BBC NEWS SCIENCE NATURE Graphics Version Change to International Version BBC Sport Home News Front Page World UK England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales Business Politics Health Education Science Environment Technology Entertainment Also in the news Video and Audio Have Your Say Magazine Monday 13 November 2006 15 54 GMT Rain capture answer to water woe By Richard Black Environment correspondent BBC News website Nairobi rainwater harvesting could prove a cheap easy solution to Africa s water woes according to a UN report Scientists found enough rain falls in some countries to supply six or seven times the current need and provide security against future droughts A pilot project in a Kenyan Maasai community has improved supplies and done away with the daily trek to collect river water Currently 14 out of 53 nations are classified as water stressed This number is forecast to double by 2025 The UN Environment Programme Unep says that a cultural change is needed across the continent The biggest problem is awareness said Elizabeth Khaka of Unep Many people think of rainwater harvesting as a poor person s technology she told the BBC News website and we have to change that Last week the Kenyan government announced plans to make all new buildings include capacity for rainwater collection and storage Tell tale plots Using geographical information systems GIS technology scientists from Unep and the World Agroforestry Centre mapped rainfall patterns across nine countries in southern and eastern Africa They compared these maps with plots of population density and land use Map of global water stress We were very surprised by what we found said Ms Khaka We went over the figures again and again to check them Kenya with a population of about 40 million people could collect enough rain to supply six or seven times that figure Unep calculates Ethiopia often regarded as a dry country could collect enough for half a billion people In the popular mind Africa is seen as a dry continent said Dennis Garrity director general of the Worl