Effects of climate change on water savings and water security from rainwater harvesting systems

Abstract

Climate change presents major uncertainties in future safe water access especially in rural communities that are already faced with water insecurity. For Uganda, rainwater harvesting has become a major adaptation strategy to ensure the attainment of safe water access for all. However, climate change effects on rainwater harvesting potential remains largely unexplored. Therefore, this paper assesses climate change effects on water savings and water security from rainwater harvesting systems for Kabarole district, Uganda. The top performing Global circulation models (GCMs), used in this study included; MIROC5, BCC-CSM-1-M, CNRM-CM5, ACCESS1-0, HADGEM2-ES and HADGEM2-CC using projections for 2025–2055 (2040s) and 2060–2090 (2070s) periods. Seasonal analysis used the 4 seasons for Uganda, namely; the 2 dry seasons of December, January, February (DJF) and June, July, August (JJA) and the 2 rainy seasons of September, October, November (SON) and March, April, May (MAM). Although there are conflicting model predictions, generally, the models agree that water savings and security will reduce in DJF and MAM and increase in JJA and SON seasons. MAM rain season will be most affected with water savings and security projected to reduce by more than 50% in the 2070s period. Therefore, households should harness the increased water savings in JJA and SON to cater for the predicted reduction in water savings in MAM and DJF seasons especially for the 2070s period. A larger tank of 5 m3 along with at least 50 m2 roof size combined with a low cost household water treatment is thus recommended.