JORIND 14(2) December, 2016. ISSN 1596-8303. www.transcampus.org/journal; www.ajol.info/journals/jorind CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS ON HYDRAULIC STRUCTURES: THREAT TO THE CONTROL OF WATER FLOW A. I. Ayinla Department of Agricultural & Bio-Environmental Engineering, Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna A. A. Jimoh Department of Civil Engineering, Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna P. N. Eleke Department of Agricultural Technology, Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna E-mail: aibrahimayinla@gmail.com. +2348023630701, +2347032182822 Abstract The study was aimed at assessing the climate change impacts on hydraulic structure as it affects the water flows. A total of 30 years period climate data (1976- 2005) was obtained from the Department of Hydro-Meteorology, Kaduna State Water Board, Kaduna, Nigeria. While the timescale of raw 1996 and 2006 Satellite Imagery of a dam dyke was sourced from AY-GEOSPATIAL CONSULTANTS with a consideration. The periods were chosen to represent the two climate data decades (1986-2005 & 1996-2012).The climatic data analysis was performed using statistical downscaling method. Minitab Computer Software was found suitable for the analysis. ERDDAS IMAGINE Computer Software was also used to process, and extract the statistical information of the structure and as well as reflective properties. The analysis techniques include ISODATA; Internal Average Relative Reflectance and measurement of climate impact by differencing. The results of climate analysis indicated that 1986-2005 data period was wetter, producing trend of 9.62mm rainfall with increasing mean temperature trend of 0.006 0 C, while 1996-2012 data indicated downward trend of 5.05mm in rainfall and trend decrease in mean temperature (0.003 0 C). The clustering patterns in dyke shows the pixel value of 55 - 60 for 1996 and 150 down toward 145 for the 2006 imagery, demonstrating probability of washing and cleaning out surfaces as exposure progresses. The spectral reflectance classification indicated the variability of 203% on the brightness value relative to 2006 from 1996. The study is concluded by spotting out the challenges in providing evidence of changes relative to 2006 imagery, while the use of the method is not exhaustive. Furthermore, the study provides recommendation of intensive study and concrete covers measurement so as to ascertain the strength, extent of crack on the dam dyke as to continuing providing its services for the flow of water. Keywords: Climate change, hydraulic structures, water flows, satellite imagery Introduction Climate change has been identified to be one of the most serious global problems, which affects many sectors in the World and is considered one of the most serious threats to sustainable development, with adverse impact on environment, human health, food security, economic activities, natural resources and physical infrastructures (IPCC, 2007). The basic elements that determine the climate are rainfall and temperature, (Pidwirny, 2004). These elements vary from time to time, years or decades, and from one location to another. However, human life depends on climate dynamically. The growing awareness of the rate of climate change have been affirmed by the IPCC, (2007) report and few mentioned here; (Brown and Wilby, 2012; Schlosser and Strzepek, 2014; Fant et al., 2014; Arndt and Tarp, 2015). Global temperatures on the earth surface have been found to increase by 0.4 to 0.8 0 C with mean of 0.74 0 C since record started in 1860 and it was projected to increase between 1.6 0 C (low), 2.5 0 C (middle) and 4.5 0 C (high) by the year 2100 (IPCC, 2007). Possible consequences of the climate change include increasing evapotranspiration, decreasing rainfall amount in the continental interiors, increasing rainfall in the coastal areas, increasing frequency, floods, droughts, bush fires, unpredictable rainfall patterns, sea level rise, increase desertification and land degradation, drying up of rivers and lakes and constant loss of forest cover and biodiversity (Odjugo, 2010). Also,