In all urban areas, population is increasing rapidly and supply of adequate water to meet societal needs and to ensure equity in access to water is one of the most urgent and significant challenges faced by decision-makers. The world supply of freshwater cannot be increased. More and more people are becoming dependent on limited supplies of freshwater that are becoming more polluted. Water security, like food security, is becoming a major national and regional priority in many areas of the world. With respect to the physical alternatives to fulfil sustainable management of freshwater, there are two solutions: finding alternate or additional water resources using conventional centralised approaches; or better utilising the limited amount of water resources available in a more efficient way. To date, much attention has been given to the first option and only limited attention has been given to optimising water management systems. Among the various alternative technologies to augment freshwater resources, rainwater harvesting and utilisation is a decentralised, environmentally sound solution, which can avoid many environmental problems often caused in conventional large-scale projects using centralised approaches. The existing water sources are strained, and there is need to find alternative sources of water. Rainwater harvesting is one such solution. This paper seeks to explore the potential and applicability of rainwater harvesting as a solution to domestic water supply in urban areas.