CIV4104

Chapter 1: Planning of Water

Supply and Wastewater
Management Systems

Dr. Charles B. Niwagaba

Senior Lecturer
cniwagaba@cedat.mak.ac.ug
 CHAPTER CONTENTS
• Introduction/Definitions
• Types of Planning – Comprehensive community,
Comprehensive functional and definitive
planning
• Some Constraints of project planning
• Planning and Design Considerations
• Basis of Volume – Design period, Design
population, Design demand, Peaking factors
etc.,
• Sustainability of Water and Wastewater
Management systems
 INTRODUCTION/DEFINITIONS
• Planning: A sequence of anticipated
actions that are to be executed for a
purpose.

• System: A series of related processes

which achieve a certain end.

• Management: Decisions and actions,

which govern the working of a system.
 INTRODUCTION/DEFINITIONS
• Project: A series of actions governed by:
– objectives,
– targets,
– methodologies,
– implementation,
– operation,
– maintenance and evaluation

• For a water supply project the different aspects of

planning are presented in the next slides:
 INTRODUCTION/DEFINITIONS
• Objectives, may be to provide safe water to
the community or industry in adequate
quantities and at reasonable costs; and more
specifically, for example;
– To supply safe and wholesome water to the
community and thereby control and combat
diseases e.g. cholera, dysentery etc;
– To promote hygiene;
– To make water easily available to consumers;
– For irrigation purposes, to boost agricultural
productivity of a community;
– For industrial purposes.
 Introduction Cont’d
• Targets would be for example coverage – where
you consider providing a given quantity of water to
a given population by a given date e.g. 80 lpcd to
70% of the population by the year 2020.

• Targets depend on the service level – what is a

service level?

• Service level is a category or standard of water supply

service. The service level includes public standpipes, yard
tap, house connection and non-piped supply.
 INTRODUCTION CONT’D
• Methodologies: These include
– Verification of the source (quantity and
quality): Often a water resources
assessment report is prepared
– Determination of the demand
– Choice of the treatment units, materials,
equipment and identification of means of
distribution etc.
INTRODUCTION CONT’D
• Implementation: A decision on what to
implement and the actual implementation is
guided by considerations of:
• cost of the project (capital/ investment
costs),
• manpower requirements,
• financial flows,
• infrastructure (roads, buildings, etc),
• topography,
• legal aspects etc.
 Introduction Cont’d
• Operation and maintenance: The
major aim is to achieve sustainable
utilization of the project.
– Issues to consider include:
• operation and maintenance daily schedules
• decisions on manpower to be used,
• identification of spare parts and other materials
that will be routinely required etc.
INTRODUCTION CONT’D
• Evaluation of the project:
– This involves an assessment
of the impact of the project on
the target community groups
to see whether the objectives
have been satisfied/met
– See example next page.
 How to measure impact…..
Prevalence of disease

Normal course

Impact

Course after implementation of

the project

-5yr 0yr t Time

 How to measure impact…..

Course after implementation

85% of the project

Impact
Water coverage

Normal course

40%

2002 2010 2035 Time

Conclusion on impact of a project
• The impact of the project is the difference
in results brought about by project
implementation.
• Note: That there are also negative impacts
of projects e.g.,
– Irrigation – Schistosomiasis,
– Hydropower – Dracunculiasis or river
blindness,
– Displacement of people.
 Evaluation of the project…..
• Some times the evaluation may
necessitate a value for money audit
• The value for money audit of water and
sanitation facilities needs a team:
– Financial auditors/accountants,
– Procurement specialists,
– Engineers
– Planners etc.
 Types of Planning

• Basically three levels/types of planning:

– Comprehensive community/general
planning,
– Comprehensive functional planning (also
known as preliminary or feasibility study)
and,
– Definitive or project planning.
 Comprehensive Community/
General Planning
• This is the study of the total region or part of the
region within the context of the total region to identify
priority projects.
• It involves a study of the different aspects of public
health and their inter-relation; which may include:
– Water supply,
– Wastewater management,
– Solid waste management,
– Community health services, etc.
• It is a multidisciplinary activity involving the
participation of politicians and policy makers, health
and social workers, hydrologists, engineers,
architects, planners etc.
 Comprehensive Community/
General Planning
• A comprehensive community planning
process includes:
• A statement of the goals and objectives
• Basic studies, mapping and data analysis
• Plan preparation
• Plan implementation
• Public information and community action
• Re-evaluation and continual planning
Comprehensive Functional Planning/
Preliminary or Feasibility Study
• Following the identification and selection of priority projects
from the comprehensive community planning, a
comprehensive feasibility study is carried out to consider in
detail, the several ways (alternatives) in which the project
can be executed, together with approximate costs.

• No detailed engineering or architectural construction plans

are prepared at this stage, but engineering, political, legal,
economic and social feasibility or acceptance of each
alternative is presented, with advantages and
disadvantages, environmental impact, recommendations
and cost estimates/source of funding.

• The study should be sufficiently complete to enable decision

makers (politicians) decide as well as NEMA and public
information needs.
 Definitive/Project Planning
• After the decision makers give a go ahead for the
project, the next step is the establishment of the
legal entity, e.g. Ministry (PC/PM, PMU) to
administer the project as provided for by the state
or local law.

• This is followed by acquisition of necessary rights,

resolution of any legal constraints, financing
issues for capital and O&M, debt repayment, etc.

• Bidding is done to select consultant to design and

prepare plans, specifications, drawings.

• Legal entity e.g. Ministry advertises bids and

subsequently award the contract.
DEFINITIVE/PROJECT PLANNING
• Supervision is carried out by a consulting engineer
(not necessarily one who initially drew plans,
specifications etc.).

• A site engineer is also employed to take charge of

the construction at the site (could be from Ministry
or Ministry may appoint a Consultant Engineer to
be RE).

• The consulting engineer provides updated

drawings/manuals and guidelines to the
municipality and/or community as well as to the
operation and maintenance personnel and trains
staff to take over full operation.
CONCLUDING REMARKS ON PLANNING

• The planning in the context of comprehensive

community/general planning, Comprehensive functional
planning (preliminary or feasibility studies) and Definitive or
project planning is the classical planning approach which is
very much applicable to large scale water supply and
wastewater management projects.

• For sanitation planning, especially when taking into account

on-site sanitation systems, the planning approaches may
be different; and they differ by location, e.g. urban, or rural.

• Examples include CLTS, HCES, CLUES, Town Sanitation

Planning etc.
 Constraints of Project Planning
• Lack of resources
– Financial
– Materials and equipment
– Manpower (managerial, skilled workers etc.)
– Land.
• Infrastructure
– Roads (access to the project site)
– Communication
– Energy
– Water supply.
 Constraints of Project Planning
• Institutional arrangement
• Water supply and wastewater
management projects are usually
under a ministerial department or
NGO, therefore:
– responsibility at all levels should be ensured,
– line of command should be clear,
– protocol within institutions should be respected.
• Political instability
 Constraints of Project Planning
• Change of governments may lead to
extermination of projects as different
governments may have different
priorities.
• Public opinion
• Negative attitudes, ignorance etc of the
people may lead to failure of a project.
 Planning Considerations
• In general terms, three basic
steps are followed:
– the determination of the current and
future needs,
– the appraisal of all possible means to
meet these needs,
– the selection of the most economic
approaches for satisfying the
anticipated requirements.
Examples of activities of the
planning process
– Project site – Decisions about project site are
usually made at a higher level e.g. by policy makers
(politicians);
– Size of the project area including information on
population, economic land use, and other
associated planning studies essential for the
prediction of the water quality and quantity
requirements for the various anticipated uses for the
duration of the planning period chosen;
– Topography – issues to answer:
• Can the water (in case of water supply) flow by gravity with
respect to distribution?
• What of the wastewater? The existing topography should
be exploited as much as possible to avoid pumping of
wastewater.
 Examples of activities of the
planning process
– Hydrologic investigations to provide estimates of the
quantities (and temporal/spatial distribution) of fresh
surface water and groundwater entering the basin:
• Use of data on the meteorological and hydrologic characteristics
of the basin,
• Field measurements, statistical analyses and modelling tools,
• Determination of environmental flow requirements.
– Comprehensive field investigations to evaluate the
physical, chemical, radiological and biological
characteristics of the surface waters of the basin. The
information determined will indicate:
• the degree to which the water should be treated for the various
purposes,
• the ability of the watercourse to assimilate waste discharges
while continuing to sustain fish and wild life, and
• the recreational and aesthetic values of the waters.
 Examples of activities of the
planning process
– Studies of the storage capacities and uses of existing
and proposed reservoirs in the basin.
• Involves detailed studies of the topography and geology of
the basin to determine additional reservoir sites of a
satisfactory nature.
– Investigations to determine the location and extent of
ground water storage, aquifer characteristics and the
quality of the underground supplies;
– Studies on existing and anticipated sources of
wastes that may be introduced into surface and
underground water bodies (anthropogenic pollution)
• Knowledge of the characteristics and volumes of the wastes
• Information on the optimum treatment the wastes.
 Examples of activities of the
planning process
– Estimates of water requirements to be used to augment low
flows for quality and quantity control of surface water bodies.
– Public health information on the area – such would include
information on what kind of water related diseases e.g. water
washed (quantity related) or water-borne (quality related).
– Standards of living (socio-economic status) – affects the water
use and consequently the quantities of wastewater generated;
– Availability of local materials for construction – affects
construction costs;
– Legal aspects – Activity should not violate laws of the land.
Examples of legal instruments:
– Public Health Act,
– National Environment Statute,
– WHO (and if available, local) drinking water quality standards,
– Discharge standards for wastewater etc.
Examples of activities of the
planning process
– Manpower availability – both skilled and
unskilled;
– Construction, operation, maintenance and
repair should preferably be within the
competence of local technical staff. The
available skills in the local community need
to be utilised and improved, if required e.g.,
through training;
– Evaluation of the benefits that will result
from the proposed water supply and
wastewater management project.
 Design considerations
• QUANTITY of water (Yield of the source)
– Will the source be exploited without distorting the
biodiversity and ecological features of the area?
– Will the source satisfy the minimum environmental
flow requirement?
• QUALITY of water from the water source.
– Is it feasible to develop that source, given quality of
the raw water and thus the nature of treatment
required?
• OR should an alternative source be identified
given the water QUANTITY and QUALITY of
the earlier identified source?