WATER RESOURCE
Watershed:
A watershed is an area of land that drains all the streams and rainfall to a
common outlet such as the outflow of a reservoir, mouth of a bay, or any
point along a stream channel. The word watershed is sometimes used
interchangeably with drainage basin or catchment. Ridges and hills that
separate two watersheds are called the drainage divide. The watershed
consists of surface water--lakes, streams, reservoirs, and wetlands--and all the
underlying ground water. Larger watersheds contain many smaller watersheds.
It all depends on the outflow point; all of the land that drains water to the
outflow point is the watershed for that outflow location.
Why is Watershed important ?
Watersheds are important because the streamflow and the water quality of a
river are affected by things, human-induced or not, happening in the land area
"above" the river-outflow point.
Types of watershed :
a. Macro watershed: 1000 -10,000 ha
b. Micro watershed: 100 -1000 ha
c. Mini watershed: 10 -100 ha
d. Mille watershed: 1 -10 ha
Watershed planning &management :
For watershed planning and management purposes, a watershed is an area
with specified boundaries set by a group of stakeholders who have interests in
the water resources within the watershed.
Watershed planning and management comprise an approach to protecting
water quality and quantity that focuses on the whole watershed. This approach
is necessary due to the nature of polluted runoff, which in most watersheds is
the biggest contributor to water pollution. Polluted runoff is a caused by a
variety of land use activities including development, transportation and
agriculture, and may originate anywhere in the watershed.
The primary purpose of a watershed management plan is to guide watershed
coordinators, resource managers, policy makers, and community organizations
to restore and protect the quality of lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands in a
given watershed. The plan is intended to be a practical tool with specific
recommendations on practices to improve and sustain water quality.
“ The goal of watershed management is to plan and work toward an
environmentally and economically healthy watershed that benefits all who
have a stake in it. ”
Environmental Benefits
 Improves the quality of water for drinking and recreational use.
 Enhances water supply.
 Protects wildlife habitat and improves natural resources.
 Controls flooding by restoring riparian and wetland areas.
Community Benefits
 Directly involves community members in developing a vision for the
future of the watershed.
 Provides opportunities to educate citizens on protecting and fixing the
environment that do not conflict with current and future development.
 Gives citizens an active voice in protecting and restoring natural
resources that are important to them.
 Provides opportunities to cooperate with neighboring communities.
Financial Benefits
 Reduces costs for meeting regulations and fixing damage that would
happen if sensitive areas are developed.
 Reduces costs for drinking water treatment.
 Provides a new organization through which to get state and federal
grants to improve the environment.
WHAT GOES INTO A SUCCESSFUL WATERSHED PLANNING PROCESS
1. Identify key individuals, businessman, leaders, landowners, and decision-
makers.
2. Establish goals and objectives.
3. Inventory watershed resources and conditions.
4. Assess waterbody/ watershed problems
5. Recommend management practices for prevention and remediation.
6. Develop an effective action plan.
7. Adopt plan and integrate it into local governments comprehensive plans.
Why is watershed management important?
• Watershed management helps to control pollution of the water and other
natural resources in the watershed by identifying the different kinds of
pollution present in the watershed and how those pollutants are
transported, and recommending ways to reduce or eliminate those
pollution sources.
• Watershed management planning comprehensively identifies those
activities that affect the health of the watershed and makes
recommendations to properly address them so that adverse impacts from
pollution are reduced.
• Watershed management is also important because the planning process
results in a partnership among all affected parties in the watershed.
• Comprehensive planning for the resources within the entire watershed,
with participation and commitment from all municipalities in the
watershed, is critical to protecting the health of the watershed’s resources.
What are some key steps in watershed management?
 Familiarize Yourself with Your Watershed
Comprehensive watershed plans should first identify the characteristics of the
watershed and inventory the watershed’s natural resources. It is important to
establish a baseline of the overall nature and quality of the watershed in order
to plan properly for the improvement of the resources in the watershed and to
actually measure those improvements.
 Build Local Partnerships
Watershed planning should also identify and include the partners, or
"stakeholders," in the watershed. Development of local partnerships can also
lead to greater awareness and support from the general public. Once
individuals become aware of and interested in their watershed, they often
become more involved in decision-making as well as hands-on protection and
restoration efforts. Through such involvement, watershed management builds
a sense of community, helps reduce conflicts, increases commitment to the
actions necessary to meet environmental goals, and ultimately, improves the
likelihood of success for the watershed management plan.
 Determine Priorities for Action
Watershed planning should also identify and include the partners, or
"stakeholders," in the watershed. Development of local partnerships can also
lead to greater awareness and support from the general public. Once
individuals become aware of and interested in their watershed, they often implementation adjustments and/or additional management measures
become more involved in decision-making as well as hands-on protection and become necessary.
restoration efforts. Through such involvement, watershed management builds
Water Supply And Distribution System
a sense of community, helps reduce conflicts, increases commitment to the
actions necessary to meet environmental goals, and ultimately, improves the Water Supply System
likelihood of success for the watershed management plan.
A water supply system or water supply network is a system of
 Conduct Educational Programs engineered hydrologic and hydraulic components which provide water supply.

Watershed management planning should also determine what the A water supply system typically includes:
opportunities are to reduce pollution or address other pressing environmental
 A drainage basin (see water purification - sources of drinking water).
issues, prioritize those opportunities, and identify a time frame for
accomplishing pollution reduction and resource and habitat improvements.
 A raw water collection point (above or below ground) where the water
Those issues that pose the greatest risk to human health or particular
accumulates, such as a lake, a river, or groundwater from
resources, or to desired uses of resources (i.e., swimming beaches), might be
an underground aquifer. Raw water may be transferred using uncovered
given highest priority for control and reduction. Watershed plans should
ground-level aqueducts, covered tunnels or underground water pipes to
establish clear goals, visions, and actions to be taken.
water purification facilities.

 Ensure Implementation and Follow-up

 Water purification facilities. Treated water is transferred using water pipes
(usually underground).
It is important to establish a schedule with milestones and some sort of
committee to ensure that projects proceed in a timely manner. A monitoring
 Water storage facilities such as reservoirs, water tanks, or water towers.
program should also be established to measure success through data
Smaller water systems may store the water in cisterns or pressure vessels.
gathering. It is also important to identify ways in which landowners can be
Tall buildings may also need to store water locally in pressure vessels in
assisted with undertaking necessary improvements, such as low interest loans
order for the water to reach the upper floors.
or technical outreach information. Finally, it is important to ensure that the
recommendations contained in the watershed plan, especially design  Additional water pressurizing components such as pumping stations may

standards, are integrated into municipal land use regulations (zoning, need to be situated at the outlet of underground or above ground

subdivision, inland wetlands). reservoirs or cisterns (if gravity flow is impractical).

 A pipe network for distribution of water to the consumers (which may be

private houses or industrial, commercial or institution establishments)
EFFECTIVE WATERSHED PLANNING & MANAGEMENT
and other usage points (such as fire hydrants).

- Effective watershed management includes planning, implementation, and

 Connections to the sewers (underground pipes, or aboveground ditches
evaluation components (Figure 2). Scientific planning is to characterize
in some developing countries) are generally found downstream of the
the present watershed conditions, identify and prioritize problems, define
water consumers, but the sewer system is considered to be a separate
management objectives, and develop protection or remediation
system, rather than part of the water supply system.
strategies and practices.
a) BUILD PARTNERSHIPS - A watershed management plan starts with
WATER DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM:
partnership establishment with identified stakeholders who make water
resource and quality management decisions, who implement or can The purpose of distribution system is to deliver water to consumer with
affect implementation of the decisions, who are influenced by the appropriate quality, quantity and pressure. Distribution system is used to
decisions, and who can assist in the management planning. The describe collectively the facilities used to supply water from its source to the
stakeholders will help identify issues and concerns in the watershed and point of usage.
set up long-term management goals.
b) INVENTORY WATERSHED - The whole watershed should be inventoried Requirements of Good Distribution System
for its physical and natural features, land use and population
 Water quality should not get deteriorated in the distribution pipes.
characteristics, water resources and uses, water quality and water body
conditions, pollutant sources and loads, and existing pollution control
 It should be capable of supplying water at all the intended places with
practices.
sufficient pressure head.
c) SET GOALS AND IDENTIFY SOLUTIONS - The information is then applied
to refine the overall management goals, develop specific objectives, and  It should be capable of supplying the requisite amount of water during
determine measurable targets and indicators. firefighting.
d) DESIGN IMPLEMENTATION PROGRAM - A schedule showing trackable
timelines, staged accomplishments, specific tasks, and the responsible  The layout should be such that no consumer would be without water
agencies needs to be developed. supply, during the repair of any section of the system.
e) IMPLEMENT PLAN - involves various expertise and skills such as technical
 All the distribution pipes should be preferably laid one meter away or
expertise, group facilitation, project management, data analysis,
communication, and public relations. above the sewer lines.

f) MEASURE PROGRESS AND MAKE ADJUSTMENTS - The monitoring data

 It should be fairly water-tight as to keep losses due to leakage to the
should be timely analyzed to examine status, changes, trends, or other
minimum.
issues of watershed health that responds to management practices.
Routine summary analyses should also be conducted to track progress, Layouts of Distribution Network
assesses achievements of objectives, and provide early feedback on
watershed health changes and trends.  The distribution pipes are generally laid below the road pavements, and
g) IMPROVE PLAN - If the implemented practices are not adequately as such their layouts generally follow the layouts of roads. There are, in
effective such that the milestones and targets set for goals are not met,
 general, four different types of pipe networks; any one of which either
singly or in combinations, can be used for a particular place.
 They are: Grid, Ring, Radial and Dead End System.
1. Grid Iron System:
o It is suitable for cities with rectangular layout, where the water
mains and branches are laid in rectangles.
o Advantages:
o Water is kept in good circulation due to the absence of dead ends.
o In the cases of a breakdown in some section, water is available from
some other direction.
o Disadvantages:
o Exact calculation of sizes of pipes is not possible due to provision of
valves on all branches.
2. Ring System:
The main supply is laid all along the peripheral roads and sub mains branch
out from the mains. Thus, this system also follows the grid iron system with the
flow pattern similar in character to that of dead end system. So, determination
of the size of pipes is easy.
3. Radial System:
The area is divided into different zones. The water is pumped into the
distribution reservoir kept in the middle of each zone and the supply pipes are
laid radially ending towards the periphery.
Advantages:
 It gives quick service.
 Calculation of pipe sizes is easy.
4. Dead End System:
It is suitable for old towns and cities having no definite pattern of roads.
Advantages:
 Relatively cheap.
 Determination of discharges and pressure easier due to less
number of valves.
Disadvantages:
• Due to many dead ends, stagnation of water occurs in pipes.
WHAT DOES GROUNDWATER DEVELOPMENT INVOLVE?
Developing groundwater resources sustainably is easier in some
hydrogeological environments than others. If good supplies of groundwater
can't be found everywhere - for example, if the local aquifers are low
permeability and/or complex, or there are groundwater quality issues - then
new boreholes and wells must be sited and designed carefully if they are to be
successful. To do this, it's important to understand how groundwater exists
and behaves in the area.
TYPES OF GROUNDWATER SOURCES
 Groundwater can be abstracted from the ground in different ways. Many
resources are available to support the choice of which abstraction
method to use in different environments - there are some references at
the bottom of this page.
 Groundwater is most often accessed through springs, hand-dug wells, or
drilled boreholes. (Drilled boreholes are also sometimes called wells!).
 Springs are natural flows of groundwater from the underlying rock or
unconsolidated sediment. Springs are dependent on the characteristics
of the rocks, and their nature and yields are hugely variable. They often
occur in specific hydrogeological environments.
Hand-dug wells have been dug to access groundwater for thousands of years.
They can only be dug in soft material, such as unconsolidated sediment like
sand and gravel, weathered basement, or limestone. They are only appropriate
where the groundwater level (water table) is shallow. They are usually less than
20 m deep and 1–2 m in diameter, but can be wider and much deeper.
Boreholes are narrow diameter tubes drilled into the ground, usually vertically.
Boreholes are also called tube wells or simply wells. They can be drilled more
quickly and go deeper than hand-dug wells, and so can tap deeper, often
more sustainable groundwater; they can be drilled though hard rocks and they
can be more easily protected from contamination.
 Other, less common ways of accessing groundwater are by:
 Collector wells, which are vertical boreholes or wells modified by drilling
horizontally out radially below the water table to increase the collection
area for groundwater into the central well, from where water is
abstracted. They are often constructed in alluvium, next to ephemerally
dry ('sand') rivers, with the horizontal radials drilled into the river bed
deposits; or in weathered basement.
 Infiltration gallery, which is a horizontal trench or drain dug below the
water table to abstract shallow groundwater, usually from unconsolidated
alluvium, including sand rivers, or windblown deposits. The trench drains
into a sump from where water is abstracted. The gallery may have to be
lined to keep it open.
 Qanats, which are an ancient method of tapping and transporting
groundwater in many parts of North African and the Middle East. A qanat
comprises a mother well, often in alluvial deposits at the edge of a
mountain range, and a gently inclined covered, underground channel
which allows groundwater to flow downhill to a village.
TYPES OF SEWAGE SYSTEM
Grease management
Left unchecked, fats, oils and grease (FOG's) can create
big problems for your business, and land you on the wrong side of the law.
Serious sell, install and service a range of grease management equipment for
commercial kitchens to meet the latest grease management legislation.
 grease management for restaurants
 grease management for pubs
 grease management for hotels
 grease management for care homes, hospitals and schools
 grease management for takeaways
Drainage
Drainage is the method of removing surface or sub-surface
water from a given area. Drainage systems include all of the piping within a
private or public property that conveys sewage, rainwater, and other liquid
waste to a point of disposal. The main objective of a drainage system is to
collect and remove waste matter systematically to maintain healthy conditions
in a building. Drainage systems are designed to dispose of wastewater as tens of meters per second, be 140 meters (460 ft.) deep, and destroy any
quickly as possible and should prevent gases from sewers and septic tanks structures in their path.
from entering residential areas.
A flood is an overflow of water that submerges land which is usually dry.
Residential Drainage Systems Flooding may occur as an overflow of water from water bodies, such as a river
or lake, in which the water overtops or breaks levees, resulting in some of that
Residential drainage systems remove excess water from residential areas. This
water escaping its usual boundaries, or it may occur due to an accumulation of
system helps whisk water away from walkways, driveways, and roofs to avoid
rainwater on saturated ground in an a real flood. While the size of a lake or
flooding. Residential drainage systems are very important as they prevent
other body of water will vary with seasonal changes in precipitation and snow
rotting, mold, mildew, and structural damage in buildings from a buildup of
melt, these changes in size are unlikely to be considered significant unless they
water. Our SE exam review courses discuss the requirements and
flood property or drown domestic animals.
recommendations for residential structures regarding drainage systems.
Dams
The types of residential drainage systems are:
A barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve
1.Surface
the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as
2.Subsurface
floodgates or levees (also known as dikes) are used to manage or prevent
3.Slope
water flow into specific land regions.
4. Downspout/gutters
Check dam
1. Surface Drainage Systems
These are small gravity dams, usually constructed with rocks and mortar or
Surface drainage systems contain shallow ditches dug in a parallel pattern,
concrete, of variable height and width. These structures are located in small or
which act as canals for run-off water. Theses ditches lead the water into the
medium-sized gullies to stabilize riverbed slopes and prevent soil erosion.
main drain to avoid water pooling and flooding.
Retaining walls
2. Subsurface Drainage Systems
These are rock/concrete block structures built on steep slopes anywhere in
A subsurface drainage system is also known as a French drain. Subsurface
the
drains are placed beneath the top layer of soil to remove excess water at the
root level. Subsurface drains require the digging of deep ditches and the
installation of underground pipes. A large collector drain is installed to collect
water from the pipes.

3. Slope Drainage Systems

Slope drains allow water to flow downward from a structure with the aid of
pipes moving down a slope. A pipe is installed and anchored into a small
incline, which causes water to flow through the pipe and away from the
structure.

4. Downspout and Gutter systems

Downspouts collect water from gutters and divert it to the ground. A

downspout is typically connected to a gutter system on a building and carries
water away from the roof down to the ground. Downspouts empty out the
water on a slope so that the water does not pool at the base of the
downspout.

RIVER STRUCTURES AND COASTAL DEFENSE

River and coastal structures play important roles in flood control, water
utilization, and environmental conservation. This provide a safe, secure and
sound environment by planning/designing flood control, coastal structures,
and water use facilities while taking account of safety, landscape, and
environment. The nature of these structures is to alter the flow regime of a
river or stream. Impounding a river or stream has possible consequences for:
discharge, water velocity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, river bed movement,
siltation and suspended solids.

BUILDING A DISASTER-RESISTANT COUNTRY

LAHAR & FLOOD CONTROL STRUCTURE

A lahar is a type of mudflow or debris flow composed of a slurry of pyroclastic

material, rocky debris, and water. The material flows down from a volcano,
typically along a river valley. Lahars are extremely destructive: they can flow