Senegal River: Manantali below its normal level, upward trend along most of the course

The level of the Manantali reservoir remains below its normal level, while the Senegal River shows a slight upward trend over most of its course, according to the daily hydrological bulletin of the Saint-Louis Water Resources Brigade (BRE-SL) published this Friday, October 2, 2026.

At Manantali (upstream of the dam), the Bafing River level stood at 205.80 meters at 8:00 AM, compared to 208.39 meters on the same date in 2025. The water level is thus below the normal level of 208.05 meters and far from the exceptional level of 211 meters. The turbine flow rate is currently 182 m³/s, according to the specialized bulletin.

On the tributary side, the Falémé recorded a slight regression at the Kidira station, showing a drop of 4 centimeters with 8.06 meters this Friday, compared to 8.10 meters the day before and 8.34 meters in 2025.

However, the overall trend is upward along the main stretch of the river. In Bakel, the water level rose by 8 centimeters to reach 7.92 meters, compared to 7.84 meters on October 1st (and compared to the 10.38 meters recorded in 2025). The local alert level there is set at 10 meters.

It is in Matam that the increase is most pronounced, with a rise of 35 centimeters. The level there climbs to 6.62 meters compared to 6.27 meters on Thursday (for a value of 8.51 meters last year at the same time), remaining below the critical threshold set at 8 meters.

In Podor, the river rose 9 centimeters to 3.63 meters, compared to 3.54 meters the previous day (5.36 meters in 2025), with the alert level set at 5 meters. Further downstream, in Richard-Toll, the water level rose slightly by 2 centimeters to 2.76 meters, compared to 2.74 meters on Thursday (3.03 meters in 2025), with the alert threshold set at 3.35 meters.

At the Diama dam (upstream), the river level is 2.13 meters, compared to 1.56 meters projected for 2025, with a release rate of 816 m³/s compared to 1,524 m³/s a year earlier. According to the Water Resources Brigade, the upstream water level is currently being lowered preventively to prepare for the flood and regulate the flow towards the river mouth, thus avoiding any major impact on the city of Saint-Louis.

Finally, in Saint-Louis itself, the scale indicates a level of 0.90 meters this Friday morning compared to 1.31 meters in 2025, maintaining a significant safety margin compared to the alert level set at 1.75 meters.