Rainwater Harvesting for Agriculture and Domestic Supply in Enugu North Agricultural Zone, Nigeria

Abstract

The turning point for water resources development and management policy in Nigeria could be traced as far back as 1960 after the severe drought of the 1950s. In year 2000, the federal government formulated a new National Water Supply and Sanitation Policy. The study was designed to determine whether or not, a national policy on domestic rainwater harvesting is entrenched in the national water supply and sanitation policy. A case study was carried out in Enugu north agricultural zone of Enugu State. Data for the study were collected from 70 respondents through the use of a structured interview schedule. Frequency distribution, percentage and mean statistic were used in the analysis of the data. The findings revealed that there was an absence of national, state and local government’s policy on domestic rainwater harvesting for agriculture and domestic supply in the study area unlike what is obtainable in other countries such as China, Brazil, Zimbabwe and India. It was recommended that the National Water Supply and Sanitation Policy in Nigeria should be reviewed to accommodate domestic rain water harvesting for agriculture and domestic supply.