Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 32 (2007) 1050–1057

www.elsevier.com/locate/pce

Domestic rainwater harvesting to improve water supply

in rural South Africa
a,*
Jean-marc Mwenge Kahinda , Akpofure E. Taigbenu a, Jean R. Boroto b

a
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Private Bag X3, Wits 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa
b
Source Strategic Focus (Pty) Ltd., P.O. Box 2857, Pretoria 0001, Pretoria, South Africa

Available online 3 August 2007

Abstract

Halving the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation, is one of the targets of the 7th
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In South Africa, with its mix of developed and developing regions, 9.7 million (20%) of the
people do not have access to adequate water supply and 16 million (33%) lack proper sanitation services. Domestic Rainwater Harvesting
(DRWH), which provides water directly to households enables a number of small-scale productive activities, has the potential to supply
water even in rural and peri-urban areas that conventional technologies cannot supply. As part of the effort to achieve the MDGs, the
South African government has committed itself to provide financial assistance to poor households for the capital cost of rainwater stor-
age tanks and related works in the rural areas. Despite this financial assistance, the legal status of DRWH remains unclear and DRWH is
in fact illegal by strict application of the water legislations. Beyond the cost of installation, maintenance and proper use of the DRWH
system to ensure its sustainability, there is risk of waterborne diseases. This paper explores challenges to sustainable implementation of
DRWH and proposes some interventions which the South African government could implement to overcome them.
 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Domestic rainwater harvesting; Rural South Africa; Water supply; Sustainable

1. Introduction (RWH) describes the small-scale concentration, collection,

storage, and use of rainwater runoff for productive pur-
South Africa is one of the signatories of the Millennium poses. DRWH is one of the broad categories of RWH
Development Goals. With its mix of both developed and where water is collected from rooftops, courtyards and
developing regions, 3.7 million people have no access to similar compacted or treated surfaces, stored in under-
any form of water supply infrastructure and an additional ground tanks (UGTs) or aboveground tanks (AGTs) and
5.4 million people who have some access have to be used for domestic purposes, garden watering and small-
brought up to a basic level of service (Info, 2006). Domestic scale productive activities. DRWH is not new in the region,
rainwater harvesting (DRWH) is an alternative for South rooftop RWH is a major source of drinking water in the
Africa to meet the Millennium Development Goals of halv- rainy season especially in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern
ing, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable Cape (Duncker, 2000). The practice is currently spreading
access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation (MDG 7, in rural South Africa, especially with the financial assis-
Target 1), and provide free the first six kilolitres of water tance provided by the Department of Water Affairs and
consumed monthly to poor households (households with Forestry (DWAF) to resource poor households for the cap-
less than USD 112 income/month). Rainwater harvesting ital cost of rainwater storage tanks and related works.
There is a direct link between the provision of clean water,
adequate sanitation and improved health (Gleick, 1996),
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +27 117177155; fax: +27 113391762. and often inadequate water supply is pointed as a factor
E-mail address: jeanmarcmk@yahoo.co.uk (J. Mwenge Kahinda). contributing to poor sanitation. Improving the quantity

1474-7065/$ - see front matter  2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.pce.2007.07.007
 J. Mwenge Kahinda et al. / Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 32 (2007) 1050–1057 1051

and quality of water supply improves the level of sanita- tanks. During the Demonstration Phase of its Pilot Pro-
tion. Sanitation is an important public health measure gramme, DWAF has constructed, through implementing
which is essential for the prevention of diseases. With agents, 64 underground tanks (UGTs) (Fig. 1) in 26 vil-
regard to sanitation services, in South Africa, 16 million lages distributes in 4 provinces, namely Eastern Cape,
people (3.9 million households) are without adequate san- Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and Free State. (De Lange,
itation services (Info, 2006). Water plays a major role in 2006).
laying the foundation for economic growth, not only by Results of the DWAF RWH Demonstration Phase,
increasing the assurance of supply, but also by improving November 2005–July 2006, and subsequent analysis and
water quality and therefore human health (Phillips et al., planning for expansion, has shown that the total cost of
2006). There are two categories of storage reservoirs for delivering a homestead rainwater tank of 30 m3, is not
DRWH, surface or aboveground tanks (common for roof expected to exceed ZAR 22,800 (Table 1) during the expan-
collection) and sub-surface or underground tanks (com- sion and roll-out phases. The isolated cost of material and
mon for ground catchment systems). As the level of adop- labour for the construction of the rainwater tank, which
tion increases some critical aspect of DRWH such as the amount to ZAR 13,000 is unaffordable for the populace.
health implication, the sizing of the storage tank and the In its RWH pilot programme, DWAF only considers
management strategy need consideration. Apart from the UGTs which collect rainwater from the ground, and totally
most spoken advantage of enabling small-scale productive disregards aboveground tanks (AGTs) which collect rain-
activities (brewing, small-scale food production, household water from rooftops. Furthermore, it is inappropriate to
construction, etc.); DRWH also has the adverse potential use the same tank size for different locations since the rain-
impact to spread a number of water related diseases if fall, the water requirement and the availability of alterna-
proper measures are not taken. The immune systems of tive water sources differs from one site to another. Even
HIV-positive people are susceptible to a wider range of though water stored in UGTs in not potable, some house-
common illnesses and diseases than individuals whose holds use it as drinking water after putting in some drops
immune systems are not compromised by HIV and AIDS
(Ashton and Ramasar, 2002). As funds are made available
for the widespread of DRWH, there is a need to explore its Table 1
Total DWAF investment per household (De Lange, 2006)
potential to improve the rural water supply. This paper
presents the current state of DRWH in South Africa and Description Cost in Rand Cost in USD
3
seeks to highlight the challenges to overcome for its sus- Material and labour per 30 m rainwater 13,000 1806
tainable implementation. tank
Facilitation, sustainability inputs, 7000 972
household training and production
establishment, coordination with local
2. The RWH Pilot programme authorities, construction and project
implementation management, etc.
As part of the efforts of the South African government Value added tax @14% 2800 389
to halve the number of food insecure households, financial Total 22,800 3167
assistance is provided for the implementation of storage USD 1 = ZAR 7.2 (FNB, 2006).

Fig. 1. 30 m3 RWH underground tank constructed by under the DWAF demonstration phase (Picture by Papenfus).
1052 J. Mwenge Kahinda et al. / Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 32 (2007) 1050–1057

of bleach (Duncker, 2000), raising the question of the qual- a classification of water-related diseases. Water-borne dis-
ity of the water. Furthermore, about 67,000 UGTs and eases remain a cause for concern in both developing and
AGTs are already being used as main source of water (Cen- developed countries worldwide (Duncker, 2000).
sus 2001). Since it is impossible to monitor what the har- Currently, drinking water quality provision in many
vested water will be used for, it makes sense to consider rural areas is substandard (Mackintosh and Colvin,
the possible adverse effects of the use of DRWH on health. 2003). The impact of water-borne disease in South Africa
is significant. Pegram et al. (1998) estimates that about
3. Literature review of the potential impact of DRWH on 43,000 South Africans die every year from diarrhoeal dis-
water-related diseases ease and the annual public and private direct health care
costs incurred due to diarrhoea alone are at least ZAR
The main advantage of DRWH is to provide water right 3.0 billion. DRWH has the potential to supply water of
at the household, suppressing the burden of having to walk better quality at household level, therefore reducing the
long distances to fetch water. The quantity of water deliv- water related diseases but further studies are required on
ered and used for households is an important aspect of the subject. In South Africa, few data on quality of water
domestic water supplies, which influences hygiene and sources and associated health problems are available, since
therefore public health (Howard and Bartram, 2003). In limited surveys have been conducted (Nevondo and Cloete,
the South African context, the quality of the water takes 1999). The same lack of data is observed worldwide on the
another dimension when one considers the HIV/AIDS epi- quality of DRWH (Dillaha and Zolan, 1984).
demic (one of the worst in the world) that shows no evi- The health implications of widespread use of DRWH
dence of a decline with the number of people infected are divided into two aspects, namely (Vasudevan et al.,
with HIV estimated at 5.5 million (UNAIDS, 2006). The 2000):
Strategic Framework developed by the government in
2003 states: • Concerns regarding water quality and possible direct
health implications due to contaminants.
Lack of access to water supply and sanitation con-
• Insect vector breeding related to water storage and
straints opportunities to escape poverty and exacerbates
health implications arising out of it.
the problems of vulnerable groups, especially those
affected by HIV/AIDS and other diseases. A key focus
3.1. The quality of DRWH
of South Africa’s water services policy should be on
ensuring access of the poor to adequate, affordable
Available literature presents different conclusions on the
and sustainable levels of defined basic water supply
quality of water harvested from rooftops. While some stud-
and sanitation services (DWAF, 2003).
ies report that rainwater from rooftops generally meets the
Newborn, young children, elderly, incapacitated people international guidelines of drinking water (Sazakli et al.,
or people living under unsanitary conditions are those at 2007; Zhu et al., 2004; Handia et al., 2003; Dillaha and
greatest risk of water-related diseases. Table 2 below, gives Zolan, 1984) other studies reports that chemical and/or
microbial contaminants are often present in level exceeding
international guidelines of drinking water (Abbott et al.,
2006; Vasudevan and Pathak, 2000; Nevondo and Cloete,
Table 2
Classification of water-related disease (Eisenberg et al., 2001, citing 1999; Yaziz et al., 1989). The quality of the harvested
Bradley, 1974) and stored rainwater depends on the characteristics of the
Category Comments considered area, such as the topography, the weather con-
ditions, the proximity to pollution sources, the type of the
Water-borne diseases Caused by the ingestion of water contaminated
by human or animal faeces or urine containing catchment area, the type of water tank and the handling
pathogenic bacteria or viruses; includes cholera, and management of the water (Sazakli et al., 2007; Zhu
typhoid, amoebic and bacillary dysentery and et al., 2004; Vásquez et al., 2003; Gould, 1999).
other diarrhoeal diseases UGTs collect surface runoff and have therefore a con-
Water-washed diseases Caused by poor personal hygiene; includes
tamination path very similar to those of other water bodies.
scabies, trachoma and flea-, lice- and tickborne
diseases in addition to the majority of In the case of rooftop RWH, even though the nature of
waterborne diseases, which are also water- water collection process seems to prevent the pollution of
washed rainwater, it is wrong to assume that the harvested water
Water-based diseases Caused by parasites found in intermediate reaches the drinking water standard. Fig. 2 shows the con-
organisms living in water; includes
tamination paths for DRWH systems collecting water from
dracunculiasis, schistosomiasis and some other
helminths rooftop.
Water-related diseases Transmitted by insect vectors which breed in The sources of contamination of rooftop RWH tanks
water; includes dengue, filariasis, malaria, include; dust from the soil, leaves from trees, repellent
onchocerciasis, trypanosomiasis and yellow insects, chemical deposits, and bird droppings. The mainte-
fever
nance of DRWH system mainly consists in periodical
 J. Mwenge Kahinda et al. / Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 32 (2007) 1050–1057 1053

Fig. 2. Contamination paths DRWH systems collecting water from rooftop.

cleaning of the catchment area and the interior of the water Table 3
storage tank (Sazakli et al., 2007; Dillaha and Zolan, 1984) Diseases caused by mosquitoes
as well as the diversion of the first millimetres of rains. Protozoan disease Filarial disease Viral disease
Since it is impracticable to clean the roof surface, the best Malaria Heart worm Yellow fever
way of preventing pollutants and contaminants from get- Dengue fever
ting into the storage tank is by either diverting or flushing Encephalitis
the first millimetres of rains. Martinson and Thomas (2005)
developed a methodology that enables to estimate the of South Africa affected by malaria are the lowveld region
amount of rain to flush for any type of roof. This implies of Mpumalanga, Limpopo and the north-eastern parts of
that in a country such as South Africa where the rainfalls Kwazulu-Natal (Fig. 3). Malaria victims are mostly women
are erratic and unevenly distributed, the first millimetres and children and if uncontrolled, it becomes a major eco-
of rain after each dry spell will have to be either diverted nomic burden as most of the malaria risk areas in South
or flushed. At present, no diverting devices are installed Africa fall within some of the best tourism regions
on the AGTs implemented in rural South Africa. Such a (DOH, 2003a).
diverting device coupled with regular cleaning of the water The implementation of DRWH in those three provinces
storage tank will improve the water quality. Another main- requires special measures to prevent the breeding of mos-
tenance procedure is the periodic addition of a disinfectant quitoes in the DRWH tanks. Preventive measures with
such as chlorine to the cistern to kill existing bacteria regard to DRWH may be divided into three groups (after
(Dillaha and Zolan, 1984). Vasudevan et al., 2000):

3.2. DRWH as an insect vector (i) Prevention of mosquito breeding in the surroundings
of the tank. Chemical and biological measures may
Vasudevan et al. (2000) indicates that mosquito is the be employed to kill immature mosquitoes during lar-
major insect vector, which needs to be considered in the val stages:
context of DRWH. Mosquitoes cause various diseases • Plants and aquatic plants that repel mosquitoes
(Table 3), among which malaria is the most common in can be grown around the DRWH site.
South Africa. • A biological control of mosquito species using
Malaria transmission is a multifactorial phenomenon Bacillus sphareicus, Bacillus thuringiensis which
and climate is a major limiting factor of its spatial and tem- contains proteins toxic for larvae of a variety of
poral distribution, but many non-climatic factors may alter mosquito species can be used in existing
or override the effect of climate (Craig et al., 2004). Regions depressions.
1054 J. Mwenge Kahinda et al. / Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 32 (2007) 1050–1057

4. Sizing the DRWH storage tank

For a given size and location of DRWH system and

operating strategy, there will be a limit on the water it
can supply per day, per week or per year (DTU, 2001).
The storage tank accounts for a large fraction of the cost
of the DRWH system (Table 1). It is therefore critical to
size it appropriately, and to get the maximum benefit out
of it. Often the storage tank is either oversized or under-
sized. To find the optimum storage tank size, which will
help reaching a certain reliability of supply, the following
should be considered:

(i) The water availability:

• Rainfall distribution and intensity.
• Characteristics of the catchment area such as size
and land cover.
• Alternative water supply. There are 10 different
water sources in South Africa (Statistics SA,
2003): Piped water inside dwelling, Piped water
inside yard, Piped water on community stand: dis-
tance less than 200 m from dwelling, Piped water
on community stand: distance greater than 200 m
from dwelling, Borehole, Spring, Rainwater tank,
Dam/pool/stagnant water, River/stream and
Fig. 3. Map of distribution of endemic malaria in RSA (DOH, 2003b). Water vendors.
(ii) The water requirement. South Africa has 5 seasonal
• The larvae can also be killed by the use of extracts rainfall regions (year round, winter, early summer,
(oil layer), kerosene oil as well as the use of well mid-summer, late summer, and very late summer).
tested chemicals. Oils and films disperse as a thin The water requirement varies from one rainfall region
layer on the surface of the water which causes lar- to another.
vae and pupae to drown. (iii) The technical constraints such as the limitation of
(ii) Prevention of mosquito breeding in the tank. space, lack of labour, rocks in the ground, etc. Fac-
• The tank should be tightly closed, so that there are tors that help in deciding whether the storage tank
no openings for the entry of mosquitoes. will be above-ground or underground are:
• Screen may be used (with hole size less than 1 mm) • The roof type and height. Rural household usually
to bar entry of mosquito larvae in the tank. have thatched roofs that have a lower runoff coef-
• No stagnating water should be allowed around the ficient (around 0.2) than corrugated iron sheets.
DRWH site as mosquitoes might use it to breed. • The soil type. An AGT should not be built on
• Gutter leading to the storage should have a free expansive clay soils or sandy soils, and;
flow of water. Mosquitoes use as nurseries gutters • The dimensions of the stand. In most peri-urban
with stagnant water. areas (informal settlements) of South Africa, there
(iii) If inspite of the above, eggs or larvae have entered is no space for a storage tank.
DRWH, various ovicidal and larvicidal measures (iv) Socio-economic constraints such as the lack of labour
have to be considered. force, customs. About 67% of the 4.23 million of rural
• The measures practiced for killing bacteria may result household (Statistics SA, 2003) are below the poverty
in dying of mosquito eggs and larvae. These include line (income of less than ZAR 9600 per annum) and
high temperature, boiling and use of botanicals. can not afford the cost of a rainwater tank.
• Algal bloom both promote or discourage mos-
quito larvae depending on certain conditions. Fig. 4 shows the water demand satisfied by a tank com-
However, this is not recommended for AGTs since pared to its size. As it can be seen, economics of tanks are
the water can be used for drinking. such that the benefit of a tank is not strictly proportional to
• Measures for protection from mosquito biting its size. The reason for this is that a smaller tank will be
should be undertaken. filled and emptied (cycled) often whereas a larger tank will
only be cycled rarely (DTU, 2001).
In South Africa, residual spraying has proven to be In rural areas where municipal water is available, when
effective in reducing the cases of malaria. there is insufficient rains to fill the tank, the owners fill it
 J. Mwenge Kahinda et al. / Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 32 (2007) 1050–1057 1055

of the water supplied as well as the associated costs of

implementation are considered. A sustainable DRWH sys-
tem is one that is implemented after considering not only
the physical attributes (rainfall, location and catchment
characteristics) and the socio-economic attributes in its
design but also the quality of the rainwater and the alterna-
tive water sources.
To increase the water security of rural households, all
potential water sources should be evaluated with respect
to number, location, yield, dependability, and quality.
Because of the unreliable rainfall, it is necessary to investi-
Fig. 4. Benefits of tank sizing (DTU, 2001).
gate the existence of other sources near a particular site
that can be developed to insure water supplies that are
with municipal water. In the case of AGTs, they first empty more reliable. For years, untreated roof runoff has been
the tank to refill it with ‘‘fresh’’ water. If the non-govern- widely used for drinking purposes with very few recorded
mental organisations (NGOs) look at this ‘‘municipal or reported serious health problems. Rainwater collected
RWH’’ as a multiple use of the storage tank, the water from ground catchment systems is generally subject to high
authorities do not share their view especially because this levels of microbial contamination and has to be treated
‘‘municipal water harvesting’’ practice continues even dur- before being consumed. It is necessary when designing
ing the dry season and disrupts the water supply. the DRWH systems to prevent or minimize breeding of
mosquitoes and avoid or reduce pollution and contamina-
5. Legal aspect of DRWH tion. To further enhance rural water security, multiple
water sources should be utilised depending on the season
A review by Kahinda et al. (2005) of the National Water and geographic location.
Act (Act No. 36 of 1998) and the Water Services Act (Act Although extensive work has been done on the costing
No. 108 of 1997) indicates that the current water legisla- of water storage tanks (AGTs and UGTs), more work is
tions do not give a clear legal framework for the adoption needed on the sizing and design. The following need to
of DRWH, making DRWH illegal by strict application of be considered:
the law. If under the National Water Act, Section 22 (1) (c),
DRWH is a permissible water use which does not require a • The size and the design of the water storage tank cannot
license (Schedule 1), the Water Services Act, Section 6 (1) be standard considering the five rainfall regions of South
states that it will require an authorisation from the water Africa. A methodology developed by White (1993)
services authority. incorporates the mean annual rainfall (MAR) and the
The DWAF RWH pilot programme falls under the percentage deviation from MAR, to determine area
Agriculture Water Use Development Finance, a sub-direc- required to collect enough rainwater to provide an indi-
torate of the DWAF directorate Water Resources Finance vidual with water for a year in the various rainfall
and Pricing. The financial assistance to resource poor farm- regions.
ers that funds the programme is supplied in terms of sec-
tions 61 and 62 of the National Water Act (Act No. 36
of 1998), which empowers the Minister to make available
various types of grants or subsidies. There is a need of a
clear policy that will provide a framework which will
enable the sustainable use and upscaling of DRWH.

6. Discussion and conclusion

The review performed on this study shows that although

DRWH appears to be one of the most promising alterna-
tives for supplying freshwater in the face of increasing
water scarcity and escalating demand (Sazakli et al.,
2007), it should not be looked upon as the panacea for
water supply.
The sustainability of the DRWH requires close cooper-
ation between the government, the private sector (NGOs
and Scientists) and the rural households (Fig. 5) but also
an integrated system approach where the quantity/quality Fig. 5. Cooperation between all the stakeholders.
1056 J. Mwenge Kahinda et al. / Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 32 (2007) 1050–1057

• There is a need to investigate the health related risks of CT98 027, Milestone A6: Report A4. <http://www.eng.warwick.ac.uk/
the widespread use of DRWH especially in malaria dtu/rwh/eudocs/a6.pdf>.
Dillaha III, T.A., Zolan, W., 1984. Rainwater catchment water quality in
prone areas. The RWH pilot programme currently dis- Micronesia, 1985. Water Resources 19 (6), 741–746.
regards this aspect. Duncker L.C., 2000. Hygiene awareness for rural water supply and
• By only financing UGTs, the government does not sanitation projects. Report No. 819/1/00. Water Research Commis-
exploit the potential of DRWH to provide free the first sion, Pretoria, RSA.
six kilolitres of water consumed monthly to poor house- Eisenberg, J.N.S., Bartram, J., Hunter, P.R., 2001. In: Fewtrell, L.,
Bartram, J. (Eds.), Water Quality Guidelines Standards and
holds. Financing AGTS will however require investigat- Health, World Health Organization. IWA Publishing, London, UK,
ing the suitability of the rainwater collected for drinking pp. 230–256.
purposes. FNB, 2006. Exchange rate. <http.s://www.fnb.co.za/sekunjalo_rates/
• Guidelines on the operation and maintenance of forexM.asp>.
DRWH systems need to be written and disseminated Gleick, P.H., 1996. Basic water requirements for human activities: meeting
basic needs. Water International 21 (2), 83–92.
to rural communities. The experience gained from the Gould, J., 1999. Is rainwater safe to drink? A review of recent findings. In:
RWH pilot programme will be very valuable in incorpo- Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Rain Water
rating the local experience in the guidelines. Cistern Systems, Brazil, p. 9.
• The water legislations should be clear on DRWH to Handia, L., Tembo, J.M., Mwiindwa, C., 2003. Potential of rainwater
facilitate its implementation by NGOs. harvesting in urban Zambia. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 28,
893–896.
Howard, G., Bartram, J., 2003. Domestic Water Quantity Service,
To account for first three points raised above, they Level and Health. World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland,
should be a particular design and size of water storage tank p. 33.
for each DRWH ecotopes. DRWH ecotopes are areas with Info, 2006. Social cluster: parliamentary media briefing, presented by
same physical and socio-economic characteristics (rainfall the Minister of Health, Dr. Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, on behalf
of the Social Cluster. <http://www.info.gov.za/speeches/2006/
region, MAR, percentage deviation from MAR, soil type, 06021015451002.htm>.
similar alternative water sources and similar water Mackintosh, G., Colvin, C., 2003. Failure of rural schemes in South
requirement). Africa to provide potable water. Environmental Geology 44, 101–
DRWH has the potential to improve rural water supply 105.
in rural South Africa but only an integrated system Martinson, D., Thomas, T., 2005. Quantifying the first-flush phenomenon.
Coventry, United Kingdom, DTU/University of Warwick. In: Paper
approach will likely guarantee its success. Presented at the 12th IRCSA Conference, New Delhi, India. <http://
www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/eng/research/dtu/rain/martinson-ff.pdf>.
Mwenge Kahinda, J., Boroto, R.J., Taigbenu, A.E., 2005. Developing an
integrated water resources management and rainwater harvesting
References systems in South Africa. In: Proceedings of the 12th SANCIAHS
Symposium, Johannesburg, South Africa, p. 9.
Abbott, S.E., Douwes J., Caughley B.P., 2006. A survey of the Nevondo, T.S., Cloete, T.E., 1999. Bacterial and chemical quality of
microbiological quality of roof-collected rainwater of private dwellings water supply in the Dertig village settlement. Water SA 25 (2), 215–
in New Zealand. In: Proceedings of the 2006 Water International 220.
Conference, New Zealand, pp. 1–24. Pegram, G.C., Rollins, N., Esprey, Q., 1998. Estimating the cost of
Ashton, P.J., Ramasar, V., 2002. Water and HIV/AIDS: some strategic diarrhoea and epidemic dysentery in Kwazulu-Natal and South Africa.
considerations for southern Africa. In: Turton, A.R., Henwood, R. Water SA 24 (1), 11–20.
(Eds.), Hydropolitics in the Developing World: A Southern Africa Phillips, D., Daoudy, M., McCaffrey, S., Öjendal, J., Turton, A., 2006.
Perspective, African Water Issues Research Unit (AWIRU), Pretoria, Trans-boundary Water Cooperation as a Tool for Conflict Prevention
RSA, pp. 217–235. and for a Broader Benefit-Sharing. Phillips Robinson and Associates,
Craig, M.H., Kleinschmidt, I., Le Sueur, D., Sharp, B.L., 2004. Exploring Windhoek, Namibia, pp. 249.
30 years of malaria case data in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: Part II. Sazakli, E., Alexopoulos, A., Leotsinidis, M., 2007. Rainwater harvesting,
The impact of non-climatic factors. Tropical Medicine and Interna- quality assessment and utilization in Kefalonia Island, Greece. Water
tional Health 9 (12), 1258–1266. Research 41, 2039–2047.
De Lange, Marna. 2006. War on hunger: some impacts of the DWAF Statistics South Africa, 2003. Census 2001, GIS CD. Statistics South
Rainwater Harvesting Pilot Programme. Report to the Water Africa, Pretoria, South Africa.
Resources Finance and Pricing DWAF directorate. Department of UNAIDS, 2006. 2006 Report on the Global Aids Epidemic. A UNAIDS
Water Affairs and Forestry, Pretoria, South Africa. 10th anniversary special edition. Report from the Joint United Nations
Department of Health (DOH), 2003a. Malaria. <http://www.doh.gov.za/ Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). Geneva, Switzerland. <http://
issues/malaria.html>. www.unaids.org/en/HIV_data/2006GlobalReport/default.asp>.
Department of Health (DOH), 2003b. Guidelines for prevention of Vásquez, A., Costoya, M., Peña, R.M., Garcı´a, S., Herrero, C., 2003. A
malaria in South Africa. <http://www.doh.gov.za/docs/factsheets/ rainwater quality monitoring network: a preliminary study of the
guidelines/malaria/prevention.pdf>. composition of rainwater in Galicia (NW Spain). Chemosphere 51,
Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, 2003. Strategic Framework for 375–386.
Water Services; Water is Life, Sanitation is Dignity. DWAF, Pretoria, Vasudevan, P., Pathak, N., 2000. Water quality in domestic roofwater
South Africa. harvesting systems (DRWH). Report C3: Water Quality in DRWH.
Development Technology Unit (DTU), 2001. Recommendations for IIT Delhi.
designing, Rainwater Harvesting system tanks. Domestic Roofwater Vasudevan, P., Pathak, N., Mittal, P.K., 2000. DRWH and insect vectors:
Harvesting Research Programme, O-DEV Contract No. ERB IC18 a literature review. Sub programme C: Health Implications. Milestone
 J. Mwenge Kahinda et al. / Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 32 (2007) 1050–1057 1057

2: Report C2: Water Quality in DRWH. Centre for Rural Develop- Yaziz, M., Gunting, H., Sapiari, N., Ghazali, A., 1989. Variation in
ment & Technology Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India and rainwater quality from roof catchment. Water Research 23 (6), 761–
Malaria Research Centre, New Delhi. 765.
White, C.B., 1993. Investigation into the use of rainwater harvesting as an Zhu, K., Zhang, L., Hart, W., Liu, M., Chen, H., 2004. Quality issues in
alternative water supply in South Africa. BSc dissertation, School of harvested rainwater in arid and semi-arid Loess Plateau of Northern
Architecture, University of the Witwatersrand. Johannesburg, South China. Journal of Arid Environments 57, 487–505.
Africa.