somone Management and Planning Sub-Unit (UGP) was chosen as a pilot basin by Senegal’s General Directorate for Water Resources Planning (DGPRE) to test Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) mechanisms.
The Water Management and Planning Sub-Committee set up represents a forum for dialogue and solidarity between the various users in the catchment area, who meet regularly under the authority of its chairman, the Governor of Thiès. The work carried out by this committee has enabled a shared diagnosis of the state of the catchment to be drawn up and priority issues associated with general objectives to be identified. As a result, the Sub-UGP’s Water Management Plan has been updated, with a prioritised action plan for the short and medium to long term, providing a shared, cross-cutting vision for the basin. The various tools developed during this project are intended to be replicated and constitute a toolbox to support the DGPRE in setting up IWRM mechanisms throughout the rest of the country, and at different planning scales, in particular the Water Development and Management Schemes (SAGE). Ultimately, these mechanisms will be incorporated into the proposed reform the Senegalese Water Code.