Climate change effects and water scarcity in northern Ghana

There are numerous reservoirs in Northern Ghana which are used for storing water for domestic, irrigation and animal watering. However, these reservoirs are prone to drying up completely (particularly the small ones) during the long dry season from November to March/April, characteristic of the Northern Ghana climatic zone.  During the 7-month dry season the reservoirs which are used for irrigation agriculture have reduced water volume due to the combined effect of high evapo-transpiration rate and release of water for irrigation agriculture and for animal watering. This condition could be exacerbated by climate change and is attributable to the degraded catchment areas of the reservoirs due to anthropogenic activities such as bush burning, overgrazing, deforestation for fuel wood and construction purposes. How do we overcome this perennial phenomenon with the advent of climate change?