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1 © IWA Publishing 2018 Journal of Water and Climate Change | in press | 2018

Domestic use of rainwater in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam:

exploring the barriers from the citizens’ perspective
Le Thi Thuy Hang and Le Thi Thu Huong

ABSTRACT

Literature review shows that rainwater is a good source of water for domestic use and has been used Le Thi Thuy Hang (corresponding author)
Le Thi Thu Huong
significantly in many countries. However, the case of Ho Chi Minh City shows that using rainwater is Vietnamese-German University,
Ho Chi Minh,
limited even though this city has a high volume of rainfall. By conducting a questionnaire survey with Vietnam
E-mail: thuyhang603@gmail.com
the city’s inhabitants and studying related documents, this paper tries to find out the reasons that
hinder the use of rainwater from the inhabitants’ perspective. Based on the paper’s findings, the
actions and solutions towards increasing the use of rainwater for domestic purposes are
recommended, mainly for the city’s inhabitants.
Key words | barriers, citizens’ perspective, rainwater use, Vietnam

INTRODUCTION

In many urban areas of both developed and developing
countries, rainwater has been harvested and used as dom-
estic water, even as drinking water if it is treated properly,
and this use has considerable benefits, such as preventing
floods and conserving water sources (Krishna ). In Viet-
nam, people in rural areas have traditionally used rainwater
all their lives. However, this practice has not taken place in
the cities even though the country has a high annual precipi-
tation of 1,821 mm per year, ranking 38 of the 185 countries
in the world with available rainfall data (WB ). In the
case of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), the biggest and most
developed city in Vietnam, only people in some districts
use rainwater due to limited or no access to the city’s
water supply network (DONRE ).
According to Saigon Water Cooperation (SAWACO),
the main water supply company of HCMC, in 2016 only
89.84% of the city’s residents could get access to drinkable
water from the water supply system (Dinh ) and the
physical leakage of this system was approximately 28.53%
(Dinh a). Moreover, high intensity of rain was one
cause of flooding in HCMC with both a broader scope and
longer duration of inundation (Dahm et al. ). From
2003 to 2009, there were more than 400 flood events in
the central districts, in which the rainfall events with
volumes of more than 50 mm fluctuated from 6 to 15
events per year (Bubeck & Ho ). Until 2011, there
were 58 flooding spots caused by rain and 27 caused by
tide (SCFC ). In terms of pollution, the surface water
and groundwater in HCMC – the two main water sources
of piped water – were polluted due to the daily discharge
of the industrial wastewater into the rivers. Many of the
city’s canals and creeks were heavily polluted and increas-
ingly served as the sinks for untreated domestic sewage
and industrial wastewater (Vo ). According to the
results of groundwater measurement in August 2016, 40%
of samples did not meet the standard, containing substances
that can cause cancer in the long-term (Ngo ). In
addition, of the physicochemical and microbiological assess-
ment of the water supplied by the city’s pipe system in
March 2017, only about 70% met the standard (Nguyen
2017), which means the remaining 30% of this piped
water was below the allowed limits. In addition,

doi: 10.2166/wcc.2018.077
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2 L. T. T. Hang & L. T. T. Huong | The barriers for rainwater use from the citizens’ perspective
groundwater depletion and its further environmental conse-
quences, such as salt water intrusion, aquifer pollution and
land subsidence, have been threatening the city (Van Leeu-
wen et al. ).
In general, in the contexts of groundwater and surface
water pollution, groundwater depletion, limited accessibility
to piped water, and flooding caused by intensive rains, other
alternative sources of water that can be considered for use
are wastewater reuse and rainwater harvesting (RWH).
The wastewater can be reused if the challenges in govern-
ance gaps in water policy can be solved, including:
administrative, information, policy, capacity, funding, objec-
tive, and accountability gaps (Van Leeuwen et al. ).
Meanwhile, since 2012 rainwater use has been encouraged
for organizations and individual households by the govern-
ment as stated in the Law on Water Resources (No. 08/
1998/QH10, chapter 3, article 24). From 2014 until 2017,
rainwater has been mentioned in many policies which
encourage academics, companies, and individuals to carry
out research, reuse, and store rainwater as an alternative
water source alongside groundwater and surface water
(Decision No. 1942/QD-TTg; Decision No. 768/QD-
UBND; Decree No. 80/2014/ND-CP 2014; Decree No.
54/2015/ND-CP 2015; Decision No.
Decision No. 589/QD-TTg; Decision No. 01/QD-UBND
2016; Law No. 06/VBHN-VPQH 2017). Comparing the
advantages and disadvantages of rainwater and wastewater
reuse, the advantage of using rainwater is due to the maxi-
mum exploitation capacity of 4.7 million m3 per day, while
reclaimed wastewater is only about 2 million m3 per day.
In terms of treatment, rainwater is treated more easily
(only with pH, SS, and pathogens) than the reclaimed waste-
water (with non-biodegradable components, COD, trace
organics, heavy metals, pathogens, and color). Regarding
distribution, rainwater is distributed to the users more
easily via the available water distribution network. More-
over, the cost of operation, maintenance, and distribution
for the RWH system is lower than the wastewater treatment
plant. Nevertheless, rainwater use also faces many disadvan-
tages, such as its instability due to collection only in rainy
seasons, high investment costs and large areas for the
RWH system to cover, and the risk of acid rain (IGES
). In the case of HCMC, it is also an obstacle when
the drainage system uses the same sewers or channels for
Journal of Water and Climate Change | in press | 2018
both runoff (rainwater) and wastewater. Normally, domestic
wastewater from households is pre-treated in septic tanks,
and after that it is discharged to the common sewer and
then flows without further treatment into water bodies
(rivers, springs, lakes, and seas) (WHO VIHEMA &
UNICEF ).
In addition, although the benefits and challenges of
using rainwater as an alternative water source have been dis-
cussed in different countries, only a few studies about RWH
have been conducted for the urban areas of Vietnam. These
studies mainly focused on the assessment, potential, and
management aspects of RWH, such as the assessment of
local users’ performance of RWH in Vietnam (Nguyen
et al. ), the potential of rainwater collection in HCMC
(Nguyen & Hoang ), the water sources management in
HCMC (Ohgaki et al. ), and using rainwater in
Hanoi’s office buildings (Dao et al. ). Some other studies
discussed the users’ attitudes regarding the use of rainwater
in the Mekong Delta (Tran et al. ; Özdemir et al. ).
In short, the use of rainwater has not been seriously con-
sidered in Vietnam’s cities in spite of the availability of a
large annual rainwater volume, combined with that fact
that many natural water sources are polluted and depleted,
2502/QÐ-TTg; and some areas have limited access to piped water.
Although some studies on rainwater were done in Vietnam
as mentioned above, the reasons for no use of rainwater in
the cities has not been found. Therefore, through the
HCMC case study, this paper attempts to find the reasons
that hinder the use of rainwater in the city. Within its
scope, the paper mainly explores the reasons from the citi-
zens’ perspectives, while other contextual factors or
reasons are discussed briefly. Based on that, the paper
aims to propose solutions to enhance the use of rainwater
in the city for domestic purposes.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Rainwater use in urban areas thoughout the world
RWH is not a new technique for collecting rainwater from
impervious surfaces and storing it for later use; in fact it
has been used for a millennia, especially in rural areas. Its
potential benefits and advantages are as a source of free
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3 L. T. T. Hang & L. T. T. Huong | The barriers for rainwater use from the citizens’ perspective
water (the only costs would be for storage, treatment, and
use); and as an alternative water source for limited quan-
tities of groundwater with pH neutral or slightly acidic,
sodium-free composition that suits a low-sodium diet. In
the case of minor flooding due to normal or regular rainfall,
RWH helps to reduce storm water runoff and erosion in
urban environments. In combination with separate treat-
ment plants, it will also help to reduce the expansion of
wastewater treatment plants (Krishna ) as well as the
exploitation of surface water (as the main source for water
supply) that may cause negative impacts on the ecosystem,
such as the effects on flora and fauna, the recreational land-
scape, and so on (Barron ).
However, the implementation of using rainwater is hin-
dered by many factors, such as the instability of rainfall, high
initial investment cost, usage and maintenance, vulnerable
quantity and quality, and the limitation of storage (Worm
& van Hattum ). Parsons et al. () surveyed the
potential barriers to the inclusion of RWH in the UK’s
homes and separated them into five sections: (1) insti-
tutional and regulatory gaps; (2) economic and financial
constraints; (3) absence of incentives; (4) lack of infor-
mation and technical knowledge; and (5) house-builder
attitudes. They concluded that the implementation of
RWH would continue to be limited while these barriers
would remain. Another survey in the UK about house-
holders’ receptivity of RWH identified that the overall
receptivity is high, but that factors pertaining particularly
to cost and maintenance pose threats to receptivity (Ward
et al. ). Indeed, the high investment costs and long-
term paybacks reduce the perceived benefits of using an
RWH system. For example, in Brasilia, Brazil where the
annual precipitation is 1,502 mm, the payback period
takes almost 11 years while the proposed treated RWH
system total cost is about US$ 9,465.46, with catchment
areas of 468.63 m2, and the assumption of constant daily
3
consumption is 0.61 m , which annually saves US$ 882.7
(Sant’Ana ).
In addition, many countries have encouraged their citi-
zens to use rainwater as an alternative water source for
daily activities. For instance, in Malaysia, since 1975,
RWH has been encouraged to do so but the citizens’ accep-
tance was not high enough due to their lack of awareness
about the benefits of rainwater. The serious drought in
Journal of Water and Climate Change | in press | 2018
1998 led to a serious water shortage that changed the citi-
zens’ awareness about using an alternative water source,
but it was still not significant. Until 2001, the rainwater
policy was compulsory for all housing development in San-
dakan and many projects were developed by the local
authorities and private agencies (Shaari et al. ). In Ban-
galore, India, when a RWH system was compulsory for
houses with typical site dimensions of 60 ft × 40 ft, 79% of
the home owners complied, owing mainly to the enforced
regulation rather than to serve their own interest (Umamani
& Manasi ).
Despite several obstacles, many studies, programmes,
and policies regarding the potentiality of RWH have been
carried out in order to help increase the use of rainwater
in urban areas in both developed and developing countries.
One of them is the concept of Water Sensitive Urban
Design (WSUD) that emerged in Australia in the late
1980s and early 1990s. It outlined a vision for new
approaches to urban water management which addressed
the worst impacts of urban communities, such as increased
storm water runoff, imported water use, wastewater, and
pollutant discharges in order to improve the public percep-
tion and acceptability of WSUD (Hoyer et al. ). In
Paris, Belmeziti et al. () proposed a new method to
quantify the potential of potable water savings in a given
large area based on one of the prioritizing (ranking the
stakes of RWH) principles. This method can save up
to 11% of the total current potable water through the
use of RWH.
In summary, using rainwater has both benefits and
drawbacks. This has been applied in urban areas of not
only the countries with water shortages but also those
countries where the water source is sufficient but the users
are still encouraged to use rainwater. In some cases, the
use of rainwater in urban areas mostly happens when
there are incentives or even compulsory policies set by the
authorities to request citizens to use rainwater for domestic
purposes.
METHODOLOGY
This paper is a descriptive research that describes the cur-
rent situation of rainwater and its use in HCMC. Within
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4 L. T. T. Hang & L. T. T. Huong | The barriers for rainwater use from the citizens’ perspective
its scope, the paper employs the quantitative method
through a questionnaire survey of the city’s citizens to col-
lect primary data, which aims to identify the factors that
affect citizens’ choices in using rainwater. Secondary data
were also gathered from different sources to support the
description, discussion, and argument throughout the
paper. Regarding the study site, HCMC was selected as a
case study due to its huge precipitation of 1,949 mm per
year (Dao ) and its high population of 8,224,400 resi-
dents (GSO ), which causes high demand for water.
This demand creates a high feasibility of using rainwater
in the city to mitigate the future risk of water shortages
due to the population increase.
The questionnaire survey was carried out online for a
period of one-and-a-half months, from May 20 to June 30,
2016, and focused on the reasons why people use or do
not use rainwater for their domestic purposes. It was con-
ducted with 270 respondents who are residents living in
24 districts of HCMC. These respondents were considered
as the sample of 1,900,722 households (information about
households in Saigon Giai Phong retrieved on 20 July
2016 (Dinh a)) in HCMC, according to the formula
for sample size in statistics developed by Cochran () as
follows:
2 1 p
Sample size N ¼ Z ð pÞ
c2
where Z is Z value (e.g., 1.96 for 95% confidence level),
p is percentage picking a choice ¼ 0.5, c is confidence
interval ¼ 6%.
The result of this equation was: N ¼ 1.962*0.5*(1–0.5)/
(0.06)2 ¼ 267. This sample size was then rounded to 270
respondents.
An online questionnaire survey was chosen because the
majority of the city’s population can access the internet
through their own smart phone(s) (72%), according to stat-
istics from Google and the Boston Consulting Group
(Mai ). In order to get sufficient numbers of respon-
dents, as mentioned above, a total of 380 emails were
sent to 380 people randomly throughout the entire city,
who represented their households and had an age range
from 20 to 60 years old to ask for their responses to the
questionnaire. The number of emails was identified rela-
tively based on the number of emails sent to each district,
Journal of Water and Climate Change | in press | 2018
which was estimated according to the district’s population
and not based on the citizens’ income, owing to the min-
ority of poor and very poor households in HCMC (3.3%
of very poor households have an income lower than 1.75
million per month and 2.4% poor households have an
income from 1.75 to 2.3 million per month (PSO Statistical
Office in Ho Chi Minh City )). More specifically, 20,
15, and 10 emails with the attached questionnaire were
sent to 24 districts with a population of over 200,000
inhabitants, from 100,000 to 200,000 inhabitants, and less
than 100,000 inhabitants, respectively, making a total of
380 emails (see Table 1).
The content of the questionnaire concerned the citizens’
perception of rainwater quality, the purposes of using rain-
water or the reasons for not using rainwater, the rainwater
collection method, the frequency of use, the possibility for
future use, and so on. The questionnaire included single
choice questions, multiple choice questions, as well as
open-ended questions. It was divided into three parts: (i)
general information; (ii) households that use rainwater
(users); and (iii) households that do not use rainwater
(non-users). The first part asked about the household
income, the monthly consumption of water, the main
water source used and their evaluation in terms of quality,
quantity, and stability of water source, as well as their evalu-
ation of rainwater quality (their living districts were also
noted). The second part applied to the users of rainwater
only and the respondents were asked about the reasons
they use rainwater, the purposes and frequency of using rain-
water, and the way they collect and store rainwater. In the
third part, non-users of rainwater were asked about the
main obstacles that prevent them from using rainwater,
their future intention of using rainwater, and the kind of
tank they prefer to use for rainwater storage. For both
groups, the open-ended question was employed to ask
about their suggestions for improving the use of rainwater
in the city.
Three weeks after sending out the questionnaire, the
authors received 252 responses (about 66%), of which
218 (86%) were valid and mostly from urban districts,
while only a few responses were sent back from people
in the suburban districts (see Table 1). Therefore, 60
hard or printed copies of the questionnaire were also dis-
tributed directly to the households in five suburban
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5 L. T. T. Hang & L. T. T. Huong | The barriers for rainwater use from the citizens’ perspective Journal of Water and Climate Change | in press | 2018

Table 1 | Distribution of survey questionnaire in 24 districts of HCMC, Vietnam

Pop. in 2015 No. of ques. Online Valid online Hard copy Total valid
District (thousand) sent responses responses responses responses Per cent

Binh Tan 332.6 20 17 16 0 16 5.9%

Go Vap 306.7 20 18 17 0 17 6.3%
Binh Chanh (suburb. dist.) 286.3 20 4 1 16 17 6.3%
Thu Duc 265.2 20 18 15 0 15 5.6%
District 12 238.5 20 16 16 0 16 5.9%
Binh Thanh 231.2 20 19 17 0 17 6.3%
Tan Phu 225 20 17 15 0 15 5.6%
Tan Binh 219.1 20 16 14 0 14 5.2%
District 8 206.5 20 14 12 0 12 4.4%
Hoc Mon (suburb. dist.) 200.4 20 2 0 15 15 5.6%
Cu Chi (suburb. dist.) 194.4 15 7 4 6 10 3.7%
District 7 145.9 15 14 12 0 12 4.4%
District 9 143.9 15 10 9 0 9 3.3%
District 6 123.1 15 12 10 0 10 3.7%
District 10 111 15 11 10 0 10 3.7%
District 11 107.9 15 15 11 0 11 4.1%
District 3 90.6 10 7 6 0 6 2.2%
District 1 88.7 10 8 7 0 7 2.6%
District 4 86.4 10 6 6 0 6 2.2%
District 5 84.5 10 6 6 0 6 2.2%
Phu Nhuan 84.4 10 8 8 0 8 3.0%
District 2 71 10 7 6 0 6 2.2%
Nha Be (suburb. dist.) 67.2 10 0 0 6 6 2.2%
Can Gio (suburb. dist.) 37 10 0 0 9 9 3.3%
Total 380 252 218 52 270 100.0%

districts, especially targeting the households with no or
limited access to piped water. Finally, a total of 270
valid responses were collected (218 electronic copies
and 52 hard copies). Table 1 shows the distribution of
the survey questionnaire in 24 districts of HCMC corre-
sponding to their population.
In addition to the primary data collected through ques-
tionnaire survey, secondary data were gathered from
different trusted sources, such as the General Statistics
Office (GSO), Government departments, papers or news
of peer-reviewed journals, and government newspapers.
For instance, the data on low income strata and district
population helped identify the proportion of distributed
questionnaires for each district. The climate data with
annual precipitation in HCMC were collected to identify
the volume and potential of rainwater source. Articles by
different researcher about the challenges, benefits, and limit-
ations of RWH were also reviewed.
Data collected by both primary and secondary methods
were then analyzed and synthesized in order to find out the
reasons that hinder the use of rainwater in the city. All valid
questionnaire responses were analyzed using Microsoft
Excel, while the invalid ones with wrong or missing infor-
mation were eliminated. The secondary data were
reviewed and relevant information was extracted to support
the discussion and argument in this paper. In the next part,
the results of data collection and analysis are presented and
discussed.
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6 L. T. T. Hang & L. T. T. Huong | The barriers for rainwater use from the citizens’ perspective Journal of Water and Climate Change | in press | 2018

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Rainwater use in HCMC, Vietnam
According to the latest statistics of the Department of Natu-
ral Resources and Environment (DONRE) and the GSO
from 2010 to 2013, not many of the city’s households used
rainwater for their domestic purposes. Due to the rapid
population growth in HCMC (growth rate of 4.02% (GSO
)), the demand for clean water has increased and that
has led to the risk of illegal exploitation of groundwater, pol-
lution of surface water, and lack of clean water for the
residents. In the city, only people in a few districts use rain-
water in their daily life, e.g., district 7, Nha Be and Can Gio
(see Table 2), because they cannot access the city’s water
supply system and the groundwater quality in their area is
saline.
The same results were reflected in the authors’ June
2016 questionnaire survey of 270 households in the whole
city, covering 24 urban and suburban districts, which
showed a limited or low use of rainwater in the city. Accord-
ing to these results, only 7.3% of the households use
rainwater as one alternative source of water for daily use.
Most rainwater users live in the suburban districts (63%)
as opposed to the urban districts (37%), of which the subur-
ban district with the highest per cent of rainwater users is Cu
Chi (37% over 63%) and the urban district with the highest
per cent of rainwater users is Tan Binh (16% over 37%) (see
Figure 1).
People’s attitude about rainwater use in HCMC
According to the survey, the people in suburban districts use
rainwater for two main reasons: saving on water bills (67%)
and not having enough piped water (33%). Meanwhile, the
urban district users have three main reasons: saving on
water bills (43%), benefits for the environment (43%), and
their old habits (14%), which are somewhat different from
the reasons given by the suburban district users. Although
the ‘saving water bill’ reason shares the highest percentage
in the responses of both urban and suburban user groups,
when compared to the actual water bill (based on their
answers about the volume of water consumption per
month) and their income, the water bill takes up a very
small part of the income, only about 0.67% to 3.13%
depending on their income level (see Table 3) (HCMC’s

Table 2 | Percentage of water sources in 24 districts

Water sources (%) Water sources (%)

Population (a) Piped Well Treated Population (a) Piped Well Treated
(thousand system water surface Rainwater (thousand system water surface Rainwater
Dist. people) (b) (b) water (b) (b) Dist. people) (b) (b) water (b) (b)

Urban dist. 6.060 Go Vap 548 100 – – –

Dist. 1 187 100 – – – Tan Binh 430 100 – – –
Dist. 2 140 30 50 20 – Tan Phu 408 100 – – –
Dist. 3 188 100 – – – Binh Thanh 470 100 – – –
Dist. 4 183 100 – – – Phu Nhuan 175 100 – – –
Dist. 5 174 100 – – – Thu Duc 456 40 60 – –
Dist. 6 253 100 – – – Binh Tan 595 100 – – –
Dist. 7 275 50 – – 50 Suburban Dist. 1.336
Dist. 8 419 100 – – – Cu Chi 356 – 100 – –
Dist. 9 263 45 55 – – Hoc Mon 358 1.0 99 – –
Dist. 10 232 100 – – – Binh Chanh 447 10 90 – –
Dist. 11 232 100 – – – Nha Be 104 2.5 44.5 15 38
Dist. 12 427 10 90 Can Gio 71 – – – 100

Source: (a): (PSO 2010); (b): (GSO 2012) and (DONRE 2013).
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7 L. T. T. Hang & L. T. T. Huong | The barriers for rainwater use from the citizens’ perspective Journal of Water and Climate Change | in press | 2018

Figure 1 | Distribution of households using rainwater by districts and city zoning.

living standard divides the income strata into four groups:
(1) very poor group: lower 1.75 million VND per month
per capita; (2) poor group: from 1.75 to 2.3 million; (3) aver-
age group: 2.3 to 9 million; and (4) high income group: over
9 million).
Also, looking more closely at the income of all rain-
water-user groups, only 16% have a monthly income lower
than 1.75 million and 26% from 1.75 to 2.3 million, while
the rest have a monthly income higher than 2.3 million
(see Figure 2). Since the water bill accounts for a very
small portion of the income of all groups, people have no
motivation to use rainwater for reducing their monthly
water expense.
Regarding the main water source for their daily use,
85.1% of the respondents use piped water, 16% use well
water, 8.4% buy bottled water, but none uses rainwater as
their main water source (see Figure 3). In terms of usage,
in HCMC rainwater is mostly accepted for watering trees,
washing cars/motorbikes/yards, and cleaning/laundry and
showering (in the order of 70%, 65%, and 50%, respect-
ively). Other uses include flushing toilets, preparing food/
washing dishes, and drinking/cooking (40%, 30%, and
20%, respectively) (see Table 4). This is quite similar to the
results identified by Ward et al. () in their research con-
ducted in the UK.
Although rainwater is accepted for use in some domestic
purposes as presented above, the respondents give quite a
negative evaluation of its quality. In the survey, 15.6% of
them believe that rainwater is ‘very polluted’ and 34.55%
think it is ‘polluted’, while only 0.4% and 6.91% of

Table 3 | The respondents’ income and their monthly water consumption

Per cent of water bill per monthly income

Group income Per cent Average water use per month (m3) Lowest per cent Highest per cent

Lower 1.75 million VND 3.3% 3.44 1.18%

From 1.75 to 2.3 million VND 10.2% 4.68 2.38% 3.13%
From 2.3 to 9 million VND 52.7% 5.17 0.67% 2.63%
Over 9 million VND 33.8% 6.07 0.79%
Total 100%
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8 L. T. T. Hang & L. T. T. Huong | The barriers for rainwater use from the citizens’ perspective Journal of Water and Climate Change | in press | 2018

Figure 2 | Distribution of rainwater-users by city zoning (urban and suburban) and income.

Figure 3 | Surveyed current situation of using water in HCMC.

Table 4 | Reasons and activities of city citizens in using rainwater

Reasons for using rainwater No. of responses Per cent Activities Per cent

Saving water bill 12 60% Watering trees 70%

Old habits 7 35% Car/motorbike/yard washing 65%
Not enough supply water from city system/well/water surface 5 25% Laundry/cleaning 50%
Environmental benefits 5 25% Shower 50%
Rainwater’s quality is better than other sources 2 10% Toilet flushing 40%
(well water, surface water, etc.)
No piped water 2 10% Food preparation/washing dishes 30%
Plant watering 1 5% Drinking/ cooking 20%
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9 L. T. T. Hang & L. T. T. Huong | The barriers for rainwater use from the citizens’ perspective Journal of Water and Climate Change | in press | 2018

without filters (90% of respondents’ answers). In terms of

Figure 4 | Evaluation of rainwater quality.
respondents consider that rainwater quality is ‘very good’
and ‘good’, respectively. The remaining 42.5% have no
idea or a neutral evaluation of rainwater quality (see
Figure 4).
Regarding the method of collecting rainwater, the catch-
ment areas of rainfall are often roof surfaces, or in some
cases, rainwater is directly collected from the rainfall and
most of the rainwater containers are placed on the ground
frequency of use, rainwater is not used frequently; in the
rainwater-user group, only 10% of people use rainwater
daily, while the remaining people only use it occasionally
in the rainy season. This can be explained by the instability
of rainfall in HCMC (see Figure 5) during a year in spite of
its high total volume. It rains heavily from April to October
with monthly rainfall of over 150 mm. In the dry season
from November to May, monthly precipitation is under
100 mm and the minimum rainfall is in January or February.
While rainwater is quite negatively evaluated by the
respondents, as mentioned above, the main sources of
water including piped water, well water, and bottled
water received a more positive evaluation in terms of
accessibility, quality, quantity, and stability (see Figure 6).
Most respondents think their current water supply sources
have already met their demands, both in terms of quantity
and quality, and therefore, since they are satisfied with

Figure 5 | Total of monthly rainfall of HCMC from Mac Dinh Chi station. Source: Southern Regional Hydro-meteorological Center.

Figure 6 | Assessment of water supply sources.


10 L. T. T. Hang & L. T. T. Huong | The barriers for rainwater use from the citizens’ perspective
this, people rarely or never use rainwater for some dom-
estic purposes.
Nevertheless, there is a gap in citizens’ about water qual-
ity and the scientific data. As reported by SAWACO, the
quality of piped water in HCMC does not meet the national
standard (the standard of the Ministry of Health regarding
potable water: QCVN 01:2009/BYT – National technical
regulation on drinking water quality) because of the old
pipe system (Dinh ). In addition, the city is currently suf-
fering from pollution of surface water from two main rivers:
Saigon River and Dong Nai River (Dinh & Tri ). Mean-
while, the quality of rainwater in HCMC meets the standard
for potable water set by the Ministry of Health (with the con-
centration of the ion Na þ , stiffness, NO3-, NH4 þ , SO42,
Cl- in the rainwater samples at 12 stations in 2013) (Nguyen
et al. ). However, as presented above, the surveyed
respondents think that rainwater is not safe enough for use
while the piped water, well water, and bottled water are
safe. This contradiction between the scientific information
and citizens’ knowledge about the quality of different
water sources is one of the reasons why people do not
trust rainwater.
Regarding the non-users of rainwater, amounting to
92.7% of all questionnaire respondents, a multiple choice
question was applied to discover the main reasons hindering
them from using rainwater (see Table 5). The result shows
several reasons why people do not use rainwater, as listed
below (from high to low percentage of their responses,
respectively): (i) having enough water from other sources,
especially piped water (70% of respondents); (ii) limited
Table 5 | Reasons why urban citizens do not use rainwater
Reasons
Enough water from other sources
Limited areas for rainwater tank or cistern
Rainwater quality is not good
Low or unstable quantity of rainfall
Not thinking about rainwater use yet
High investment cost
Water expense is still low in comparison
with income
Others
Corrected Proof
Journal of Water and Climate Change | in press | 2018
space in their house that prevents them from storing rain-
water (42.7%); (iii) rainwater quality is unreliable (38.8%);
(iv) and unstable quantity of rainwater (28.2%). In addition,
due to limited information about rainwater, 27.5% of
respondents have not even thought about using it yet. Simi-
lar to the responses of the rainwater-user group, the
economic aspect is not the major reason for the low use of
rainwater. In this non-user group, only 15.3% consider the
high investment cost for a RWH system as an obstacle,
and 12.5% do not use rainwater because they can afford
the regular water bill.
In general, most surveyed respondents have not yet used
rainwater for domestic purposes. Some even have no inter-
est in it, due to several reasons, such as low and affordable
water bill, sufficient water source, limited area of houses
for storing rainwater, lack of information about quality of
rainwater, and the unstable volume of rainfall in different
seasons.
Potential of rainwater use in the future
In the last part of the questionnaire, when asked about the
benefits of using rainwater, most respondents from both
groups showed a positive understanding of this with answers
such as: ‘it is a free source of water’; ‘it reduces exploition of
groundwater’; and ‘using rainwater can save water bills’, etc.
A number of people are even willing to increase their use of
rainwater if there is a proper plan for it. However, for the
non-user group, upon being asked if they would use rain-
water in the future, 54.9% cannot decide yet, 24.0% say
‘no’, and only 21.1% would agree to use rainwater. For
those who agree to use rainwater in the future (21.1%),
their reasons are: (i) to save water bills; (ii) to save water
No. of Percentage
resources; and (iii) to reduce flooding in the city. This
responses (%)
shows that people’s perceptions about the future use of rain-
179 70.2
water are not very positive (Figure 7).
109 42.7
99 38.8
72 28.2
70 27.5
39 15.3
32 12.5
11 4.3
Figure 7 | Potential of using rainwater in the future.
 Corrected Proof
11 L. T. T. Hang & L. T. T. Huong | The barriers for rainwater use from the citizens’ perspective
Particularly for the non-user group, if using rainwater is
compulsory, 50% of them prefer rainwater from a network
system (i.e., collective system or shared system) as they
think the installation cost would be cheaper or the treatment
would be easier; 41% prefer the individual system for inde-
pendent quality control of rainwater; and the remaining
9% want to use both systems. They also suggested that the
city authorities should carry out some actions and policies
regarding rainwater use, such as solving the air pollution
problems (as they think air pollution makes rainwater
become dirty) or implementing a large-scale harvesting
system to control and treat the rainwater to ensure its
quality.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the secondary sources and results of the question-
naire survey, this paper finds that although HCMC has a
high volume of annual rainfall, the rainwater has not been
widely used in the city, even as an alternative source of
water, except in some suburban areas where people have
limited access to the piped water system. With the focus
on exploring the barriers from the citizens’ perspective in
using rainwater for domestic purposes, the data results and
discussion section point out the main reasons that hinder
the use of rainwater in the city. First, in their understanding
or knowledge (not based on scientific information), the
existing piped water supply meets the citizens’ needs, both
in terms of quantity and quality, and most of them can
afford to pay their water bill which is only a small portion
of their monthly income. For both groups, users and non-
users of rainwater, the water bill is not a factor that affects
their choice of using rainwater or not. Second, the limited
space in some houses does not allow people to store rain-
water tanks. Third, the lack of scientific information leads
people to misjudge the quality of rainwater, thus many
people think that the rainwater is not qualified for use. In
other words, due to the gap between the scientific infor-
mation and the citizens’ knowledge on rainwater, people
do not really know that the rainwater is qualified or safe
to be used for some domestic purposes. Fourth, from their
point of view, people think that the unstable quantity of rain-
water due to the infrequent rainfall in different seasons may
Journal of Water and Climate Change | in press | 2018
be a source of inconvenience for them. Last, the information
about rainwater use is also limited, especially since there has
been no significant incentive or trigger that encourages
people to use rainwater. Thus, they do not think about
using it in the future.
Nevertheless, the context of HCMC shows that there is
an opportunity for using rainwater in the future due to two
main reasons: first, even though the groundwater and sur-
face water are sufficient, they are polluted; second, the
city’s pipe system is old and there is leakage, as discussed
above, but there are financial challenges to renew the
system. In short, although RWH is not a necessary or
urgent need for the city’s citizens at the present time, it
should be considered for domestic uses as one alternative
water source, especially in the long term. In particular, the
information on the quality and availability of rainwater for
use should be disseminated to the city’s citizens so that
they know and can make their choice to use or not use rain-
water depending on their preference or the investment
affordability of the RWH system. The lessons learnt from
other countries such as Australia, the UK, Malaysia, India,
and Brazil show that the use of rainwater should be
enhanced by different actors: the government and the city
citizens. In the case of HCMC, since the citizens do not
have a positive perception of the use of rainwater yet, it is
necessary to improve their understanding about the quality
of rainwater and the benefits of using it for some domestic
purposes. Their awareness about saving water resources,
protecting the environment, preventing floods, etc. in
relation to the use of rainwater should also be improved.
All of these things can be done through different actions
with the cooperation and support of other actors involved
in the water sector. For instance, the gap between the scien-
tific information and citizens’ understanding and awareness
about rainwater use should be eliminated by providing suffi-
cient information from the authorities and scientists through
media, school education, or water-related events organized
by the private or public sectors. At the community level, it
is necessary to have a plan or guidance in place to enable
people to harvest rainwater properly, both in design and
implementation. Increasing the use of rainwater can also
be achieved by encouragement or incentivizing policies by
the city government, and even through compulsory
measures in some cases as the last option.
 Corrected Proof
12 L. T. T. Hang & L. T. T. Huong | The barriers for rainwater use from the citizens’ perspective
Although this paper only identifies the barriers to using
rainwater from the citizens’ perspective and not the other
actors involved such as the water authorities from both
public and private sectors, to a certain extent its findings
cover a wider range of reasons or factors related to the use
of rainwater and these help us to understand the context
and status of rainwater use in the city. Based on that,
future studies may want to identify the barriers to rainwater
use from other stakeholders’ perspectives as well as other
factors. They may also look for possible solutions for
increasing the use of rainwater in the city to move towards
the efficient use of natural resources and sustainable
development.
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