Water Resources and

Water Pollution
PRESENTED BY
M.RAMAVENKATESWARA RAO
06L61A0134
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
CHAITANYA ENGINEERING COLLEGE
VISAKHAPATNAM
Water Resources
It Is Artificially Supplying Water To Soil For Raising
Crops. It Is A Science Of Planning And Designing An
Efficient, Low Cost, Economic Irrigation System
Tailored To Fit Natural Conditions It Is The Engineering
Of Controlling And Harnessing The Various Natural
Sources Of Water, By The Construction Of Dams And
Reservoirs, Canals And Head Works And Finally
Distributing The Water To The Agricultural Fields
• Water
– Earth’s surface is covered by 71% water
– Essential for life – can survive only a few
days without water
Supply of Water Resources

Small fraction (.014%) is readily

available for human use
Water Cycle – continuously collected,
purified, recycled and distributed

Flowing
artesian well
Precipitation
Evaporation and transpiration
Well requiring a pump
Evaporation
Confined
Recharge Area

Runoff

Aquifer Stream
Infiltration Water table
Lake
Infiltration
Unconfined aquifer

Confined aquifer
Less permeable material
such as clay Confirming permeable rock layer
Watershed

• A watershed describes the total area

contributing drainage to a stream or river
• May be applied to many scales
– A large watershed is made up of many
small watersheds
Chehalis Basin
 Flowing
artesian well

Precipitation
Evaporation and transpiration
Well requiring a pump

Evaporation
Confined
Recharge Area

Runoff

Aquifer
Stream
Infiltration Water table
Lake
Infiltration

Zone of saturation Unconfined aquifer

(spaces completely filled with water)

Less permeable material
Confined aquifer

such as clay
Confirming permeable rock layer
Water sources

Surface runoff – 2/3 lost to floods and not available

for human use.
• Reliable runoff = one third
• Amount of runoff that we can count on year to year
Groundwater
• Zone of saturation
• Water table – top of zone of saturation
• Aquifer – water saturated layers of sand, gravel or
bedrock through which groundwater flows.
• Recharge slow ~ 1 meter per year
Use of Water Resources

Humans directly or indirectly use about 54% of reliable

runoff
Withdraw 34% of reliable runoff for:
• Agriculture – 70%
• Industry – 20%
• Domestic – 10%

Leave 20% of runoff in streams for human use:

transport goods, dilute pollution, sustain fisheries
Could use up to 70-90% of the reliable runoff by 2025
Too Little Water

• Problems in the
• West
• Dry climate
• Drought
• Desiccation

US has plenty of water. Acute shortage

Much of it is in the wrong
place at the wrong time.
Most serious problems are
flooding, pollution,
occassional urban shortages
Adequate supply
Shortage
Metropolitan regions with
population greater than 1 million
Water conflicts: Western US
Water and Wash.

Fish
N.D.
Montana
Oregon
Idaho S.D.
Wyoming
Nevada Neb.

Utah Colo. Kansas

California
Oak.
N.M.

Texas
Highly likely conflict potential
Substantial conflict potential
Moderate conflict potential
Unmet rural water needs
Water conflicts: Global

Two main factors for water shortage: dry climate and too
many people. Many people live in hydro poverty – can’t afford clean
Water.
Too Much Water: Floods

• Natural phenomena
• Aggravated by human activities
• Rain on snow Living on floodplains
• Impervious surfaces
• Removal of vegetation
• Draining wetlands
Reservoir

Dam

Levee Flood
wall
Floodplain
Deforestation and flooding
Using Dams and Reservoirs to
Supply More Water: The Trade-offs
Flooded land destroys Downstream cropland and
forests or cropland and estuaries are deprived of
displaces people nutrient-rich silt
Large losses
of water through Downstream flooding
evaporation is reduced

Reservoir is useful for

recreation and fishing
Provides water
for year-round
irrigation of
Can produce cheap electricity (hydropower) cropland

Migration and spawning of some fish are disrupted

Tapping Groundwater

• Year-round use
• No evaporation losses
• Often less expensive
• Potential Problems:
• Water table lowering – too much use
• Depletion – U.S. groundwater being
withdrawn at 4X its replacement rate
• Saltwater intrusion – near coastal areas
• Chemical contamination
• Reduced stream flows
 Solutions
Sustainable Water Use

• Not depleting aquifers

• Preserving ecological health of aquatic systems
• Preserving water quality
• Integrated watershed management
• Agreements among regions and countries sharing
surface water resources
• Outside party mediation of water disputes between
nations
• Marketing of water rights
• Raising water prices
• Wasting less water
• Decreasing government subsides for supplying water
• Increasing government subsides for reducing water
waste
• Slowing population growth
Pollution Source terminology
• Point source = pollution comes from
single, fixed, often large identifiable
sources
– smoke stacks
– discharge drains
– tanker spills
• Non-point source = pollution comes
from dispersed sources
– agricultural runoff
– street runoff
 Types of Water Pollution
• Sediment
– logging, roadbuilding, erosion
• Oxygen-demanding wastes
– human waste, storm sewers, runoff from
agriculture, grazing and logging, many others
• Nutrient enrichment = Eutrophication
– N, P from fertilizers, detergents
– leads to increased growth in aquatic systems,
ultimately more non-living organic matter
BOD
• As micro-organisms decompose (through
respiration) organic matter, they use up all
the available oxygen.
• Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) Amount
of oxygen required to decay a certain
amount of organic matter.
• If too much organic matter is added, the
available oxygen supplies will be used up.
Eutrophication

Eutrophic – well-fed, high nutrient levels

present in a lake or river

Oligotrophic – poorly-fed, low nutrient levels

Water bodies can be naturally eutrophic or

oligotrophic, but can also be human-
caused
Diseases caused by water Pollution
• Disease-causing organisms
– from untreated sewage, runoff from feed lots
• Toxic chemicals
– pesticides, fertilizers, industrial chemicals
• Heavy metals
– lead, mercury
• Acids
• Elevated temperatures = Thermal Pollution
– water is used for cooling purposes, then heated
water is returned to its original source
– any increase in temperature, even a few degrees,
may significantly alter some aquatic ecosystems.
 Groundwater Pollution
• Agricultural products
• Underground storage tanks
• Landfills
• Septic tanks
• Surface
impoundments
Growth of population

• Supply & demand are in growing conflict –

supply is finite – water management driven
by values and needs
• Increases demand/use of water
• Increases land use and changes
vegetation and permeability
• Increases demand for instream values –
instream flows are for people
The construction of dams have
slowed the once flowing Columbia
River into a series of lakes.
Agriculture uses approximately 70% of the water withdrawn
from our streams and rivers
Changing land use changes vegetation and need for water
Change in land use also changes permeability
Water Rights

• Water collectively belongs to the public

– Cannot be owned by individuals
• Individuals or groups may be granted
rights to use water
– Legal authorization to use a predefined
quantity of public water for a designated
purpose.
• Irrigation, domestic water supply, power
generation
Water Rights

• State law requires certain users of public

waters to receive approval from the state
prior to using water.
• Any use of surface water which began
after 1917 requires a water-right permit.
• Withdrawals of underground water from
1945 requires a water-right permit.
Instream flows

• Result – the more we know about stream

ecology, the more we realize that all the water
has instream value, meaning there is no surplus
• Compromises and minimizing impact –
thresholds for rate of impact
• Other ways to achieve ecosystem goals – wider
view, not just flows – watershed land
management
Legal/political aspects of
instream flow
• provide a flow of water sufficient to adequately support food
fish and game fish populations in the stream.
• provide protection and preservation and where possible
enhancement, of wildlife, fish, … and other environmental
values …
• protect fish, game, birds, and other wildlife, recreational and
aesthetic values and water quality
• antidegradation requirements of Washington’s water quality
standards (Ch. 173-201 A WAC, following Federal Clean Water
Act)
Instream flows

• Other ways to achieve ecosystem goals – wider view, not

just flows – watershed land management
• Avoid headwater disturbance
• Vegetation
• Geology and topography
• Maintain longitudinal and lateral connectivity
• Avoid mainstem in-channel storage
• Allow floodplain to function as floodplain
Avoid headwater disturbance and leave vegetation
Allow floodplains to function as floodplains
Flow restoration

• Markets and transfers

• Need to protect restored flows
• Enforcement
Opportunities

• Parks and wilderness areas

• Renewable natural resource management
and harvest (forestry, grazing, secondary
forest products)
• Municipal watershed protection
• Low intensity sustainable agriculture
Watershed Planning

• The 1998 legislature passed ESHB

2514, codified into Ch. 90.82 RCW, to
set a framework for developing local
solutions to watershed issues on a
watershed basis. Ch. 90.82 RCW
states: The legislature finds that the
local development of watershed plans
for managing water resources and for
protecting existing water rights is vital
to both state and local interests.
Watershed Planning

• RCW 90.82.005
• Purpose.
• The purpose of this chapter is to develop
a more thorough and cooperative method of
determining what the current water resource
situation is in each water resource inventory area of the
state and to provide local citizens with the maximum
possible input concerning their goals and objectives for
water resource management and development.
Watershed Planning

• Each implementation plan must contain

strategies to provide sufficient water for:
(a) Production agriculture; (b)
commercial, industrial, and residential
use; and (c) instream flows. Each
implementation plan must contain
timelines to achieve these strategies
and interim milestones to measure
progress