Log in

Assessing the Potential for Rainwater Harvesting

  • Published:
Water Resources Management Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Rainwater harvesting is one of the promising ways of supplementing the surface and underground scarce water resources in areas where existing water supply system is inadequate to meet demand. Rainwater harvesting is one of the measure for reducing impact of climate change on water supplies. Abeokuta has a mean annual rainfall of 1,156 mm which makes rainwater harvesting ideal. Intra annual variability lies betwen 0.7 and 1.0 while the inter annual variability was 0.2. Annually 74.0 m3 of rainwater can be harvested per household. Estimated annual water demand for flushing, laundry and flushing were 21.6 and 29.4 m3 respectively. Harvested rainwater in Abeokuta can satisfy household monthly water demand for WC flushing and laundry except for November, December, January and February. The excess rainwater stored in September and October is sufficient to supplement the short fall in the dry months provided there is adequate storage.Water savings potential is highest in June and September which is the two rainfall peak period in Southwest Nigeria.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adeboye OB, Alatise MO (2008) Surface water potential of River Osun at Apoje Sub-Basin, Nigeria. Soil Water Res 3(2):74–79

    Google Scholar 

  • Aladenola OO (2008) Impact of climate change on water supply in Nigeria. Unpublished Master’s thesis submitted to Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium

  • Aladenola OO, Ajayi AE, Olufayo AA, Ajayi B (2008) Assessment of Gmelina arborea sawdust–cement-bonded rainwater storage tank. Environmentalist 28(2):123–127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Appan A (2000) A dual-mode system for harnessing roof water for non-potable uses. Urban Water 1(4):317–321

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ashworth J (2005) Roof collection and storage of rainwater for drinking. Proc Inst Civ Eng 158(WM4):183–189

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown L (2005) Outgrowing the Earth: the food security challenge in an era of falling water tables and rising temperatures. Earthscan, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Chilton JC, Mildment GG, Marriot TDD, Francis A, Tobias G (1999) Case study of a rainwater recovery system in commercial building with a large roof. Urban Water 1(4):345–354

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • FAO (2008) State of food insecurity in the world—high food prices and food securities, threats and opportunities. Food and agriculture organization of the united nations, Rome, pp 59

  • Fewkes A (1999) The use of rainwater for WC flushing; the field testing of a collection system. Build Environ 34(6):765–772

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flower DJM, Mitchell VG, Codner GP (2007) Urban water systems: drivers of climate change? In: Proceedings of the rainwater and urban design 2007, IRCSA XIII Conference, Sydney, Australia

  • Ghisi E, Montibeller A, Schmidt RW (2006) Potential for potable water savings by using rainwater: an analysis over 62 cities in Southern Brazil. Build Environ 41(2):204–210

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Handia L, Tembo JM, Mwiindwa C (2003) Potential of rainwater harvesting in urban Zambia. Phys Chem Earth 28(20–27):893–896

    Google Scholar 

  • Hermann T, Schimda U (1999) Rainwater utilization in Germany: efficiency, dimensioning, hydraulic and environmental aspects. Urban Water 1(4):307–316

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hills S, Birks R, Mckenzie B (2001) The millennium dome ‘water-cycle’ experiment: to evaluate water efficiency and customer perception at a recycling scheme for 6 million visitors. In: Proceedings of the IWA second world water congress. Berlin, pp 15–19

  • IPCC (2007) Summary for policymakers: an assessment of the Intergovernmental panel for climate change. Valencia, Spain

    Google Scholar 

  • Jury WA, Vaux HJ (2006) The role of science in solving the world’s emerging water problems. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102:15715–15720

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krishna HJ (2005) The success of rainwater harvesting in Texas—a model for other states. Paper presented at the North American rainwater harvesting conference, Seattle, WA

  • Kuczera G (2007) Regional impacts of roofwater harvesting—supplementing public water supply. Paper presented at the rainwater colloquium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

  • Leggett DJ, Shaffer P (2002) Buildings that save water–rainwater and greywater use. Proc Inst Civ Eng 151:181–196

    Google Scholar 

  • Murad AA, Al Nuaimi H, Al Hammadi M (2007) Comprehensive assessment of water resources in the United Arab Emirates (UEA). Water Resour Manag 21:1449–1460. doi:10.1007/s11269-006-9093-4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • NPC (2003) Nigeria demographic and health survey. National Population Commission, Federal Republic of Nigeria

    Google Scholar 

  • NPC (2006) Population census of the Federal Republic of Nigeria: analytical report at the national level. National Population Commission, Abuja, Nigeria

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Hara JK, Georgakakos KP (2008) Quantify the urban water supply impacts of climate change. Water Resour Manag 22:1477–1497. doi:10.1007/s11269-008-9238-8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Orebiyi EO, Awomeso JA, Oyedepo JA (2008) Assessment of bacteria pollution of shallow well water in Abeokuta, Southwestern Nigeria. Life Sci J 5(1):59–65

    Google Scholar 

  • Peters EJ (2006) Rainwater potential for domestic water supply in Grenada. Proc Inst Civ Eng 159(WM3):147–153

    Google Scholar 

  • Sekar I, Randhir TO (2007) Spatial assessment of conjunctive water harvesting potential in watershed systems. J Hydrol 343:39–52

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas TH, Martinson DB (2007) Roofwater harvesting: a handbook for practitioners. Technical paper series, no 49, IRC International Water and Sanitation Center Delft, The Netherlands, 160 pp

  • UNEP (2000) Global environment outlook 2000. United Nations Environment Programme

  • United Nations Environmental Program-DTIE-EITC/Sumida City Government/People for Promoting Rainwater Utilization (2002) Rainwater harvesting and utilization; an environmentally soundly approach for sustainable urban water; an introductory guide for decision makers

  • United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) (2008) State of the world population, culture, gender and human rights. UNFPA, 108 pp

  • UN-HABITAT (2005) Blue drop series on rainwater harvesting and utilisation. UN-HABITAT, Nairobi, Kenya ((2006) Meeting development goals in small urban centres—water and sanitation in the world’s cities 2006)

  • Wheida E, Verhoeven R (2007) An alternative solution of the water shortage problem in Libya. Water Resour Manag 21:961–982. doi:10.1007/s11269-006-9067-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • WHO/UNICEF JMP (2008) Federal Republic of Nigeria: improved water coverage estimates (1980–2006). Joint Monitoring Programme

  • World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) (2009) The United Nations world water development report 3: water in a changing world. UNESCO, Paris, 349 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Zaizen M, Urakawa T, Matsumoto Y, Takai H (1999) The collection of rainwater from dome stadiums in Japan. Urban Water 1(4):335–359

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Olanike Olowoiya Aladenola.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Aladenola, O.O., Adeboye, O.B. Assessing the Potential for Rainwater Harvesting. Water Resour Manage 24, 2129–2137 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-009-9542-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-009-9542-y

Keywords

Navigation