Assessing community readiness for rainwater harvesting: A case study of rural areas in Kedah

The increase in the global population demanded a continuous clean water supply. Despite the significant rainfall in Malaysia, rural areas in Kedah were facing water scarcity and lacking clean water supply. The issue arises due to some problems including the lack of sustainable water management practices among rural communities in Kedah. This leads to the suggestion of adopting a rainwater harvesting system (RWHS) as the best alternative solution to address the issue. Hence, this research aims to assess the readiness factors among rural communities in Kedah regarding implementing RWHS, focusing on awareness, knowledge, and motivation. The objectives of this study were to examine the necessity of implementing RWHS in Kedah’s rural areas and identify the main reasons that drive the rural communities to adopt this system. This research was significant as it was the first to assess the three readiness factors in the context of rural communities in Malaysia. A quantitative method was employed, involving 389 respondents from the Desa KEDA community across four zones in Kedah: Zone 3 (Pendang/ Pokok Sena), Zone 4 (Sik), Zone 7 (Kuala Muda/ Yan), and Zone 8 (Kota Setar/ Kubang Pasu). Data were collected by distributing questionnaires and have been analysed using SPSS version 22. The findings show that the factors of awareness and motivation among rural communities in Kedah have a significant relationship with the implementation of RWHS, while the knowledge factor shows a negative relationship. Theoretically, this study contributed to the use of the Attitude-Behaviour-Context (ABC) and Ecological Modernization theory in studying the context of awareness, knowledge and motivation in assessing rural communities' readiness in implementing RWSH. From a practical point of view, this study found that RWHS has great potential to be implemented in rural areas of Kedah based on the factors of readiness studied. This will indirectly contribute to sustainable water management practices among the rural community in facing the issues of water scarcity.