Effect of Climate Change on Water Availability and Quality: An Assessment of Socio-Resilience in Nigeria

Freshwater is crucial to human society, not just for domestic uses such as drinking and washing, but also for agricultural productivity and many other activities. Water is expected to become increasingly scarce in the future; this is partly obvious in many African countries, due to climate change. In recent years, there is high confidence that climate change might have increasing impacts on the quantity and quality of water. In this study, therefore, the impacts of climate change on water availability for drinking, agricultural activities and domestic uses were examined. Based on communities’ assessment in Nigeria, socio-resilience implications of climate change on water availability were examined. The study focuses on the impacts of climate change on the quantity and quality of water in selected communities. The study approach was a mixed-method, involving the use of both qualitative and quantitative data. The results show that the majority of local people in the study area engage in rainwater harvesting. This may be due to the point that rainwater harvesting is easy to use and much more available during the rainy season of the year. The rate of the use of rainwater harvesting, as adaptation option in the rural community, is very high compared to other adaptation measures. The study concludes that as climate change is leading to scarcity of water to meet the rising demand for food, this is expected to be 60% higher in Africa by 2030, this spikes food prices and worsens food scarcity. Thus, there is a need for more local-scale assessment of water availability and distribution patterns as influenced by climate change.