Handbook of Water Harvesting and Conservation

4Water Security Using Rainwater Harvesting

Adebayo Eludoyin¹, Oyenike Eludoyin², Tanimola Martins³, Mayowa Oyinloye¹, and Saeid Eslamian⁴

¹Department of Geography, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

²Department of Geography and Planning Sciences, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria

³Medical School, University of Exeter, UK

⁴Department of Water Engineering, College of Agriculture, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran

4.1 Introduction

The Institute for Water, Environment & Health of the United Nations (UNU-IWEH 2013) defined water security as the capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of acceptable quality water for: (i) sustaining livelihoods, human well-being, and socioeconomic development; (ii) ensuring protection against water-borne pollution and water-related disasters; and (iii) for preserving ecosystems in a climate of peace and political stability. Water security is important for food and energy security, and it is considered a national goal in many countries (He et al. 2014; Hoekstra et al. 2018). An important way of meeting the challenge of water security is sustainable water supply. Water supply is, however, limited, hence many countries declared various security targets, given their level of water security types and level (UNEP/GRID-Arendal 2009).

Water scarcity is a well-known problem in West Asian and North African regions, where critical levels of scarcity and water-related ...