Rural Women’s Access and Adaptation Strategies to Water Scarcity in Semi-Arid Borno State, Nigeria

The study assessed the extent of water scarcity and women’s coping strategies to water shortages in a semi-arid environment through FGDs and interviews conducted during the dry and rainy seasons. Based on interviews conducted with 540 rural women in 18 settlements, the study revealed that per capita water use was 10.58 and 10.66 litres in the dry and rainy seasons respectively which are below the minimum 20 litres per capita recommended by WHO/UNICEF (2006) for rural areas. Differing types of responses to water scarcity which were either means of simply getting by or representing real forms of adaptation were observed. The findings revealed the central role of women in rural water supply and their ingenuity to ensure household survival in times of water stress which ought to be incorporated into sustainable water management debates by incorporating the gender dimensions. This is particularly important in the face of predicted further decrease in water availability due to climate variability and change in semi-arid regions.