Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
FLOOD ANALYSIS AND MITIGATION ON LAKE
ALBERT, UGANDA
ALBERT RUGUMAYO
∗
and DAVID KAYONDO
Department of Civil Engineering, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
∗
rugumayo@energy.go.ug
This study was carried out to provide knowledge for proper water resources
planning, based on the statistical analysis and mathematical modeling. Major
rivers contributing to the inflow and outflow of the lake were identified and
their respective flow data acquired. Missing data were infilled using the nor-
mal ratio method and the ARMA model was used to extend the data. The
annual maximum and minimum flow series were extracted from the data and
modeled using the EV1 distribution. Because of its regular cross-sectional area,
Lake Albert was also considered as a channel and therefore both reservoir and
channel routing techniques were applied. The data sets considered were the
maximum and minimum inflows, maximum and minimum outflows and an
average year. Both the statistical modeling and flood routing provided useful
results for flood modeling and mitigation.
1. Introduction
In 1961 and 1962, the flood plains of Lake Albert were greatly inundated to
such an extent that Butiaba Inland Port was destroyed. The local inhabi-
tants were forced to leave the Rift Valley floor, which constitute the lake
flood plains and migrate to higher ground. Very little information, however,
was available to planners on the trends of floods in this basin. The objec-
tives of this study therefore, were to model Lake Albert's behavior during
flooding using both statistical and mathematical methods and recommend
appropriate flood mitigation.
Lake Albert as shown in Fig. 1 is found in western Uganda, along the
Uganda — Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) border. It is a rift valley
lake, formed in the western arm of the Rift Valley, on the valley floor and is
the second largest lake in Uganda after Lake Victoria. It is located in region
30
◦
25
E-31
◦
25
E longitudes, 1
◦
N-2
◦
15
N latitudes. Lake Albert covers an
area of about 5,335 km
2
, is approximately 160 km long from tip to tip,
44 km wide at its widest width, 36 km at it's narrowest. At its deepest, the
lake depth is about 51 m. It is shown in Fig. 1. The catchment covers an
area of 18,223 km
2
, which extends into the Democratic Republic of Congo
31
