Chapter Three

Sources of water supply

Topics to be discussed
• Water cycle
• Possible sources of surface water supply
• Source selection
• Storage reservoir
Get the source????
• Think about your drinking water source where it
comes from?
• How would you rate the quality of your drinking
water source?
• What concerns do you have about your drinking
water supply?
 Water contamination process

Nature of water source

determines the components
of the water supply
system
Surface water

Types of surface water

1. Rainwater
2. River
3. Pond and reservoirs
4. Lakes
5. Sea water
Source selection
• Factors to be considered to select source:
• Quantity/amount
• Quality
• Reliability and safety
• Water rights
• Environmental impacts…
Rain water
• contains large amounts of impurities, the
quantity of which is maximum in the first rains
and minimum in the last rains of the season
• saturated with oxygen, but flat to the taste and
corrosive in nature
• Rain water might contain dust, smoke,
bacteria, carbon dioxide… as falling from high
altitude
• RW Harvesting - roofs are most effective and
can be integrated with tanks
 Rain water
Advantage
• The quality of rainwater is high, the
collection system is independent,
• Local materials and craftsmanship can be
used in rain water system construction,
• No energy costs are needed to run the
system,
• Ease of maintenance by the owner or user,
• Convenience and acceptability of water, and
• Valuable time is saved in collecting water.
Disadvantage
• The high initial capital cost may prevent
a family from buying the system.
• The water available is limited by rainfall
amount, duration and roof area. For
long dry seasons, the required storage
volume may be too high.
• Mineral free water has a flat taste which
people may prefer the taste of mineral
rich water.
Rain water
 Lakes and reservoirs
• Store water in wet seasons for usage
in dry seasons
• It is a standing water because of this:
Quality is very low:
turbidity, bacteria and pollutants
Thermal stratification (i.e. for deep
lakes/reservoirs)
 River water
• A stream or river is a body of running water
on the surface of the earth, from higher to
lower ground.
• Rivers are the only surface sources of water
from which maximum quantity of water can
be easily taken.
• River water has self-purification action
Development of rivers requires :
submerged intake structure
small diversion dams (i.e. for small streams)
 Lake water
• In mountainous regions natural basins are
formed with impervious beds.
• The quantity of water in the lakes depends
on its basin capacity, catchments area,
annual rainfall, porosity of the ground etc.
• Lakes, whenever they are abundant or large,
play a major role in local water balances.
• Large lakes are immense heat reservoirs,
helping to cool the surrounding area in
summer and to warm it in winter.
 Sea water
• Sea water on average contains about 3.5% salts.
• The salt percentage of lakes or land locked lakes
is usually more than the sea water, because
evaporation of water from their surfaces is
much more, due to which the percentage of salt
is increased in them.
• When there is no other source of water near to
the towns desalination [process of removing
extra sodium chloride from the water] of the
available water might be the only alternative.
Source Selection
Surface water sources Ground water sources
• Safe water yield during the drought years • Aquifer characteristics (depth, geology,
• Urbanization and land development in • Safe aquifer yield
the watershed • Permissible drawdown
• Proposed impoundments on tributaries • Water quality
• Water quality
• Source of contamination(gasoline, oil,
• Assessment of reliability chemicals)
• Requirements for construction of water • Saltwater intrusion(areas near to seas or
supply system components oceans)
• Economics of the project • Type and extent of recharge area
• Environmental impacts of the project • Rate of recharge
• Water rights • Water rights
 Reservoirs capacity
Investigations for reservoir planning: Reservoirs
capacity
Topographic surveying – to produce a topo-
map which will be used as a base for
preparing water surface area vs elevation curve
plotting storage volume vs elevation
indicating man-made and natural features
that may be affected
Geologic investigations
 Water tightness of the reservoir basin
Suitability of foundations for the dam
Geological and structural features, such as
faults, fissures, etc
Type and depth of overburden
Location of permeable and soluble rocks
if any
Ground water conditions in the region
Location and quantity of materials for
the dam construction
Hydrological investigations
determination of rainfall, runoff,
seepage, and evaporation in the
reservoir catchment from long years of
data.
These information are essential for,
estimating the reservoir capacity and
design of spillway.
 Mass curve method
• Reservoir capacity is determined from
accumulated mass inflow and accumulated
demand curves.
• Net Inflow = total Inflow – outflow
(evaporation, seepage, d/s flow)
 Procedure
Step 1:- Prepare accumulated mass inflow
curve from the stream hydrograph
Step 2:- Prepare the accumulated demand
curve on the same scale
Step 3:- Draw tangent lines that are parallel to
the accumulated demand curve at the high
points of the accumulated mass curve (P1, P2,
P3, etc)
Step 4:- Measure the vertical distances
between the tangent lines and the mass inflow
curve (V1, V2, V3 etc.)
Step 5:- Determine the required reservoir
storage capacity as the largest of the vertical
distances (V1, V2, V3, etc.)
 Analytic method
Procedure
Step1:- Calculate the net inflow from Example
the given hydrological data Compute the storage requirement
Step2:-Calculate the deficiency needed for an impounding reservoir for
(demand– net inflow) a constant draft of 23ML/km2/months
• Compute the cumulative deficiency. of 30.4days with the given monthly net
If the cumulative deficiency is river inflow for a critical year.
negative, take the cumulative
deficiency as zero
• Determine the required reservoir
capacity as the maximum cumulative
deficiency
 Analytical Solution
Month Inflow Drat Com. Com. Deficiency Com. Com.
demand demand inflow deficiency surplus
1 94 23 23 94 -71 0 71
2 122 23 46 216 -99 0 170
3 45 23 69 261 -22 0 192
4 5 23 92 266 18 18 0
5 5 23 115 271 18 36 0
6 2 23 138 273 21 57 0
7 0 23 161 273 23 80 0
8 2 23 184 275 21 101 0
9 16 23 207 291 7 108 0
10 7 23 230 298 16 124 0
11 72 23 253 370 -49 75 49
12 92 23 276 462 -69 6 69
13 21 23 299 483 2 8 0
14 55 23 322 538 -32 0 32
15 33 23 345 571 -10 0 42
Graphical Solution
Safe yield from a given reservoir capacity
• Prepare the mass inflow curve.
• From the apices A1, A2, A3 etc. of
the mass curve, draw tangents in
such a way that their maximum
departure from the mass curve
does not exceed the specified
reservoir capacity. The ordinates
E1D1, E2D2, E3D3, etc. are all
equal to the reservoir capacity (say
1500ha.m)
• Measure the slopes of each of
these tangents. The slopes indicate
the yield which can be attained in
each year from the reservoir of
given capacity. The slope of the
flattest demand line is the firm
yield.
Thank you for your attention!