Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 34 (2009) 767–775

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Physics and Chemistry of the Earth

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/pce

A GIS-based decision support system for rainwater harvesting (RHADESS)

J. Mwenge Kahinda a,*, A.E. Taigbenu a, B.B.P. Sejamoholo a, E.S.B. Lillie b, R.J. Boroto b
a
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Wits University, Private Bag X3, Wits 2050, South Africa
b
Source Strategic Focus (Pty) Ltd., P.O. Box 2857, Pretoria 0001, South Africa

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is an unconventional water source that is increasingly adopted in South
Received 24 January 2009 Africa. Its implementation is promoted by non-governmental organisations and government programmes
Received in revised form 29 June 2009 to alleviate temporal and spatial water scarcity for domestic, crop and livestock production and support
Accepted 30 June 2009
the overall water resources management. Unreliable water supply is one of the elements central to the
Available online 10 July 2009
poverty level of rural population. As the potential of RWH to improve water access for drinking and other
basic human needs is still untapped, the technique will spread further in the coming decades. Studies on
Keywords:
the hydrological impacts of RWH are focused on plot scale and very little is known about its impacts at
Decision support system
Geographic information system
catchment scale. To integrate RWH into the development and management of water resources in South
Hydrological impact Africa, there is a need to develop tools and methodologies that not only assist planners with the identi-
Rainwater harvesting suitability fication of areas suitable but also quantify the associated hydrological impacts of its wide scale adoption.
South Africa This paper presents the rainwater harvesting decision support system (RHADESS) that was built to
assist decision makers and stakeholders by indicating the suitability of RWH in any selected part of South
Africa and quantifying the potential impacts associated with its adoption at catchment scale. RHADESS is
GIS-based and uses ArcView 3.3 as a platform to assess the RWH suitability of any given area of South
Africa. Results are thereafter exported into an Excel spreadsheet that contains the hydrological impact,
as runoff reduction, of different levels of adoption of RWH assessed by using the Pitman model. The deci-
sion support system guides the implementation of the following RWH categories: Infield RWH and ex-
field RWH and domestic RWH. RHADESS was tested in two selected quaternary catchments C52A and
V13D located in the Upper Orange water management area and the Thukela water management area,
respectively.
Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction amount of water made available to crops to satisfy their require-

South Africa is experiencing growing pressure on water re-
sources caused by increasing water demand for agricultural,
domestic and industrial consumption that has brought about the
need to maximise and augment the use of existing or unexploited
sources of freshwater. Furthermore, the current energy crisis pre-
vents the implementation of agriculture and water projects requir-
ing high input of fossil energy and electricity. Water is at the heart
of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) numbers 1, 3 and 7,
and indirectly associated with the achievement of the others. To
improve food security, alleviate malnourishment and meet the first
MDG, South Africa’s small-scale rainfed agriculture must be up-
graded. To address the challenge of obtaining the highest yield un-
der variable and low rainfall conditions prevailing in South Africa,
interdisciplinary approaches are required: (1) to increase the
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +27 723969799; fax: +27 117177045.
E-mail address: jeanmarcmk@yahoo.co.uk (J. Mwenge Kahinda).
ments over time with improved water management through rain-
water harvesting (RWH); (2) to maximise water infiltration and
holding capacity of soils coupled with improved soil management
through conservation tillage, mulching, etc. and; (3) to increase
crop access to water – with improved crop management through
selection of crop species, planting date, etc.
The best strategy is to combine the various techniques and
practices to obtain the highest yield (intersection of the three cir-
cles, Fig. 1) and, often, it is an iterative process to achieve this com-
bination (FAO, 2008). RWH is a general term, which describes the
concentration, collection, storage, and use of rainwater runoff for
both domestic and agricultural purposes (Gould and Nissen-Peter-
sen, 1999). According to the type of catchment surface used, it is
classified into infield RWH (IRWH), ex-field RWH (XRWH), and
domestic RWH (DRWH). DRWH systems collect water from roof-
tops, courtyards, compacted or treated surfaces, store it in RWH
tanks for domestic uses. IRWH systems use part of the target area
as the catchment area, while XRWH systems use an uncultivated
area as its catchment area (Mwenge Kahinda et al., 2008). The

1474-7065/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.pce.2009.06.011
768 J. Mwenge Kahinda et al. / Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 34 (2009) 767–775

Fig. 1. Integrated water–soil–crop management strategies (FAO, 2008).

focus of this paper is on IRWH and XRWH referred to as field RWH Table 1
(FRWH). Land cover of C52A.
A number of scholars have confirmed the potential of RWH to Description Area (km2) Total area (%)
enhance water productivity by mitigating temporal and spatial
Thicket, Bushland, etc. 43.13 4.60
variability of rainfall (Makurira et al., 2009; Mwenge Kahinda Grasslands 786.08 83.86
et al., 2007a; Rockström and Barron, 2007; Ngigi, 2006; Oweis Forest plantations 2.17 0.23
and Hachum, 2006; Rosegrant et al., 2002). RWH also offers an Water bodies 10.54 1.12
alternative for South Africa to meet the Millennium Development Wetlands 14.02 1.50
Bare rock and soil 2.93 0.31
Goals of halving by 2015 the proportion of people without sustain-
Cultivated commercial 63.69 6.80
able access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation (MDG 7, Cultivated subsistence 11.65 1.24
Target 1), and provide the first 6 kl of water at no cost to poor Urban /built-up 3.17 0.34
households (households with less than USD 112 income/month)
(Mwenge Kahinda et al., 2007b).

Fig. 2. C52A quaternary catchment, spatial position relative to the Upper Orange WMA.
 J. Mwenge Kahinda et al. / Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 34 (2009) 767–775 769

Fig. 3. V13D quaternary catchment, spatial position relative to the Thukela WMA.

Fig. 4. RHADESS structure.

In South Africa, the implementation of RWH is promoted by
non-governmental organisations and government programmes to
alleviate temporal and spatial water scarcity for domestic, crop
and livestock production and support the overall water resources
management. Increased adoption of RWH is expected in the com-
ing decades as its potential to improve water access has been iden-
tified. With wider scale adoption of RWH in the horizon, there is
the need to have better understanding of its likely impact on catch-
ment hydrology, ecology, geomorphology, groundwater and catch-
ment yields. Within a national framework of integrating
development and management of water resources in South Africa,
tools and methodologies are therefore required to identify suitable
areas for the practice and as well as its associated hydrological
impacts.
The paper presents the GIS-based RWH decision support system
(RHADESS) which indicates suitable areas of different types of
RWH and quantifies their hydrological impact in terms of change
in runoff. The paper also presents the application of RHADESS in
two quaternary catchments C52A and V13D located in semi-arid
and humid zones, respectively, in South Africa.
770 J. Mwenge Kahinda et al. / Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 34 (2009) 767–775

Physical Weighted RWH

layers Overlay Physical map

Ecological Weighted Ecological map Weighted RWH

Ecological map
Ecological map
layers Overlay Overlay Potential map

Arithmetic
Weighted RWH
Ecological map
Overlay Suitability map
Socio-economic Weighted Vulnerability
layers Overlay map

Constraint Arithmetic RWH

layers Overlay Constraint map

Fig. 5. Schematic of the RWH suitability model (RSM) showing the potential model and constraint sub-models (Mwenge Kahinda et al., 2008).

Grasslands cover about 84% of the total area while urban areas only
Table 2 cover about 0.3%. Consequently, much of the area is used for cattle
Datasets used in RHADESS (after Mwenge Kahinda et al., 2008). and game farming. Cultivated land covers about 8% of the total
area, of which 7% is under commercial crop production and the
No. Attributes Layers Resolution
remaining 1% under subsistence farming.
1 Physical Aridity zones 2 km  2 km
The mean annual precipitation of C52A is estimated to be
2 Annual rainfall with 80% probability of 2 km  2 km
exceedance 543 mm/year and the estimated mean annual potential evapora-
3 National land cover 2000 1/250,000 tion 1600 mm/year.
4 Soil texture 1/250,000 V13D (Fig. 3) is a quaternary catchment (280 km2) located in
5 Soil depth 1/250,000 the Thukela WMA (29,036 km2) in the foothills of the Drakensberg
6 Ecological Ecological importance and sensitivity 1/250,000 mountains in South Africa. The Thukela WMA, which has several
category tributaries draining from the Drakensberg escarpment towards
7 Socio- Percentage households without piped water 1/250,000 the Indian Ocean, is predominantly rural in character with forestry,
8 economic Percentage households without proper 1/250,000 agriculture and eco-tourism as primary activities (DWAF, 2004).
sanitation
9 Percentage household below poverty datum 1/250,000
The mean annual precipitation of V13D is estimated to be
10 Percentage population not economically 1/250,000 814 mm/year and the estimated mean annual potential evapora-
active tion is 1350 mm/year.
11 Constraint Rivers 1/250,000
12 Dams and lakes 1/250,000 2.2. Structure of RHADESS
13 Roads 1/250,000
14 Railways 1/250,000
Built as an extension of ArcView 3.3, RHADESS uses it as a plat-
15 Conservation areas 1/250,000
16 Urban areas 1/250,000 form (Fig. 4) to assess the potential that RWH holds in South Africa
17 5 km Buffer around settlements 1/250,000 or in one of its 19 WMAs. RHADESS interface enables the user to
load the project file of the RWH category of interest and access
its RWH suitability model (RSM). The RSMs (Fig. 5) are built in
ModelBuilder, another extension of ArcView 3.3, where parameters
Table 3 may be changed easily and models run to explore alternatives.
RWH levels of adoption.
Results of the RSM are displayed as maps with five suitability
Suitability Scenario levels (very low to very high), and the footprint (surface area of
High Medium Low each suitability class) at quaternary catchment level can be esti-
Very high 100 75 50
mated and displayed as a map and in Excel. A complete description
High 75 50 25 of the RWH suitability models can be found in Mwenge Kahinda
Moderate 50 25 0 et al. (2008).
Low 25 0 0 The hydrological impact of RWH is assessed in the Excel environ-
Very low 0 0 0
ment as reduction in mean annual runoff depending on the poten-
tial level of adoption in a quaternary catchment. The estimated
reduction in mean Annual runoff (MAR) is obtained by interpolation
2. Research methodology between the results obtained from the Pitman model which was
used to model the following levels of adoption of rainwater harvest-
2.1. Site description ing: 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% in the catchments considered.
Upscaling of RWH is reflected by an increase in area under RWH
The C52A quaternary catchment (Fig. 2) has an area of 938 km2 (DAS) and the intensification of RWH leading to more runoff reten-
that drains into the Rustfontein dam. It is part of the Upper Orange tion. According Ngigi (2006), the runoff reduction (DQr(S)) by a
water management area (WMA) (92,269 km2), and its main land RWH system is proportional to DAS .
cover is grassland. Extensive sheep and cattle farming characterise  
AS
the area. Rainfed cultivation occurs where the rainfall and soils are DQ rðsÞ ¼ f ; ð1Þ
AR
favourable, but sizeable areas below the main storage dams are
under irrigation (DWAF, 2004). where AS = area under a RWH system (m2), AR = total area of the
The land use of C52A consists of nine dominant land cover catchment or river basin (m2) and DQr(S) = runoff reduction by a
classes namely bare soil, crop, grass, homes, and roads (Table 1). RWH system (%).
 J. Mwenge Kahinda et al. / Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 34 (2009) 767–775 771

a 85.8 b
70 70
Percentage of Total Area

Percentage of Total Area

60 60 47.2
50 50
33.0
40 40
30 30 19.8
20 12.1 20
10 0.0 2.1 0.0 10 0.0 0.0
0 0
Very high High Moderate Low Very low Very high High Moderate Low Very low
C52A XRWH suitability C52A XRWH suitability

c 85.8 d
70 70
Percentage of Total Area

Percentage of Total Area

60 60
50 50
34.9 33.0
40 40 32.2

30 30
20 12.1 20
10 0.0 2.1 0.0 10 0.0 0.0
0 0
Very high High Moderate Low Very low Very high High Moderate Low Very low
C52A XRWH suitability C52A XRWH suitability

Fig. 6. Percentage of land area per suitability class in: (a) C52A IRWH, (b) V13D IRWH, (c) C52A XRWH, and (d) V13D XRWH.

Fig. 7. Map partitioning, (a) C52A and (c) V13D into five IRWH classes and (b) C52A, and (d) V13D into five XRWH suitability classes.
772 J. Mwenge Kahinda et al. / Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 34 (2009) 767–775

Table 4
Percentage adoption of FRWH in C52A and V13D (high levels of adoptions).

Category Quat Area RWH suitability (km2) Total RWH RWH percentage
(Km2) area (Km2) adoption
Very high High Moderate Low Very low
1 0.75 0.5 0.25 0
IRWH C52A 938 0.0 113.3 19.7 0.0 805.0 94.81 10.1
V13D 283.8 0.0 134.0 56.3 0.0 93.5 128.64 45.3
XRWH C52A 938 0.0 113.3 19.7 0.0 805.0 94.79 10.1
V13D 283.8 0.0 99.0 91.3 0.0 93.5 119.90 42.3

a 12 b 4.5
0
C52A IRWH 0 4.0 V13D IRWH
10 100
100 3.5
HLAS, 45.3

Flow (Mm3)
Flow (Mm3)

8 HLAS, 10.1 3.0

2.5
6
2.0
4 1.5
1.0
2
0.5
0 0.0

n
n

ec

b
ec

n
b

pt
pt

ly

g
ly

ct
ct

ay
ov
ov

ay
ar

ril
ril

ar
Ja
Ja

Fe
Fe

Ju
Ju

Au
Au

Ju
Ju

Se
Se

O
O

Ap
Ap

D
D

M
M

N
N

M
M

Date Date

c 12
0
d 4.5
C52A XRWH V13D XRWH 0
10 4.0
100 100
3.5
Flow (Mm3)

HLAS, 42.3
Flow (Mm3)

8 HLAS, 10.1 3.0

2.5
6
2.0
4 1.5
1.0
2
0.5
0 0.0
n

n
ec

b
ec

n
pt

pt
ly

ly

g
ct

ct
ov

ov
ay

ay
ril
ar

ar

ril
Ja

Ja
Fe

Ju

Fe

Ju
Au

Au
Ju

Ju
Se

Se
O

O
Ap

Ap
D

D
M

M
N

N
M

Date Date

Fig. 8. Median monthly hydrograph of the high level of adoption scenario (HLAS) of IRWH in (a) C52A and (b) V13D, and XRWH in (c) C52A and (d) V13D.

a 6 b 14
V13D IRWH 0
C52A IRWH 0 12
5 100
100 10 HLAS, 45.3
Flow (Mm3)

Flow (Mm3)

4 HLAS, 10.1
8
3
6
2 4
1 2
0 0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 99 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 99
Probability of Exceedance Probability of Exceedance

c 6 d 14
V13D XRWH 0
C52A XRWH 0 12
5 100
100 HLAS, 42.3
10
Flow (Mm3)

Flow (Mm3)

4 HLAS, 10.1
8
3
6
2 4
1 2
0 0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 99 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 99
Probability of Exceedance Probability of Exceedance

Fig. 9. Flow duration curve of the high level of adoption scenario (HLAS) of IRWH in (a) C52A and (b) V13D, and XRWH in (c) C52A and (d) V13D.
 J. Mwenge Kahinda et al. / Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 34 (2009) 767–775 773

Fig. 10. Map partitioning, (a) C52A and (c) V13D into five IRWH classes and (b) C52A, and (d) V13D into five XRWH suitability classes. RWH areas are restricted to former
homelands.

Table 5
Percentage adoption of FRWH in C52A and V13D (most likely scenario).

Category Quat Area RWH suitability (km2) Total RWH RWH percentage
(km2) area (Km2) adoption
Very high High Moderate Low Very low
1 1 1 0 0
IRWH C52A 938 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.00 0.0
V13D 283.8 0.0 33.1 3.8 0.0 246.9 34.99 12.3
XRWH C52A 938 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.00 0.0
V13D 283.8 0.0 30.1 6.8 0.0 246.9 33.47 11.8

2.3. RHADESS datasets
RHADESS is currently populated with available datasets at na-
tional level. Table 2 outlines the physical, ecological, socio-eco-
nomic as well as constraint layers used in RHADESS. As model
builder works in the raster environment with grid format layers,
vector themes were converted into grid themes of cell size
100 m  100 m (Mwenge Kahinda et al., 2008).
A constraint layer (5 km buffer around settlement) was added
to the RSM model of Mwenge Kahinda et al. (2008). The assump-
tion is that RWH will only be practiced within a 5 km radius of
the settlements.
2.4. Modelling FRWH with the Pitman model
The Pitman model is the most widely used model within South
Africa. This semi-distributed calibration model developed in the
1970s has undergone a number of revisions and now exists in sev-
eral forms. Although the different additional components were in-
cluded by a range of different developers, the core concepts of the
original model have been preserved (Hughes, 2006). One of its lat-
est updates, the water resources simulation model 2000
(WRSM2000), was used to model FRWH. It involves the model cal-
ibration on naturalised observed flow data, the regionalisation of
its parameters and generation of 85-year time series of natural
monthly streamflow (1920–2004) for the 1950 quaternary catch-
ments of South Africa. FRWH are modelled with the Pitman model
as described by Sejamoholo et al. (2008). Different levels of adop-
tion of FRWH were then applied and the time series generated.
To model IRWH, the interception storage (PI), the soil moisture
holding capacity (ST) and the minimum absorption rate (Zmin)
were adjusted (Sejamoholo et al., 2008) to reflect increased inter-
ception and water holding capacity of the soil that the practice is
likely to generate. The choice of these parameters was done in line
with observed IRWH practices currently being undertaken by the
Agricultural Research Council (ARC) in the Free State province of
774 J. Mwenge Kahinda et al. / Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 34 (2009) 767–775

a 12 b 4.5
4.0 V13D IRWH 0
C52A IRWH 0
10 3.5 100
100

Flow (Mm3)
3.0
Flow (Mm3)
MLS, 12.3
8 MLS, 0
2.5
6 2.0
4 1.5
1.0
2
0.5
0 0.0
ct
ov

ec

ril
ay

ly

g
pt

ct
ov

ec

ril
ay

g
pt
ar

ar

l
Ja

Fe

Ju

Au

Ja

Fe

Ju

Au
Ju

Ju
O

Ap

Ap
Se

Se
M

M
N

M
Date Date

c 12 d 4.5
V13D XRWH 0
C52A XRWH 0 4.0
10 100 100
3.5
MLS, 11.8

Flow (Mm3)
MLS, 0
Flow (Mm3)

8 3.0
2.5
6
2.0
4 1.5
1.0
2
0.5
0 0.0

ct
ov

ec

ril
ay

ly

g
pt
ar
ct
ov

ec

ril
ay

ly

g
pt
ar

Ja

Fe

Ju

Au
Ja

Fe

Ju

Au

Ju
Ju

Ap
O

Ap

Se
Se

M
M

M
N

Date Date

Fig. 11. Median monthly hydrograph of the most likely scenario (MLS) of IRWH in (a) C52A and (b) V13D, and XRWH in (c) C52A and (d) V13D.

a 6 b 14
C52A IRWH 0 V13D IRWH
12 0
5 100
100
10
Flow (Mm3)

Flow (Mm3)

4 MLS, 0
MLS, 12.3
8
3
6
2
4
1 2
0 0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 99 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 99
Probability of Exceedance Probability of Exceedance

c 6 d 14
V13D XRWH 0
C52A XRWH 0 12
5 100
100
10 MLS, 11.8
MLS, 0
Flow (Mm3 )

Flow (Mm3 )

4
8
3
6
2
4
1 2
0 0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 99 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 99
Probability of Exceedance Probability of Exceedance

Fig. 12. Flow duration curve of the most likely scenario (MLS) of IRWH in (a) C52A and (b) V13D, and XRWH in (c) C52A, and (d) V13D.

South Africa. This adjustment of the Pitman calibration parameters
is done at maximum adoption level of IRWH (i.e. 100% adoption)
where it is assumed that the IRWH practice is applied through
the entire catchment area. Once these three calibration parameters
were selected for the 100% adoption level of IRWH, they were ap-
plied to all other lower levels of adoption on the basis of actual
areas relevant to each adoption level. Other calibration parameters
for the catchment under study are kept the same as determined in
WRSM2000 calibration process.
XRWH is modelled as an irrigation block module supplied from
a dummy dam, representing all the XRWH storages, located at the
outlet of the catchment. In the 100% adoption of XRWH scenario,
the command area of the dam is the total catchment area, exclud-
ing the irrigated area. With the dam characteristics and the irriga-
tion requirements incorporated into the model, simulation of the
flow was carried out. Downscaling to other adoption levels was ac-
counted for proportionally by the catchment area.
2.5. Scenarios
The impact of the upscaling of RWH in C52A and V13D was
assessed for four different levels of adoption (Table 3): High,
 J. Mwenge Kahinda et al. / Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 34 (2009) 767–775
medium, low and the most likely level of adoption. Therefore the
high level of adoption scenario (Table 3) implies that RWH is
implemented on 100% of the very suitable area, 75% of the suitable
area, 50% of the moderate suitable area, 25% of the low suitable
area and 0% of the very low suitable area. The most likely level of
adoption of FRWH takes into account the land tenure practices. It
is assumed that FRWH will receive greater support for implemen-
tation in former homelands (homelands were self-governing terri-
tories predominantly populated by black South Africans, engaged
in the production of crops and livestock mainly for their own con-
sumption (Wessels et al., 2004).
3. Results and discussion
Results of the RSM are presented in Figs. 6 and 7. Suitable IRWH
areas cover about 14% (12% high and 2% Moderate) of C52A and
67% (47% high and 20% moderate) of V13D while XRWH areas cov-
er 14% (12% high and 2% moderate) of C52A and 67% (35% high and
32% moderate) of V13D.
Considering the high level of adoption scenario for which RWH
is implemented on 100% of the very suitable area, 75% of the suit-
able area, 50% of the moderate suitable area, 25% of the low suit-
able area and 0% of the very low suitable area, the percentage
adoption of IRWH (Table 4) is about 10% in C52A and 45% in
V13D. With the same assumption, the percentage adoption of
XRWH (Table 4) is about 10% in C52A and 42% in V13D.
The hydrological impact of high level of adoption scenario of
IRWH and XRWH in C52A and V13D are presented in Figs. 8 and
9. Note that the median hydrograph refers to the hydrograph of
monthly flows obtain in a year when the median rainfall occurs
(can also be referred to as a normal wet year). For the 85 years of
rainfall records in C52A, the median rainfall occurred in 1954,
and in V13D, it occurred in 1939.
For the most likely level of adoption, FRWH will not be imple-
mented in C52A since there are no former homeland (Fig. 10) while
suitable FRWH areas correspond (Table 5) to about 12% of the total
area of V13D. The hydrological impacts, of the most likely level
of adoption of FRWH in C52A and V13D, are presented in Figs. 11
and 12.
The hydrological signature of the median rainfall year under
virgin conditions replicates itself in the predicted flows under var-
ious RWH practices. The hydrological signature under virgin condi-
tions varies from year to year. What is important then in
interpreting the results of the monthly hydrographs is how the
physical processes like interception, storage, abstraction for irriga-
tion, return flow and ground surface conditions alter the virgin
flow. It is observed that for the same percentage adoption, IRWH
reduces high flows more than XRWH in both catchments studied.
However in both catchments, it is found that FRWH has a very lim-
ited impact on the low flows while it greatly reduces the high flows
(Figs. 9 and 12). The reduction of high flows directly affects the
catchment yield but not the environment whose resilience de-
pends largely on low flows.
4. Conclusions and recommendation
The study aimed at developing a GIS-based decision support
system that indicates the areas of South Africa suitable for RWH
and quantifies its hydrological impact, as runoff reduction, for
any selected percentage of adoption. Applications of RHADESS in
775
semi-arid catchment (C52A) and in humid catchment (V13D) indi-
cate its ability to assist in the implementation of RWH in water re-
sources management. In adjoining catchments to C52A, namely
C52B and C52C where the most concerted IRWH practices have
been championed by the ARC since 2000, only 0.1% of the total area
of these catchments has come under this practice. As expected, no
noticeable footprint of this practice has been observed at stream-
flow gauging stations. It is envisaged that the use of data of higher
resolution will greatly improve the ability of RHADESS to query
RWH sites.
Acknowledgments
This study is part of the Water Research Commission funded
project K5/1563: ‘‘Water Resources Management in Rainwater
Harvesting an integrated systems approach”. The authors thank
the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, Statistics South Afri-
ca, the Agricultural Research Council (ARC), the Council for Scien-
tific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the Smallholder system
innovations in integrated watershed management: (SSI-program)
as well as the School of Bioresources Engineering and Environmen-
tal Hydrology of the University of KwaZulu-Natal for making avail-
able the datasets used in RHADESS.
References
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