Rainwater harvesting in urban Ghana: a case of Adentan municipality

Abstract

A sufficient, clean drinking water supply is essential to life but millions of people throughout the world do not have access to this basic necessity. Even after the intensive efforts of engineers, planners, builders, governmental and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to bring potable water to the poorer people of the world, the situation is still a challenge. The problem becomes exacerbated especially in developing countries with an increasing population growth trend. This study sought to assess the potential of rainwater harvesting as a means of augmenting conventional sources of water supply for both portable and non-potable use in the Adentan Municipality. The study involved both adopters and non-adopters of Rain Water Harvesting Technology and adopted the mix method research approach. The study found that more than half of households harvest rainwater on regular basis with rooftop rainwater harvesting as the main technology used. A storage capacity of about 96.2 m3 or 96200 litres is required to store rainwater. Generally rainwater was assessed to be of good quality, despite some few coliform detected in water samples. Rooftop rainwater harvesting has a great potential of supplementing conventional water supply. The use of a binary logistic regression model revealed that age, sex, marital status, income, and household ownership were statistically significant at 5 percent in explaining households’ adoption of RWHT in the Adentan Municipality. It is therefore recommended that all stakeholders in the water sector should ensure that RWHT is incorporated into the design of new and existing buildings, while ensuring that households adopt best management practices that will make rainwater clean and safe to use.