Rainwater Harvesting Practices and Utilization in the Island of Malangabang Philippines

Abstract

Water supply is a problem to humanity. In fact, with the increasing population of the world, the need and demand for water is growing that includes rainwater which is significant to every living specie including the environment, (Sadia Rahman, 2014). With this, rainwater harvesting came into being to many households so with the island of Malangabang in the Philippines where water supply is threatened with climate change, snowballing population, water sourcing, and environmental issues. Using the descriptive type of research utilizing a survey method colored with random interview, the study on Rainwater Harvesting Practices and Utilization was conducted in the island. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the rainwater was harvested primarily from the rooftop and the least excess water from grounds and plants. In terms of utilization, it was manifested that rainwater was used for watering the plants, toilet cleaning and flushing and the least is utilized for drinking. It is evident that significant relationships between practices and utilization were "sourced from the rooftop and personal washing and cleaning; house gutter and utilized from bathing of pets; used containers and cooking; other households cleaning and for drinking" respectively. This supports the study of Gupta & Chakraborty (2021) declaring that rainwater harvesting augments water shortage where its uses may include water for gardens, livestock, irrigation, domestic use with proper treatment, and indoor heating for houses among others. Moreover, the harvested water can also be used for drinking, bathing, and for other purposes where humans especially in communities where supply and source of water is scarce. The results of the present study imply that the practices manifest a purposive rainwater harvesting which sets an impression for a special driven purpose of utilization to the island community where designing rainwater harvesting infrastructure is recommended.