Knowledge, utilization and acceptability of rainwater harvesting technology among the residents of the Municipality of Bingawan, Iloilo

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to determine the knowledge, utilization and acceptability of rainwater harvesting technology among the residents of the Municipality of Bingawan. This descriptive research made use of the one shot survey design. Complete enumeration or census survey of all the 110 households was done using a researcher developed interview schedule as the data gathering instrument for the study. The researcher personally gathered all the data for this study by conducting a face to face interview with all of the study respondents, one after the other. After all the needed data were collected and cleaned, these were coded and encoded for electronic data processing using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 11 software. All the data were analyzed descriptively using frequency and percentage distribution. Means were computed whenever necessary. Results showed the respondents to be middle aged males, predominantly Roman Catholics, farmers, and with a monthly income of less than Php 5,000.00. They had high level of knowledge about rain water harvesting technology. The most common rain water harvesting technology used by the respondents were rubber jars, retention/detention pond, and the ferrocement tanks and drums. Their retention and detention ponds had mean depth of 3.10 meters; 15.72 meters long, and; 11.00 meters wide. Their ferrocement tanks had a capacity of 601 liters and above while their other tanks had a capacity of below 200 liters. The respondents mostly cleaned the storage to minimize breeding of mosquitoes and minimized and wisely used the water. The respondents generally used the rain water for domestic purposes and for other purposes like fish culture, farming, and animal raising. Based on their experiences, the respondents generally reported the technology to be highly acceptable. They claimed that rainwater harvesting technology was part of their cultural practices rather than it was introduced to them. The major problems encountered by the respondents in using rain water harvesting technology included limited supply and uncertainty of rainfall, limited time for cleaning and inspection of the facility, and contamination by people and animals. Given these problems, the respondents had put up bigger tanks and more ponds, opted to always clean their facility and installed protective measures within the perimeter of the ponds or tanks to avoid contaminants. To improve the rainwater harvesting technology, the respondents suggested and recommended the construction of more ferrocement tanks to increase water storage, continuous maintenance of cleanliness of the facilities, construction of deep wells, and planting more trees beside the ponds.