The Senegal River has begun to recede, according to the hydrological bulletin released Thursday, September 10, by the Directorate for Water Resources Management and Planning. At Bakel, the water level dropped thirteen centimeters in twenty-four hours, falling to 5.42 meters from 5.55 meters the previous day. On the Falémé, at the Kidira station, the decline reached twelve centimeters, bringing the level down to 3.48 meters. Matam was the exception, with a slight rise of seven centimeters to 5.52 meters, while Podor and Richard-Toll held steady at 3.66 and 2.77 meters respectively. None of these stations currently exceed their alert threshold.
This downward trend fits into a broader pattern of significant hydrological lag compared to last year. At the Manantali dam, the reservoir stood at 201.69 meters on Thursday, more than five meters below its level at the same date in September 2025. The gap was already substantial in early September: on September 1, water levels were 34.67 percent lower at Bakel, 36.74 percent lower at Matam, 23.85 percent lower at Podor, and as much as 44.26 percent lower at Kidira compared to 2025. Such a gap points to a rainy season that has been generally less generous this year across the river’s watershed, which extends into Guinea and Mali.
On the Gambia River, the situation is also trending downward, though authorities are not letting their guard down. At Kédougou, the main station monitored on this waterway, the decline was confirmed throughout the week’s readings, continuing a trend already observed in early September. Other stations in the same basin, such as Gouloumbou, also showed a marked drop in early September, while Mako and Diaguiri recorded slight increases instead, reflecting contrasting dynamics across the river’s various tributaries.
The Directorate for Water Resources Management and Planning maintains daily monitoring of all these stations across the Senegal, Gambia, and Casamance rivers. While the absence of any threshold breaches offers reassurance in the short term, authorities note that releases from the Manantali dam can, in the event of heavy rainfall upstream, trigger a rapid and localized rise in water levels along the valley, as happened in previous seasons. Vigilance therefore remains the order of the day in riverside areas, even as this year’s figures sit well below those recorded last year.