RWH Presentation

Dynamics of Rainwater
Harvesting (RWH) in
Botswana:
Understanding the Socio-
economic Aspects for
Effective Implementation
of Programmes and
Policies
 Profile on Botswana
„ Location: Botswana is located in the
Southern part of Africa; just above
South Africa
„ Size: 600,370 km²
„ Population: 1.7 million
„ Climatic conditions: Semi-arid
„ Water: only 2.5% of the land is
covered by surface water
 Profile on Botswana Cont’d;
Economics
„ Currency: BWP
„ Total GDP: US$18.72 billion
„ Per-Capita GDP: US$11,400
„ Main revenue export earner:
Diamonds
„ Foreign exchange reserves: US$7
billion
„ Main spender and consumer:
Government
 Water situation in Botswana
„ Water is sourced mainly from the
following: dams; wells and boreholes
„ Rain-water is only harvested on low scales
„ The following government institutions and
parastals are tasked with providing
portable water from these sources to
different market segments; Water Utilities
Corporation (supplies urban areas); Water
Affairs (supplies rural and major villages);
councils (supply settlements).
 Water situation in Botswana-
Cont’d
„ According to recent government
statistics 97.7% of the population of
Botswana have access to safe
drinking water
„ GOB is currently subsidising the
operating costs of water delivery by
more than 40%
„ Annual water demand for urban and
major villages stands at 77ML
Examples of some of the
common water collection
and reticulating systems
used in Botswana
 Rainfall related issues
„ Botswana is a semi-arid country
„ Annual rainfall: 250-650 mm
„ The Northern part of the country
experiences more rainfall than the
rest of the country
„ Evaporation rate: 2000 mm
„ 60% of the population uses ground
water sources for water supply
 Overview of the paper
„ The paper formed a sub-set of the
RWH project
„ It therefore used primary data that
was collected for the RWH Feasibility
Project
„ Its main focus however was on
bringing across the socio-dynamics
of RWH in Botswana- a sub-set of
different disciplines investigated
during the survey
 Objectives
The paper aims to bring to light
aspects regarding the following
parameters;
„ Trends in RWH practices

„ Cost of such systems for those with

systems
„ Sources used to fund the systems

„ Affordability of the systems

 Objectives Cont’d
„ Opinions of those without RWH
systems
„ General sentiments on practicing
RWH by those with and without the
systems
„ NB. The survey covered the following
market segments: Domestic;
Agriculture; Commercial/ industrial
enterprises and Institutions
 Sampling Method
„ The survey adopted the Convenience
Sampling Method
„ This was the ideal method given the
nature of the research
„ The 2001 Population Census of
Botswana was used to determine the
sample size for each area
 Questionnaire designing
„ SNAP software was used for
designing the questionnaire
„ The questionnaire contained both
open-ended and closed questions
„ The questionnaire was administered
by our researchers to that we
achieve the highest rate of response
 Data Analysis Process
„ The SNAP software was also used for
data processing and analysis
„ Tables depicted on the paper are
derived directly from the SNAP
software program
„ Some of the tables are however
simplified into graphs for purposes of
this presentation
 Data Discussions
„ It is divided into the following
segments;
1. Sentiments of respondents with
RWH systems are presented firstly
2. Sentiments of respondents without
such systems then follow
3. Lastly we look at sentiments of all
respondents irregardless of whether
they harvest or not.
 Population dynamics
„ Sample size consisted of participants
from rural and urban areas, and
settlements
„ Effectively the survey captured views
of individuals and institutions with
different socio-economic
backgrounds
„ Total sample size stood at 1273
Respondents with or without RWH
systems
„ 88.3% of the total Number of respondents with or
sample did not without RWH systems
have RWH systems
„ 11.5% had RWH 100

systems while 80

P e r c e n ta g e
0.2% of the 60
Distribution
sample did not 40
respond to the 20
question 0
Yes No
Responses
 1.
Respondents with RWH
systems
 Cost of RWH systems
„ Most respondents
were not aware of the Distribution

cost of their systems

8
„ Another significant 7

P e rc e nta ge
6
number maintained 5
4 Distribution
that their systems had 3
2
a “price tag” of P1000 1
(US$160) to P5000
0

(US$809)

00

no 0 0

w
0
>P 0 0

no
0
10

D o 00
50

0
Subsequently most of

tk
10
<P

1
-P
„

-P
0
00

0
the respondents felt

00
P1
P5
their systems were Cost
affordable
 Source of funding
„ Most of the Source of funding
systems were
funded from 100

P e r c e nta ge
80
government 60
Distribution
schemes with a 40
20
few using own 0

savings to set-up

G o ve rn m e n t

fu n d in g
C o m m e rcia l

Ow n
s ch e m e

b a n ks
system
Source
 Affordability of the system
Affordability of the system Distribution Affordability of the system

9 120
8
100

Percentage
7
80
Percentage

6 Affordability of
Affordability of 60
5 the s ys tem
the system 40
4 Res pons e Yes
Distribution 20
3
0 Affordability of
2

<P1000

P10000
the s ys tem

Donot

know
P5000-
1
Res pons e No
0
Yes No
Cost of the system
Response

„ 8.3% said their systems were affordable

„ 2.4% said their were not affordable
„ 100% of respondents whose system cost below
>P1000 said it was affordable
„ 50% of respondents with systems costing between
P10 000 said theirs was also affordable and 50%
equally said it was not affordable
 2
Respondents without RWH
systems
 Reasons for not having RWH
systems
„ Most of respondents without RWH
systems did not have them because
they could not afford them
„ A good number of respondents also
argued that they were not
knowledgeable
 3
General sentiments about
RWH
All respondents
 Opinions on harvested RW
A n aly s is %
„ Most respondents Re s p o n d e n t s

argued that harvested

Bas e 100.0%
M is s in g
rainwater was clean No r e p ly 37.4%
enough to be used – V ar ia b le V 7
35% C le a n e n o u g h 35.0%

„ A good number of It h as n o ch e m ica ls 5.3%

respondents also It is t a s t ie r t h a n
cu r r e n t s o u r c e
22.2%

argued that It is n a t u r al 7.4%

respondents felt that it C o n t ain s le s s s alt s 1.9%

was tastier than It is s o f t 1.4%

conventional water – On ly s a f e f o r
ir r ig a t io n an d
4.2%

22.2% w a t e r in g a n im a ls
 Cleaning harvested RW
Analys is %
Re s ponde nts „ Most respondents
Bas e 100.0% encourage boiling the
M is s ing harvested rainwater
No r e ply 65.4% prior to using
V ar iable V 8 „ First flush is
Boil be for e us e 28.6%
significant in ensuring
Fir s t flus h 2.8%
that harvested
Filtr ation 1.6%
rainwater is clean
Us e che m icals 0.9%
It is cle an e nough 2.4%
Cle an tank s 2.4%
r e gular ly
 Preferred RWH systems
Bas e %
Re s p o n d e n ts
„ Given a choice
Bas e 100.0% between communal
M is s in g and private RWH
No r e p ly 2.6% systems, most
W h ich o f th e respondents
preferred private
fo llo w in g s ys te m s
w o u ld yo u p r e fe r ?
C o m m u n al 18.3% RWH systems
r ain w ate r h ar ve s tin g
s ys te m „ This is shown by
Pr ivate r ain w ate r 80.7% the 80.7%
h ar ve s tin g
Potential benefits that could accrue
to the economy if RWH is
encouraged
„ The survey shows that people are
quite aware of water scarcity, and
would associate RWH with possibility
of reducing this scarcity.
„ Equally important are the steadily
rising costs of reticulated mains
water supply
 Initiatives needed to encourage
RWH
„ Most respondents Bas e %
Re s p o n d e n ts
argued Bas e 100.0%

government M is s in g

policies and
N o r e p ly 2.1%
W h a t in it ia t iv e s
programmes which w o u ld y o u lik e t o
s e e in p la c e t o
encouraged e n c o u r ...

subsidies should
G o ve r n m e n t 79.6%
s u b s id ie s

continue to be Ea s y a c c e s s to
fu n d s
49.9%

encouraged, a H ig h p ip e d w a t e r
b ills
14.4%

practice which has M o r e e d u c a t io n a l 73.0%

been in existence
m a t e r ia ls o n R W H
T h e r e ar e e n o u g h 1.0%

in the past in it ia t iv e s
 Market segments that stand to
benefit more from RWH
„ Given the rain fed conditions under
which agriculture is usually practiced
in Botswana, it is not alarming to
observe that 87.2% of respondents
would like RWH to be encouraged
within the agriculture sector, thus
boosting efficiency of food
production. .
 Conclusions
„ The following conclusions can be drawn:
„ RWH is one initiative that can easily be
absorbed and practiced by most
Batswana.
„ The issue of affordability is a major
deterrent among those without RWH
systems.
„ Public education and awareness about
RWH in general is essential to motivate
and encourage efficient utilisation of the
harvested rainwater for greater communal
benefit.