Water Resour Manage (2012) 26:295–305

DOI 10.1007/s11269-011-9918-7

Rainwater Harvesting: An Alternative to Safe Water

Supply in Nigerian Rural Communities

H. T. Ishaku & M. Rafee Majid & Foziah Johar

Received: 28 September 2010 / Accepted: 20 September 2011 /

Published online: 1 October 2011
# Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011

Abstract Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is an economical small-scale technology that has the
potential to augment safe water supply with least disturbance to the environment, especially in
the drier regions. In Nigeria, less than half of the population has reasonable access to reliable
water supply. This study in northeastern Nigeria determined the rate of water consumption and
current water sources before estimating the amount of rainwater that can potentially be
harvested. A survey on 200 households in four villages namely, Gayama, Akate, Sidi and
Sabongari established that more than half of them rely on sources that are susceptible to
drought, i.e. shallow hand-dug wells and natural water bodies, while only 3% harvest rainwater.
Taraba and Gombe states where the villages are located have a mean annual rainfall of
1,064 mm and 915 mm respectively. Annual RWH potential per household was estimated to be
63.35 m3 for Taraba state and 54.47 m3 for Gombe state. The amount could meet the water
demand for the village of Gayama although the other three villages would have to supplement
their rainwater with other sources. There is therefore sufficient rainwater to supplement the
need of the rural communities if the existing mechanism and low involvement of the villagers
in RWH activities could be improved.

Keywords Northeast Nigeria . Rural water . Rainwater harvesting

1 Introduction

Access to water supply is fundamental to life and health. By extension, it is a prerequisite

for realizing other basic human rights (WHO and UNICEF 2000). The vital importance of
water for development is reflected in one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
which requires halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and
adequate sanitation by 2015. Innovative approach towards water supply is needed to meet
this huge challenge.

H. T. Ishaku : M. R. Majid (*) : F. Johar

Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Built Environment,
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Malaysia
e-mail: rafee@utm.my
296 H.T. Ishaku et al.

Despite its critical role as a resource, projections by the United Nations (UN) indicated
that, as a result of deteriorating global water supply situation, an estimated two billion
people will lack access to safe drinking by middle of the 21st century (Parmar 2003). Sub-
Saharan Africa is also confronted with similar problems as indicated in a study by the New
Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) which revealed that about 50% of Africa’s
population will be affected by water scarcity by 2025 (WHO 2000; Malley et al. 2008).
Government and donor agencies in Nigeria and indeed in many developing countries
have devoted public resources and leverage public funds to construct improved water
systems in urban and rural areas. While coverage rates have improved over time, growth in
rural water supply has lagged behind compared to the higher percentages of urban residents
who have gained access to better service. Like many developing countries, Nigeria cannot
satisfy its domestic water needs as only 47% of the total population have access to water
from improved sources in 2007 (WHO and UNICEF JMP 2008).
Public water supply in Nigeria started in the early twentieth century with only a few
towns managed at the lowest administrative level. Amongst the early beneficiaries were
Lagos, Calabar, Kano, Ibadan, Abeokuta, Ijebu Ode and Enugu. The schemes were
maintained with revenue from water sales with virtually no operational subvention from
government. Today, all the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory in Nigeria have water
boards/corporations or public utilities boards managing their public water supply. Their
efforts are supplemented, in many cases, by local governments who supply water to small
villages in their areas of jurisdiction. The Federal Government got involved in the
management of water resources in 1976 when the Federal Ministry of Water Resources
(FMWR) and the 11 River Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs) were created. The
purpose of the RBDAs was to provide bulk water, primarily for irrigation.
Following the adoption of the National Water Supply and Sanitation Policy in January
2000, the Nigerian Government considered the provision of water supply services to be the
domain of the Federal, State and Local governments. However, the public sector has not
been successful in meeting more than a small portion of the residential and commercial
demand for water. Services are in critically short supply. Thus, out of the 85 million people
living in urban and semi-urban areas, less than half have reasonable access to reliable water
supply (FMWR 2000).
Many households, often the poorest, end up purchasing water from private vendors
much more expensively than from the public supply. Water supply services, where they
exist, are unreliable and of low quality and are not sustainable because of difficulties in
management, operation and pricing and failure to recover costs. Many water supply systems
show extensive deterioration and poor utilization of existing capacities, due to poor
maintenance and lack of operational fund. In rural areas, the focus was on increasing the
sharing of ownership and management by communities and local governments, with
communities taking charge of operation and maintenance as well. Fiscally, both in small
towns and rural areas, the focus must be on phasing out of subsidies for maintenance
altogether, and restricting such subsidies to partial capital costs to engender greater
community ownership.
The process of water supply in Nigeria has now been focused on construction and
installation of hand pump bore holes due to their perceived low cost, simple technology
which can be operated, maintained and financed by poor rural households (Harvey and
Reed 2003). However, these hand operated boreholes have not been able to meet the
increasing water demand and are susceptible to frequent break down. A renewed interest in
RWH has emerged as a result of escalating environmental and economic costs of providing
water by centralized water system or by well drilling. RWH has the potential to supplement
An Alternative to Safe Water Supply in Nigerian Rural Communities 297

the ever increasing lack of access to safe water supply in Nigerian rural communities. It is a
practical and economical small-scale technology that is contributing significantly to the
preservation of environment and ecology in the semi-arid and sub-humid regions of the
globe. More importantly, rainwater provides safe water for human consumption.
Traditionally, people in Nigeria and indeed rural households in northeastern Nigeria
have harvested rainwater for drinking and other domestic purposes, water for livestock
and water for small irrigation. RWH in rural areas is mainly through runoff from
rooftop of dwellings and public buildings. This ranges from collecting water at the eve
of thatched roofs by buckets, pots and other containers of varying sizes and capacities
based on the water consumption requirements for households. The water collected lasts
only for a few days and at the mercy of the prevailing climatic conditions. Therefore,
there is a the need to harvest rainwater in a more systematic manner to ensure potable
water supply to rural communities on a sustainable basis. This paper, therefore, seeks to
add to the existing pool of knowledge on RWH as a sustainable alternative to safe
water supply (such as Aladenola and Adeboye 2010; Opare 2011; Baguma et al. 2010
and Efe 2006). The paper specifically seeks to assess the characteristics of current rural
water supply in the region and to evaluate the availability of rainfall in harvesting
rainwater as the source of water supply.

2 The Need for RWH in Northeastern Nigeria

As global demand for safe water is increasing, changes in climate and pollution are
reducing potable raw water. While the resources available to cater for the demand are
shrinking, the potentials for large-scale water resource development in poor countries are
overshadowed by financial constraints. This leads to an emerging interest in improving safe
water access through small-scale water projects at the household, village and local levels to
arrest the problems posed by water crisis in our local environment. For many rural
households which do not have access to clean drinking water, tapping the clouds instead of
the water pipes has become a significant way of supplementing access to safe water supply.
RWH has been studied in many parts of the world as a way of easing the burden of lack
of access to safe water supply, among others are Aladenola and Adeboye (2010); Baguma
et al. (2010); Berhelot and Robertson (1990); Goel and Kumar (2004); and Jean-Marc et al.
(2007). There are numerous benefits of RWH (Krishna and Hari 2005; Russell et al. 2008).
Apart from providing a source of free water, it requires minimal storage and maintenance
cost and brings water at the point of need (Onyenechere 2004; Nkwocha 2008; Efe 2006;
Opare 2011). It has become an integral part of societies in remote places where piped water
and reliance on wells is not an option (Kelvin and Ward 2006).
RWH is a technology used to collect, convey and store rainwater from relatively clean
surfaces such as a roof, land surface or rock catchments for later use (Krishna and Hari
2005). RWH can provide water for human consumption, reduce water bill and lessen the
need to build reservoirs which may require the use of valuable land. It can save money even
if someone lives where the annual rainfall averages only 300 mm. Money can be saved by
collecting and storing rainwater and using it when the need arises (Russell et al. 2008).
Government, non-governmental and community-based organizations (NGOs and CBOs),
and donor agencies have promoted and supported RWH initiatives in many parts of the
world. In New Delhi and Chennai in India, for example, it is compulsory to have a RWH
system for a building plan in order to secure approval (UN-HABITAT 2005). This is
however not the situation in Nigeria.
298 H.T. Ishaku et al.

Our investigations have revealed that about 80% of rural households in northeastern
Nigeria do not have access to improved water supply such as piped water networks or bore
holes and where such facilities exists, they are either malfunctioning or completely broken
down and abandoned. Rural households have to rely on other sources for domestic water
supply. The available water supply sources include hand dug wells, river, unprotected water
ponds, ephemeral streams and rainwater. Women and children especially spend their
productive and considerable time seeking for water in far distances from their homes.
Households not having access to improve water supply are vulnerable to many health
problems.
Out of the many alternative water sources, rainwater is considered the cheapest source of
clean water when available. Rivers are few and the ephemeral streams last only for few
months after which they dry up. The hand dug wells are poorly constructed using primitive
water lifting devices such as buckets and smaller containers that are unhealthy and time
consuming. Government interventions in rural water supply have been through the
provision of hand operated bore holes and hand dug shallow wells. These water sources
yield little or no water during the dry season and prone to frequent breakdowns, leading to
constant water shortages over the years.

3 Materials and Method

3.1 Study Area

Nigeria lies between latitudes 4°N to 14°N and longitudes 3°E to 15°E. It is bounded in the
north by Niger Republic, in the west by Benin Republic and in the east by Cameroon
Republic. Chad Republic is to the northeast while the Atlantic Ocean is to its south through
the Gulf of Guinea. The northeast region of Nigeria falls within the Guinea Savanna
Ecological Zone and lies between the semi-arid north and the wet southern part of Nigeria.
The study areas are four villages in the northeast region, namely: Akate and Gayama in
Taraba state; and Sidi and Sabongari in Gombe state (Fig. 1). The other states in the region
are Adamawa, Yobe, Borno and Bauchi.
Nigeria’s climate is characterized by strong latitudinal zones which becomes
progressively drier as one moves northwards from the coast. Rainfall is the key climatic
variable and there is a marked difference between the wet and dry seasons in most areas.
The total annual rainfall decreases from 3,800 mm on the coast to less than 650 mm in the
extreme northeast of the country. The length of rainy season decreases from nearly
12 months in the south to less than 5 months in the north. Rain starts in the month of
January in the south and progresses gradually across the country. The period of June to
September is the rainiest throughout the country.
The topography of the northeast region especially towards the border can be higher than
2000 m above sea level. Temperatures vary from place to place and from season to season.
It has been observed that there are considerable contrast between coastal and interior areas
as well as between the highland plateau and lowlands. On the plateau, the mean annual
temperature varies between 21°C and 27°C. On the lowlands mean annual temperature is
27°C while the coastal fringes have lower means than the interior. Altitude and proximity to
the seas determine to a larger extent distribution of temperatures in Nigeria.
According to the National Population Commission (NPC) (2006), the population of the
northeast region was about 18,970,965 people. Taraba has a population of approximately
2,300,736 people while Gombe has 2,353,879 inhabitants. The population figures for Sidi
An Alternative to Safe Water Supply in Nigerian Rural Communities 299

Fig. 1 Map of Nigeria showing sampled villages in northeastern region

and Sabongari were given as 4,701 and 923 persons respectively. Gayama meanwhile has
2,545 persons and Akate has 1,720 persons (Nigeria Population Commission 2009). The
people that inhabit the northeast region are heterogeneous in nature, upholding different
cultures and religious beliefs. They include Jukuns, Ichens Kutebs, Chambas, Ndoros and
Tiguns who are mostly Christians living in the southern most part of Taraba state where
Akate and Gayama are located. They engage in subsistence farming, fishing and hunting.
The other study villages are dominated by the Hausas and Fulanis, i.e. the dominant groups
of people found in Gombe state, the central part of the study area. They practice both
subsistence and pastoral farming. They specialize in dairy products and are mostly
Muslims.
Safe water supply has always been an issue for the people of this region. Lacking piped
water supply, their main sources of water supply include natural occurring water bodies,
shallow hand-dug wells, deep bore holes, springs in some areas and a little of RWH. Comes
dry season from November to April, water supply is always a recurring critical issue in the
region.

3.2 Method

The method of the study involved the establishment of the rate of water consumption and
current water sources in the study villages before the amount of rainwater that can
potentially be harvested is estimated. To determine the rate of water consumption and water
sources, a survey was carried out in the four villages. A total of 200 households were
surveyed with 50 respondents from each village. During the survey, questions were asked
300 H.T. Ishaku et al.

pertaining to their water consumption, sources of water supply, accessibility of the supply,
household size and current practice of harvesting rainwater. The data were then tabulated
and analyzed against the potential of RWH estimated from the secondary data on rainfall
pattern obtained from The Nigerian Meteorological Agency.
The rainfall records obtained from The Nigerian Meteorological Agency carry a 30 years
monthly rainfall data (1980–2009) collected for the States of Taraba and Gombe. Figure 2
shows the annual rainfall data over 30 years period where the amount of rainfall is greater
in Taraba than in Gombe. The rainfall data were first analyzed to determine the
characteristics of the rainfall in terms of rainfall pattern, average monthly rainfall, average
annual rainfall, and wet and dry months during the years recorded. The intra annual
variability of the rainfall was determined by solving for the coefficient of variation of the
monthly rainfall while the inter annual variability of the rainfall was similarly determined
using the annual cumulative rainfall. The coefficient of variation is thus expressed as:
S
CV ¼
X
where
CV coefficient of variation of the monthly rainfall or the annual cumulative rainfall
S standard deviation of the monthly or annual rainfall (in mm)
X mean of the monthly or annual rainfall (in mm)

In general, RWH can be carried out from surface runoff or rooftop runoff. This study
however focuses only on rooftop RWH given that it is a cleaner alternative. Thus, the
amount of rainwater that can be harvested depends on roof area, rainfall intensity, storage
and runoff coefficient which depend on roof material and design (Thomas and Martinson
2007). The equation adapted by Aladenola and Adeboye (2010) from Ghisi et al. (2006) is
Annual Rainfall (mm)

Year

Fig. 2 Annual rainfall depth of Taraba and Gombe states from 1980 to 2009
An Alternative to Safe Water Supply in Nigerian Rural Communities 301

adopted in the study to calculate the amount of rainwater that could potentially be harvested
per household per month. The equation is given as:
R  HRA  RC
VR ¼
1000
where
VR monthly volume of rainwater per household (in m3)
R monthly rainfall (in mm)
HRA household roof area (in m2)
Rc runoff coefficient (dimensionless)
The monthly rainfall data were taken as average monthly rainfall from 1980 to 2009
and the household roof area per dwelling was estimated during field observation to be
around 70 m2. The value for runoff coefficient is taken to be 0.85 for hard roof in humid
tropics, the value used by Aladenola and Adeboye (2010) based on Thomas and
Martinson (2007).

4 Results and Discussion

Water supply in the study area comes from various sources other than piped water supply.
Almost half of the respondents (48%) indicated hand-dug wells as their main source of
water, followed by natural water bodies such as rivers, streams and ponds at 24%. Almost
equally important at 20% is drilled tube wells or boreholes that are favored by water
hawkers or vendors. Spring water, which is only available in Gayama village, contributes
water to 5% of the respondents while RWH is the source of water to a mere 3% of the
respondents. The fact that more than half of the respondents rely on sources that are
susceptible to drought, i.e. shallow hand-dug wells and natural water bodies, makes
harvesting and storage of rainwater for later consumption in the dry season immensely
important to these rural communities. Presently, RWH is practiced at a small scale and on
individual basis using small containers such as buckets, jars, jerry cans, drums and pots of
varying shapes and sizes. The existing mechanism and low involvement of the villagers in
RWH activities should be investigated and improved. However, it is important to first
establish the current household water demand and the amount of rainwater that can
potentially be harvested by each household.
Water consumption in the four villages was found to vary slightly according to
village and more notably according to season. During the wet season, the villages of
Sidi and Sabongari in the drier north reported the rate of 45 l per capita per day while
the villages of Akate and Gayama in the south respectively reported 40 and 35 l per
capita per day. The figures are within the 20–50 l of safe water requirement set by The
World Bank (2001) to meet daily metabolic, hygiene and domestic needs. The FMWR, in
the national policy on water supply, sets the recommended rate of 23 l per capita per day
for rural areas and 60 l for the urban residents (FMWR 2000). Due to difficulties in
getting the supply though, water consumption could be as low as 12.5 l per capita per day
in the dry season. Given the average household size of five persons as discovered during
the survey, the amount of water per household per day would be 6.00 m3 for Akate,
5.25 m3 for Gayama and 6.75 m3 for both Sidi and Sabongari. Thus the average
household water consumption for the entire study area is calculated to be 6.00 m3 per
household per day.
302 H.T. Ishaku et al.

Both of the states where the study villages are located have been recording a reasonable
amount of annual rainfall for the last three decades. Mean annual rainfall for Taraba State
over that period is 1065 mm which is slightly more than 915 mm recorded for Gombe State.
Figure 2 above shows the low variability of annual rainfall distributions over the years with
the coefficient of variation has been calculated to be 0.19 for Taraba and 0.12 for Gombe.
As normally the case, the situation is different for monthly rainfalls. As depicted in Fig. 3,
there is a distinct bimodal rainfall pattern within a year. This high variability in monthly
rainfall is supported by the fact that the coefficient of variation of monthly rainfall ranges
from 0.28 to 5.28 for Taraba and 0.00 to 5.48 for Gombe.
If water year is taken to begin from November, there is a distinct dry season that last for
5 months from November until March before the wet season begins from April to October
(Fig. 3). The wettest months for both states are July to September when the rainfalls
average above 200 mm per month before dropping noticeably in October and then
completely dry thereafter until end of February. Ensuring sustainable yearly supply of
rainwater from this pattern of rainfall distribution requires proper planning for harvesting
and storage of the excess water. Figure 4 illustrates the monthly water balance per
household for the villages if water demand were to be met only by RWH. As previously
highlighted, actual water sources for the area however currently come from various sources
and RWH is only a small part of it. Even though rainwater can be practically harvested
from April to October, ample excess of rainwater for storage for the coming dry months are
only available from May to October for Taraba State and July to September for Gombe
State. Tables 1 and 2 detail the calculation of the monthly water balance, subtracting
household water demand from household harvested rainwater.
Annual RWH potential per household was 63.35 m3 for Taraba state and 54.47 m3 for
Gombe state (Tables 1 and 2). The amount could only meet the water demand for the
village of Gayama where the annual demand is 63 m3 against the potential harvested
volume of 63.35 m3. The other three villages would have to supplement their rainwater with
other sources to meet their monthly water demand, with the villages of Sidi and Sabongari
in the north having the biggest deficit of 26.53 m3 per year. For Gayama, the total shortfall
of 26.54 m3 from November to April could be met with excess rainwater stored from May
to October amounting to about 27 m3. As for the village of Akate, in the same state of
Taraba, which has slightly higher per capita water consumption, excess rainwater from the
(mm) Rainfall

Month

Fig. 3 Mean monthly rainfall depth of Taraba and Gombe states from 1980 to 2009
An Alternative to Safe Water Supply in Nigerian Rural Communities 303

3
Monthly Water Demand – Akate (6.00m )
Water Volume (m )
3

3
Monthly Water Demand – Gayama (5.25m )

RWH = Rainwater Harvesting

Month
Water Volume (m )

3
Monthly Water Demand–Sidi/Sabongari(6.75m )
3

RWH = Rainwater Harvesting

Month

Fig. 4 Harvested rainwater volume and monthly balance for Akate and Gayama (top) and Sidi and
Sabongari (bottom)

same period would still not be able to satisfy the total shortfall of 31 m3. Thus, other
sources as discussed before are still needed to a certain extent. The same is also true for the
two villages in the north, Sidi and Sabongari, which have not only a slightly higher water
consumption rate but also a lower RWH potential due to their location. Their excess
rainwater of 16 m3 from the limited period of June to September could not overcome the
shortage of almost 43 m3 for the rest of the year. More than those villages in Taraba state,
the villages in Gombe have to rely on other sources of water.

5 Conclusions

Provision of potable water supply to rural communities on a sustainable basis is an

important development objective for Nigeria which experiences water shortage, especially
in the drier region. This study revealed that although there was a potential in RWH to meet
the water demand for most of the villages, it has not been extensively practiced, thus
304 H.T. Ishaku et al.

Table 1 Household monthly harvested rainwater and monthly balance for Akate and Gayama

Month Average monthly Projected volume of Monthly water demand (m3) Monthly balance (m3)
rainfall (mm) rainwater (m3/month)
Akate Gayama Akate Gayama

Nov 2.74 0.16 6.00 5.25 −5.84 −5.09

Dec 0.76 0.05 6.00 5.25 −5.95 −5.20
Jan 0.94 0.06 6.00 5.25 −5.94 −5.19
Feb 0.82 0.05 6.00 5.25 −5.95 −5.20
Mar 14.35 0.85 6.00 5.25 −5.15 −4.40
Apr 63.73 3.79 6.00 5.25 −2.21 −1.46
May 128.29 7.63 6.00 5.25 1.63 2.38
Jun 154.80 9.21 6.00 5.25 3.21 3.96
Jul 185.07 11.01 6.00 5.25 5.01 5.76
Aug 198.53 11.81 6.00 5.25 5.81 6.56
Sep 208.28 12.39 6.00 5.25 6.39 7.14
Oct 106.37 6.33 6.00 5.25 0.33 1.08
Total 1064.69 63.35 72.00 63.00 −8.65 0.35
Average 88.72 5.28 6.00 5.25 −0.72 0.03

contributing only a small proportion of water supply. Some of the problems identified with
RWH in the study area include lack of funding for bigger storage facilities and almost
nonexistence of awareness creation on latest technology of RWH. A concerted effort on
RWH is required to contribute toward a sustainable alternative to safe water supply. Some
critical aspect of RWH which include health implication, the material and capacity of the
storage facilities and the management strategy need to be addressed. Since RWH is
presently undertaken by individuals, a good strategy would be to embark on a communal
RWH effort, allowing for viable financial support and efficient water management system.

Table 2 Household monthly harvested rainwater and monthly balance for Sidi and Sabongari

Month Average monthly Projected volume of Monthly water demand (m3) Monthly balance (m3)
rainfall (mm) rainwater (m3/month)

Nov 0.51 0.03 6.75 −6.72

Dec 0.00 0.00 6.75 −6.75
Jan 0.04 0.00 6.75 −6.75
Feb 0.00 0.00 6.75 −6.75
Mar 4.27 0.25 6.75 −6.50
Apr 43.81 2.61 6.75 −4.14
May 91.70 5.46 6.75 −1.29
Jun 121.70 7.24 6.75 0.49
Jul 199.51 11.87 6.75 5.12
Aug 236.93 14.10 6.75 7.35
Sep 165.61 9.85 6.75 3.10
Oct 51.31 3.05 6.75 −3.70
Total 915.38 54.47 81.00 −26.53
Average 76.28 4.54 6.75 −2.21
An Alternative to Safe Water Supply in Nigerian Rural Communities 305

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