2. Introduction
• Water is an abundant and renewable natural
resource that covers almost two third of the
earth but a very small proportion of this is
effectively available for human use.
• The demand for water has always been rising
due to development in both rural and urban
areas.
3. Water consumption: Meaning
• Water consumption is defined as the
freshwater taken from ground or surface
water sources, either permanently or
temporarily and conveyed to the place of use.
4. RURAL SETTLEMENT
• Traditionally, rural settlement were associated
with agriculture.
• In modern times other types of rural
communities have been developed.
• The settlement where the occupation of majority
of people relate to the local natural resources are
called rural settlement for example,
1. Settlement of fisheries along a sea coast
2. Settlement of tribal people in a forest area, and
3. Settlement of farmers along the banks of rivers
7. Water consumption patterns in rural
areas
• Water consumption is mainly for laundry,
showering, personal hygiene
• Vegetable gardening is crucial to rural households
especially in developing countries and affects the
annual income of small farm families directly.
Vegetable gardening consists of more than 50%
of outdoor water consumption.
• Villages with continuous piped water supply,
intermittent piped water supply and public tap
access have significant variations in average levels
of water consumption for domestic use.