.

.
WATER RESOURCES
MANAGEMENT
B. N. Roy
Engineer in Chief (Rtd.), Govt. ofChattisgarh
101, Chanakya Apartments, 1, Abhayankar Road,
Dhantolir Nagpur-4400 12
""
ABSTRACT
Due to global warming and climatic change
the annual rains have become unpredictable. for a
country like India whose irrigation, agriculture,
drinking water supply demands are dependent on
monsoon, the coming years can see the water crisis
becoming severe. Steps have to be taken from now
to lessen this effect. This article briefly touches on
some of the methods which could be taken in this
direction.
Key words: Water Resources, Surface
Water/Ground Water Availability, Drinking Water
Demand, Rain Water Harvesting, China, Waste
Water Treatment, Reclamation, Reuse, MBR.
Water Resources - Availability
(a) The total amount of water available on earth
is estimated to be 1.40 billion cubic kilometers
(b) Of which 95% is in the oceans, unfit for human
consumption and other uses.
(c) 4% is locked in polar ice..
(d) Only 1% constitutes all fresh water including
ground water reserves.
(e) Of this only 0.1 % is available as fresh water
in rivers, streams which is fit for human
consumption. (1 Ramakrishna,Babu 1999)
Surface Water (SW)
India receives on an average of 4000 cubic
kilometers or billion cubic metres (BCM) of rainfall
every year, of which 48% i.e. 1953 BCM is the annual
average flow in our river system, of which only 690
BCM is utilizable.
Ground Water (GW)
India possess 432 BCM of GW replenished
yearly from rains and river discharge, but only 395
BCM is utilizable, of which 82% (361) goes to
irrigation, and only 71 BCMis available for domestic,
industrial and other uses
Table 1 : Per Capita/year availability and utilizable Surface water in India in cubic metres
(2-Kumar, Singh, Sharma Sept.2005)
Table 2 : Per capita ground water availability
(2-Kumar, Singh, Sharma Sept.2005)
Volume2012-13. Number 1 . April 2012 19
S1. Year
Popu4ttion Per capita surface Per capita Per Capita utilizable
No. in billions
water availability
utilizable SW available @3% of
in cu.bic metres surface water Col 5 in cu m
c
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 2001 1.027 1902 672 20.16
2 2011 1.218 1700 601 18.03
(reported)
3 2025 1.333 1465 495 14.85
(projected)
4 2050 1.581
1235 421 12.63
(projected)
81. Year
Population in Per Capita GW Per Capita GW availability
No. billions
availability in
in cubic metres for
cubic metres domestic use @ 3% of Col4
1 2 3
4 5
1 2001 1.027 1902 57.06
2 2011
1.218 (reported)
1700 51.00
3 2025
1.333 (projected) 1401 42.03
4 2050
1.581 (projected) 1191 35.73
..
B. N. Roy
Table 3: Drinking Water Demand
Note: As the living standards of the country's population rises so does their aspirations and
demands, thus the per capita water supply demand has been raised with time.
Table 4: Total Water Demand and water available from SW and GW sources
From table 4, it can be seen that the projected
water demand iIl-the year 2050, is higher than the
total water availability. However looking to the
drastic effects of global warming and climatic
change, and also to the improving standards ofliving
ofIndia's citizens, the situation of water availability
falling short of the water demand can come much
earlier than 2050, say around 2035 or 2040.
Management of Available Water for Drinking
purposes '.
India has to take steps in the coming 5 year
plan to alleviate the future alarming situation of
dtinking water. There are several measures which
can be taken and a combined exercise will give the
best results. The following measures are suggested
and are already being carried out in parts of the
country with beneficial results. .
Water Authorities/Municipalities entrusted
with supplying water to the cities and towns
should emphasize and start thinking on the
lines of forcing the industries and walled
existing and upcoming townships who
presently have Municipal water connections,
to treat their waste water, and reuse it for.
road washing, park watering, fire fighting and
toilet flushing.
Potable standard water fit for human
consumption will in future be supplied only
(b)
for drinking, cooking, bathing and washing.
For a start this practice .should be
implemented in our 6 metros. This will
naturally reduce the demand of water thereby
bringing down the extraction of water from
. the source, which will increase the source's
longevity. .
Moreover steps are to be taken so that the
source of water do not get polluted as it is
seen that most industries, chemical,
pharmaceutical plants etc only treat their
waste water partially and release it into the
water body-drinking water s04rce.
Enforce strictly and ensure the construction
of Rain Water Harvesting (RWH) structures.
A start should be made with public buildings.
,In future no drawings/plans of complexes,
institutions be sancticned/ approved without
their having made provisions of RWH. Only
when the underground tank for holding the
RW has been constructed should the sanctions
for further construction be given. On a rough
estimate RWH structures can add one BCM
'per year to the water availability .(3-Kalia
2010) .
Leakage in transmission mains conveying
water from the treatment plants to the cities
various overhead tanks, and in the network
(c)
Volume 2012-13 .Number 1 .April 2012 20
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81. Year
Population Per Capita daily
Total Water
No. in billions Water Demand Demand in
in litres BCMIYear
1 2 3 4 5
.
1 2001 1.027 100 37.5
2 2011 1.218 115 51.12
3 2025 1.333 125 60.81
4 2050 1.581 150 86.56
81. Year Water Demand Available from Available from Total Water
No. in BCM 8W in BCM GW in BCM available in BCM
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 2001 37.5 20.16 58.60 78.76
2 2011 51.12 18.03 62.12 80.15
3 2025 60.81 14.85 56.02 70.87
-
4 2050 86.56 12.63 56.49 69.12
B. N. Roy
(d)
of distribution lines is to the tune of 30-35%
in most Indian cities. This loss is substantial
and in current language called Non-Revenue
Water (NRW).
Actually this quantity of water is being treated,
disinfected, pumped and being conveyed, but
due to leakage do not reach the public and
thus ~ot accounted for. Exercise on a war
footing should be taken up immediately to
bring down this NR\V>to a reasonable limit
say 12-15 %. Singapore has reduced it to 6%,
whereas it is around 13% and 18% in Europe
and China.4 This leakage control will add a
substantial quantum to the daily water being
supplied in the town/city, and all of this will
be accounted for and revenue will be earned.
Another task which requires immediate
attention is compulsory metering, even in our
metros the entire distribution network and
water connections are not metered and the
customers are being billed at a flat rate, which
is on a much lower scale than what actually
is being consumed. Metering will not only
increase the revenue of the Water Supply
Authorities, but also make the public more
conscious regarding wastage of water.
In rural areas and semi-urban areas where
people are not residing on the banks of
streams/nallahs/smaJl rivers, blocking the
flowing water going to waste should be taken
by construction of dykes, check bunds,
percolation tanks/trenches, desiltationof
existing tanks/ponds, building of percolation
trenches at the foot of the slope of hills, spring
water harvesting(water is diverted through
excavated channels for domestic use and
irrigation)- this practice is prevalent in J &K,
HP, and Uttarakhand, contour trenches, and
(e)
recharging of existing tube wells etc. This will
help in recharging the existing aquifers.
Waste Water Treatment, Reclamation and
its Reuse in China
I visited China recently in September 2011 to
attend an International Water Convention hosted
jointly by International Water Association (IWA)
and Xian University of Architecture and Technology
at Xian. The theme was "Cities of the Future-
Technologies for Integrated Urban Water
Management".
In China there are many water stressed cities
like Beijing, Tianjin, Jinan, Xian etc. these 4 and a
few others have taken up the task oftreating their
domestic waste water, reclaiming it and then
reusing it for public park watering, landscaping,
water bodiesllakes replenishment, toilet flushing,
and road washing. Domestic potable water supply
treated, disinfected to the set standards are supplied
for drinking, bathing, cooking and washing only.
Dual pipe system is used; one pipe supplies drinking
and water for other domestic purposes while the
second pipe conveys water for toilet flushing,
gardening etc. Xian city has presently a per capita
availability of water of only 234 cubic metres.
After the conclusion of the Convention,
theParticipants were taken for a Technical Visit to'
the Siyuan UniversitY.lil.nd Xian University for
Architecture and Technology Campus, where this
experiment has been implemented and is being-
successfully being operated and maintained.
The University Campus is spread over 8.0
hectares and has 60% green cover, there are 25,000
students and teaching staff residing within the
campus. The source is ground water as the Campus
is 13 kms from the city, and no perennial surface
source is in the vicinity.
Table 5: China Standards for Waste Water Reuse for different uses
(4-"Cities ofthe Future- Technologies for Integrated Urban Water Management".
Note: 1) The most rigorous standards are for landscaping, lake replenishments, where BOD, Ammonia,
Phosphates, and Suspended Solid loads are brought down to the set standards
2) The lowest criteria is set for reuse for gardening.
Thus a dual quality reclamation plan is adopted having two treatment units.
Volume2012-13. Number 1. Apri12012
21
S.No Parameters
Toilet Flushing . "Landscaping, lake replenishments Gardening
1 BOD 10 6 20
2 TN
-
15
-
3
NHs - N
10
J
5 20
4 TP
-
0.5
..'
-
5 SS 5 5 10
6 COLOUR 30 30 30
B. N. Roy
Fig 1 shows - the present water supply
scenario in the University Campus, and how by
treatment of waste water, recbmation, and reuse
the University Authorities have been able to
increase their daily water supply by over 100 %.
Fig 2 shows the steps of Treatment Process
.f~r treating the waste water, reclamation, and reuse
for different uses.
. .
In the Secondary Treatment of the waste
water along with die Conventional Activated Sludge
System (CASS), Membrane Bio Reactor (MBR)
Technology is used for getting higher grades of
reuse water.MBR is an advanced treatment process
that combines biological treatment and membrane
filtration to achieve high rate removal of Suspended
Solids aswell as other pollutants removal. Aeration
is used for membrane cleaning, which prevents
sludge blockage by the vibration of membrane.
The treatment system is as described below:
Unit 1: Biological unit followed by Biological
Aeration Process (AO +) coagulation, sedimentation,
filtration - Normal quality reclaimed water about
1500 m3/day, used for road washing and gardening.
Unit 2: BiologicaVBiochemical Anaerobic Process
(A20) followed by MBR for producing high quality
reclaimed water for Landscaping, lake
replenishments,..and toilet flushing the quantity
reclaimed is around 2000 m3/day.
Thereby the total daily water being supplied
after implementation of this treatment of waste
water is
3000 + 1500 + 2000 =6500 m3/d
Which is more than 100% increase.
Cost:
a) Cost of reclaimed water system = 1.84
RMB/m3
b) Cost ofO&M of system =2.11 RMB/m3
Total cost =3 .95 RMB/m3That works out to
around Rs 30/ M3, at the current currency conversion
rates.
The advantages of MBR over conventional
units are:
1) Stable footprint 'of treatment facilities
2) Higher biomass in the reactor
3) Stable high quality of treated effluent ~
The only disadvantage of MBR is it is costly
compared to the conventional units. However
looking to the high quality of the treated eff1uent,
the same can be supplied to the farmers who grow
vegetables, fruits, maize, and cotton etc. This
practice is being followed in other cities of China
where treatment, reclamation, and reuse of waste
water is being implemented. in a bigger scale
Thereby earning revenue out of it, which
compensates to some extent the capital cost invested
in installing the system. Moreover from the annual
revenue earned by supplying treated waste water
to the farmers will bring down the operation and,
maintenance costs.
The only disadvantage of MBR is it is costly
compared to the conventional units. However
looking to the high quality of the treated effluent,
the same can be supplied to the farmers who grow
vegetables, fruits, maize, and cotton etc., Thereby
earning revenue out of it, which can compensate to
some extent the capital cost invested in installing
the system. Moreover from the annual revenue
earned by supplying treated waste water to the
farmers will bring down the operation and
maintenance costs. .
Summary and Conclusion:
. The fresh water depletion and the drinking
water crisis in many Indian towns and cities
are becoming serious and alarming.
It is time that our planners and experts in
the field of Water Sector show concern about
the situation, and steps in this direction.
Reducing leakages in transmission mains,
distribution lines are necessary to increase
the quantum of water received actually by the
public.
Construction of RWH structures has to be
made mandatory, and implemented strictly.
Construction of dykes, check bunds,
percolation trenches, contour trenches,
recharging c.f existing tube wells etc., which
are being carried out in some pockets of rural
India, has to be taken up in the remaining
parts of the country also, so as to recharge
the existing acquifers.
.
.
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BIBILIOGRAPHY
1. V. Ramakrishna and Dr B.V. Babu, BITS
Pilani; " Fresh Water Depletion - A Crisis:
Causes and Remedies "Environment and
People, Vol 6 (No 1),1999.
Rakesh Kumar, R.D.Singh , and K.D.Sharma,
NIH Roorkee, "Water Resources of India";
Current Science Vol 89, No 5, September 2005
Kanika Kalia- Asstt Director WRD, BIS, New
Delhi; "Standards: A necessary adjunct to
Sustainable Water Management"- Sustainable
Development of Urban Infrastructure, 2010
VNIT, Nagpur
"Cities of the Future- Technologies for
Integrated Urban Water Management"- Xian
University of Architecture and Technology,
and IWA,2011.
2.
3.
4.
VoJume2012-13 e Number 1 e April 2012
22
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B. N. Roy
[ PRETREATMEN~ I
Screening Cansf Rags f5ticks f Plastic bags
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Figure 2(a) : Treatment Process
Volume 2012-13. Number 1 .Apri12012
24
---
.1 Sludge, Fat, Grease
]
Primary
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I I'SE.CbNDARY...TREATMENT
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watering &
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biological oxidation
basins
gardening
and nitrification
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