Drainage system for a lay man may be mere “a system of drains” or a natural or artificial

removal of surface and sub-surface water from a given area. The definition of drainage system
can’t be confined within such a narrow extent rather it is a widely diversified term with its
definitions covering various fields. Different branches of study define “drainage system”
distinctly as per the domain it covers under that very particular branch. Actualization of drainage
system can be done by the definitions given under various branches, some of which follow as
under:

GEOMORPHOLOGICAL SENSE OF DRAINAGE SYSTEM

A pattern or network formed by the streams, rivers, and lakes in a particular basin(which drains
water to a common outlet).

HYDROLOGICAL SENSE OF DRAINAGE SYSTEM

The interconnecting network of drains and other water bodies including the catchment area of
these water bodies i.e the tributaries, the source etc.

IMPORTANCE OF DRAINAGE SYSTEM

The approach to design or set up a drainage system must be put forth only after taking the vital
importances of drainage system into consideration, some of which are summarized below:

1. The “3Rs” i.e reduce, reuse and recycle function as a universal way to conserve a natural
resource such as water. Having an ideal setup of drainage system the 3Rs theory perfectly
applies on water. Runoff water can be prevented from being in vain to a lot of uses. The
networking of drains helps in restoring almost most of this water and restoring its
characteristics by different chemical or physical means (filtration plants, sedimentation
plants etc).

2. Soil erosion these days has turned out to be a universal debate. Nutrient loss from the soil
directly proportionates to lesser yield which in turn signifies the decrement in earning and
agricultural prosperity of a person. Unorganized drainage i.e excess of runoff water
removes the layers of soil and thereby causing soil erosion. Thus, a proper drainage
system can help out to lessen the case of soil erosion.

3. Malaria, a deadly disease is borne from the stale water. The water that accumulates near
human inhabited areas serves as breeding grounds for the mosquitoes that act as the
vector for malarial transmission, so if the accumulation of such stale water is checked out
we can put a control over the spreading of this disease. This can be achieved by having a
properly planned drainage system.

4. The main difference in the means of transport in countryside and city is based on the
quality of roads but nowadays we see roads in city turning out to be hell for the vehicles.
All this is because of the wear and tear caused especially by excess runoff water along
roadsides. This accumulated water depletes the smoothness of macadamized roads as a
result creating voids every here and there. The construction of drains along road sides has
made it possible to increment the life of the macadamized roads thereby providing
comfort and also saving a lot of capital.

5. Human eyes always desire for a perfect environment, perfect in the sense that it
provides soothing effect to the eyes. The excess water along roadsides and in the locality
hinders this soothing effect and also nature desires symmetry such an asymmetric
accumulation and flow of water depletes the beauty of environment, this can be further
put under the heading of water pollution. So the proper disposal of stale water can help us
restore the beauty and prevent water pollution.
CASE STUDY:

DRAINAGE SYSTEM IN NIT SRINAGAR :

a)Management of runoff water in NIT campus.

b ) Faults in the drainage system in NIT campus.

c) Methods to tackle the faulty drainage system.

d) Best way out to dispose of excess water in NIT campus and put it to a good use.
Management of runoff water in NIT SRINAGAR

NIT SRINAGAR has a pretty much vast campus with scenic beauty in here adding to the
loveliness of the campus. The high snow covered mountains, the Dal lake, the maintenance of
parks and the beautiful chinars add to the charm of the college.

Inspite of the campus being beautiful , some fields of concern are still lying unaddressed, the
major one being the approach to the drainage in the campus.The drainage system in here is mere
a word mentioned in the thesaurus. The climate of Srinagar is mostly on the moderate side. Rains
are almost on the cards after every hot week. During the winters snows also hit this area
frequently, thus the waters from the skies continue to amaze the paradise on earth (Kashmir). So
this water must be taken care off i.e properly drained out and checked for its runoff.
NIT campus although has excelled in almost every other field yet it lags far behind in
maintenance of the excess waters. The roads inside the campus are worth swimming during rainy
seasons. The runoff water keeps flocking everywhere be it the hostel paths, main entrance or the
path to the canteen. Students, faculty or the other staff finds it pretty much difficult to walk to
different areas.And the mudpools created as a consequence make it much harder to walk through
and even if a person moves through these mudpools , he/she act as a pollinator for the mud to the
hostels or some other places, thereby making the hostels dirty and putting the hygiene on the
stake. There are a lot of consequences to be discussed in the next section.

Overall the drains over here cannot be visualized and thus we can say that the campus has a poor
approach to the maintenance of excess waters, which is a serious concern to be addressed.

Some of the images advocating the above mentioned case follow:

 Path to Chenab hostel.

Path to mess office and canteen.

A view of the Indus hostel badminton court.

Faults in the drainage system in NIT SRINAGAR

1. The rain water gets accumulated along road side and we see no drains in practicality
inside the campus to drain out this excess water.

2. The water inside the hostels (washrooms) often spills out courtesy of pipe leakage and no
approach has been put forth to stop this spilling of water.

3. The water purifiers are fitted with buckets instead of having proper channels to drain out
the excess water. Once the buckets get full a large volume of water flocks on the floor.

4. The roads here also play an advantage for water accumulation because of improper slope
thereby leading to voids in the roads due to percolation of water.

5. The playground although being vast yet it lacks the basic facility of water drainage as a
result the ground becomes pretty much muddy and hampers sports activities inside the
campus.

6. The accumulation of waters near electric poles God forbid may lead to a worse disaster
especially when the electric lines fall off into the waters.

Methods of tackling the faults in drainage system

1. Construction of drains along roadsides and hostel paths can help to lessen the concern of
excess water flow. (More in next section)

2. The roads inside the campus need to be reviewed for proper slope so that water does not
get accumulated on the roads. The slope should be such that the water on the roads get
poured directly into the drains.
 3. Proper passage channels for the hostel waters to be disposed off.

4. The playground needs to be reconstructed for a good drainage system underneath as well
as alongside. The drains to be framed in such a way that most of the waters of the ground
is removed and even the ground needs to be sloped such that its perimeter is at a lesser
height compared to the mid of the ground for passive flow of water.

Best approach for a good drainage system

Water harvesting plan for NIT SRINAGAR

The best way to tackle the concern of excess runoff water is the construction, networking and
designing of drains. The water thus drained out can be harvested for many purpose (Rain water
harvesting). The drains need to be constructed along every path and need to be networked such
that sublets drain water into a bigger drain and at last into the main drain. The design of drains
must be such that the water inside it doesn’t spill out of the drain.
Under the concept of water harvesting, the water to be drained out can be collected at a particular
catchment and by different methods it can be put to further use instead of just letting the stale
water cause pollution by entering into bigger water bodies.
The water harvested can be filtered by setting up off a mini filtration plant inside the campus and
can be used for washing clothes, vehicles and even for watering flowers and other plants inside
the campus.