Kenya Water Institute

Main Campus
P.O BOX 60013-00200, NAIROBI.

UNIT: Design of Water Supply

Infrastructure
CODE: WAT/CU/WET/CR/01/6A

By Fredrick Nini – Civil Engineer

 A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO:
The Design of Water Supply Infrastructure
a) What is Engineering
 Definitions
 Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design
and build machines, structures, and other items,
including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and
buildings. (Wikipedia)
 Engineering1. the branch of science and technology
concerned with the design, building, and use of engines,
machines, and structures. 2. the action of working artfully to
bring something about. (Oxford Dictionary)
 Engineering The creative application of scientific
principles to design or develop structures, machines,
apparatus… (The American Engineers' Council for
Professional Development (ECPD))
 The term engineering is derived from the Latin
ingenium, meaning "cleverness" and ingeniare,
meaning "to contrive, devise".
 Ingenuity – (noun): the quality of being clever, original,
and inventive. (Oxford Dictionary)
 Inventive – (noun): having the ability to create or
design new things or to think originally. (Oxford
Dictionary)
b) What is Design / Engineering Design

 Engineering design is a process; a series of steps that

engineers follow to come up with a solution to a problem
 Each part of the process reveals information about the
problem and possible solutions.
Course Outline; References; Delivery &
Assessment
 Course Outline
1) Steps of Designing Water Supply Infrastructure
2) Collection of water supply infrastructure Design Data
 Water demand
 Population projection
 Cleaning of the collected data.
• Define & Describe data cleaning
• Identify data cleaning methods
 Basic Statistics
• Methods of population projection; initial,
future, ultimate geometrical increase method,
arithmetic increase method
 Interpretation of collected data
• Identify data interpretation methods
 Data Management & Organization
• Identification of different data management
tools e.g. excel, SPSS
 Data Presentation Methods
 Course Outline (..continued)
3) Calculating water supply infrastructure Design
Parameters
 Design standards & guidelines
 Design materials
 Water storage system design
• Sizing water storages (tanks) - Analytical
methods, mass curve methods
 Water treatment systems design
 Water conveyance systems design
• Pipelines & Appurtenances
• Water Distribution Networks; dead end
systems, ring system, radial system & iron gird
system
 Hydraulic structures design
• Water pans and sand dams etc
 Drainage system design
 References
1) Elements of Water & Wastewater Engineering – Fair, Geyer &
Okun
2) Water Supply & Sanitation – S.K. Hussein
3) Wastewater Engineering – Metcalf & Eddy
4) Water and Wastewater Calculations Manual – Shun Dar Lin
5) Water Supply – Twort
6) Design of Water Supply Pipe Networks – Ashok & Prabhata
7) Water and Wastewater Engineering – Mackenzie L. Davis
8) Principles of Water Quality Control – T.H.V . Tebbutt
9) Water Engineering Hydraulics, Distribution and Treatment –
Shammas, Wang
 Delivery & Assessment
 Delivery Methods
1) Group discussions
2) PowerPoint presentations
3) Online Videos
 Assessment Methods
1) Continuous Assessment Tests (CATs) = 10%
2) Laboratory Practical /Term Paper/ Group Work = 30%
3) Online Exam -Multiple choice/ passage(1 Week before Main) = 20%
4) Main Exam = 40%
Pass Mark = 40%

Lecturer: Fredrick Nini (Civil Engineer)

Feb 2023
 TOPIC 1:
Steps of Designing Water Supply
Infrastructure
 Steps of Designing Water Supply
Infrastructure
INTRODUCTION
 The design process is not like a computer program that is
executed exactly the same way for every project.
 In actual practice some of the steps described below will be
bypassed and others, not described, will be inserted based on
the experience of the designer and the complexity of the
design.
 The design process is iterative. Each step requires reevaluation
of the design assumptions made in previous steps,
 Steps of Designing Water Supply
Infrastructure
1. IDENTIFICATION STAGE (PREFEASIBILITY)
 The need for a particular project type is broadly discussed at
desk level and options decided on.
 Identification of projects is usually done in-house by the
Implementing Agency as part of the sector-wide and multi-
sector development planning processes.
 Data from large scale maps, GIS maps, historical river flows
and climatic information will form the basis for a prefeasibility
assessment.
 Environmental scoping or strategic environment assessment
should be carried out to inform the development planning
processes.
Identification Stage/ Prefeasibility (..continued)
 Identification should be informed through
studies such as
• water and sanitation coverage,
• status of towns (some may become district
headquarters)
• populations.
 The timeframe for prefeasibility of water and sanitation
projects is typically 5 – 30 years before some of the
identified projects advance to the feasibility and
preliminary design stage.
2. FEASIBILITY STUDY
 follows from the prefeasibility stage
 The feasibility stage must be narrowed down in scope and
budget so as to arrive at a reasonable and implementable
option.
 feasibility and preliminary design stages involves the following:
a)field measurements. get first-hand information and
data for the Project Area. Data requirements include;
• accurate estimates of flows and yields of water
sources and their water quality
• hydrogeological data for any boreholes in the area
(obtainable from DWD and DWRM);
• population estimates and socioeconomic data
(available from the KBS);
• rainfall, sunlight and other weather information
(available from the Meteorological Department);
 Feasibility Study (..continued)
• survey data (available from the Department of
Surveys)
• contacts of the key persons in the Project Area and
district offices.
• any design reports and other relevant studies that
have been made for the Project Area water supply
both by the Client and other stakeholders, such as
NGOs;
b. Any expected obstacles to the design process may be
disclosed at this time, such as
• difficult terrain and other environmental challenges
• expected resettlement actions,
• the political climate in the area
c. the implementation modalities and time schedules expected;
 Feasibility Study (..continued)
d. The Design Team will make an inception field visit to the
Project Area. The Design Engineer, Socio-economist,
Environmentalist, Hydrologist, Hydro-geologist, etc. will be
required to visit the sites and
• make assessment of the potential sources (in terms of
location, yield, water quality, access, environment etc.)
• assess the potential service area (core and fringe) - Core
areas of a town are the central business district and other
built up areas within the town boundaries while the fringe
areas are built up areas outside the town boundaries.
• assess the potential population. The Socio-economist will
estimate the population within the core and fringe areas
using sampling techniques and data available from the
Project Area and UBOS.
• Categories of demand by the population (domestic,
institutional, industry, etc.) will also be determined.
• A survey of the area might be necessary but handheld global
positioning systems (GPS) can suffice for most measurements
 Feasibility Study (..continued)
e. Siting of water sources (for groundwater and for surface water)
should be done after the inception visit.
• Depending on the demand estimated over the
project lifetime, demand may be met by groundwater
or surface water, or both (especially if implemented in
a phased manner).
• Measurement of the flows of surface water sources
should be conducted over a long time, though this is
not always possible. The Hydrologist should make use
of available stream flow data and interview people
who live near the source for historical trends, with the
aim of determining if the surface water source dries up
during the dry season, or has significantly lower flow
that would not be sufficient for the Project Area
supply.
• Measurement of water quality should be done to
ascertain whether the minimum water quality
standards for raw water are met;
 Feasibility Study (..continued)
f. environmental and social impact assessments. The
environmental and social impact assessments should be
submitted to the responsible authorities for approval and
resettlement action planning should commence at this
stage.

3. PRELIMINARY DESIGN STAGE

a. The Design Team should make outline designs for several
options: make drawings, bills of quantities and carry out
financial and economic analyses.
• Options that are obviously unfeasible, such as
where the stream dries up during the dry season,
or the potential source of surface water is
extremely distant or where the water is known to
be salty, should be dropped or ranked low;
 Preliminary Design (..continued)
b. The Design Team will compile the information and analyze the
suitability of the sources for supplying the population projected
with the appropriate service levels. With all the analysis
complete, the Design Team must rank the feasible options
according to clear criteria, such as
• yield of the sources,
• environmental and social impacts,
• financial and economic cost,
• areas to be served,
• unit cost of the overall project, etc.
 make recommendations of the best three options to the Client.
 Cost estimates consist of two parts: capital costs and operating
costs. “The capital cost and operating cost estimated for each
alternative must be made equivalent to make an economic
comparison.”(WPCF, 1977)
 Preliminary Design (..continued)
 Several alternative methods may be used to make equivalent
economic comparisons. These include present worth analysis,
annual cash flow analysis, rate of return analysis, benefit-cost
analysis, and breakeven analysis.
 A frequent omission failure in the examination of alternatives is
the failure to consider the null alternative. In addition, care must
be taken not to include sunk costs (that is, past costs) in the
economic analysis and decision making process. The only
relevant costs in an engineering economic analysis are present
and future costs (Newnan and Johnson, 1995).
 The time schedule for feasibility and preliminary design stage is
typically 2 – 5 years before the project moves to the next stage.
 Large water supply projects take longer to reach the next stage
since they are often funded by Development Partners whose
approvals may take time.
4. DETAILED DESIGN STAGE
 The detailed design stage follows the feasibility and preliminary
design stage. It is prepared for the preferred alternative agreed
upon by the Client.
 The environmental and social impact assessments should have
been approved by this stage so that the option which is
implemented during the next stage has been fully approved by the
responsible authorities.
 Implementation of the resettlement action plan should be done
early during this stage so that the project affected people do not
interfere with the design and construction stages.
 The detailed design stage involves the following;
a. Acquisition of data from the feasibility and preliminary
design stage such as
• water quality
• geotechnical data
• land survey data
• socioeconomic
• environmental data
This assists the Team in determining the inputs from each of
the specialists and also to make fieldwork and consultation
plans
 Detailed Design (..continued)
b.field visit to enrich the inception report. The Design Team will
 make rapid assessments of the facts laid out in the
feasibility study report and update where necessary.
 The boundaries of the service area are determined
and the survey team may commence with locating
the roads, water sources, tanks and other
appurtenances and the water supply points (stand
pipes, house connections, institutions, industries etc.)
working closely with the socioeconomic and
engineering teams.
 Siting of water sources, if not done already, should
also commence;
c. A second visit to the Project Area in order to improve on the
details, such as
 siting of water sources and drilling supervision,
 acquisition of land for surface water works.
 The population data will be completed and the
service levels finalized so that the final demand
projections are made.
 Detailed Design (..continued)
 Once the final water sources are known, the
Surveyor incorporates them into the general
Project Area maps that should have been
prepared, allowing the Design Team to consult
with the local authorities and the Client over the
final coverage of the project. Due to limitations
such as topography, distance and funding, some
of the communities might not be covered to the
desired levels. The Client must be kept abreast of
these developments;
d. Design Team to set up an office in the Project Area
with a drawing office from where layouts, profiles and
other essential details can be printed and discussed.
This saves on repeated travel to the Project Area to
rectify issues that may arise as the designs are
developed. At the end of the second field trip, a first
draft design should be prepared and included in the
draft report to the Client;
 Detailed Design (..continued)
 The outputs of the detailed design stage are;
1. detailed designs,
2. detailed drawings,
3. Measurement of works & estimation of the
construction cost (Engineer’s Estimate), bills of
quantities,
4. design report
5. tender documents,
6. detailed implementation program (work plan) to
guide the project implementers.
 Design Report Contents
• The following content for the detailed design report shall apply:
1) Cover page with the project title, the Client's name and logo and
the submission date
2) Table of contents
3) Executive summary
4) Introduction
 Background
 Project objectives
 Scope of the study
5) Previous studies (summary of Feasibility Study)
6) Situation assessment and analysis (in case previous studies are
missing or need updating)
 Project area location and boundaries, topography

 Population

 Climate

 Land use

 Economic activities
Design Report Contents (..continued)
 Settlement pattern
 Existing water supply situation
 Existing sanitation situation
7) Design criteria
8) Population projection and water demand estimation
9) Water supply system variants (a summary can be presented if a
detailed feasibility report exists)
 Water source investigations: Water quantity and quality for
both ground and surface water sources including
sustainability considerations
 Appraisal of the technically feasible variants
 Financial analysis of the variants taking into account
investment costs, O&M costs, residual values etc.
10) Detailed design drawings including all variants of the following
water supply system components for the selected option
 Raw water intake or production well
 Raw water transmission
Design Report Contents (..continued)
 Water treatment unit operations and processes (major or
minor treatment depending on the raw water quality)
 Treated water transmission
 Water storage tanks or reservoirs
 Pumping stations and booster stations
 Distribution system (pipelines, connections)
• The network design shall be based on the design criteria in the report
using state of the art software for network modelling(the use of
widely used software such as WaterCAD, and EPAnet is
recommended). All structural drawings with all the required details
shall be prepared for all major works including reinforced concreted
structures, concrete structures, steel structures and stone masonry
structures. Structural drawings for all reinforced concrete works must
have a bar bending schedule
11) Environmental Impact Assessment
12) Cost estimates and financial analysis
 Capital investment cost
 Investment per capita
Design Report Contents (..continued)
 O&M costs
 Financial analysis and tariff determination
• The cost estimates in the design report shall be based on the BoQ
prepared using plausible unit prices in Uganda.
13) Development and management strategy for the water supply
system
 Proposed development strategy depending on the resource
envelop and water supply infrastructure components
 Proposed management for the water supply option
14) Appendices (minimum requirement)
 General layout, layout of the transmission and distribution

network
 Detailed hydraulic calculations for both peak hourly and static

conditions
 Detailed structural calculations

 Detailed financial analysis calculations

 TOPIC 2:
Collection of Water Supply Infrastructure
Design Data
 Water Demand
 A fundamental prerequisite to begin the design of
water supply facilities is a determination of the design
capacity. This, in turn, is a function of water demand.
 Water demand is the amount of water used by a
consumer in a day, expressed in m3/d.
 The accurate assessment of current and future water
demand is the starting point for the design work.
 The determination of water demand consists of four
parts:
(1)selection of a design period,
(2)estimation of the population, commercial, and
industrial growth,
(3)estimation of the unit water use,
(4)estimation of the variability of the demand.
 Water Demand
1.1 PURPOSE
 The main purpose of demand projection is thus to
ensure that not only the current demand, but
also the future demand up to the design horizon
can be covered by all infrastructure elements of
the water supply system to be designed.
 Water demand is thus to be understood as the
amount of water that will be used by all groups of
consumers, assuming that no limiting factor such
as lack of resource, lack of pressure, negatively
perceived water quality, inaccurate distribution
etc. will interfere. In well-functioning systems,
water demand and water consumption match
each other.
 Water demand (..continued)
1.2 DESIGN PERIOD
 Design period is the length, in years, over which the water
supply system is meant to supply adequate water.
 The design period (also called the design life ) is not the same as
the life expectancy. The design period is the length of time it is
estimated that the facility will be able to meet the demand,
that is, the design capacity.
 The life expectancy of a facility or piece of equipment is
determined by wear and tear. Typical life expectancies for
equipment range from 10 to 20 years. Buildings, other structures,
and pipelines are assumed to have a useful life of 50 years or
more.
 Design periods that are commonly employed in practice and
commonly experienced life expectancies are shown in the
table 1 below.
 Water demand (..continued)
Table 1: Design period & life expectancy
 Water demand (..continued)
 It is preferable to present the calculation of water
demand for the “initial” the “future” and the
“ultimate” year.
a) The “initial” year is the year when the water supply
scheme is expected to be commissioned into
operation, which may be assumed to be 5 years from
the date of commencement of the feasibility studies.
b) The “future” year. The year in which the newly
constructed water supply system will reach 10 years
after the Initial Year.
c) “ultimate” year is 20 years from the initial year.
 Once the initial, future and ultimate years have been
determined for a project they should not normally be
changed during the design period.
 Whereas the per capita water demand can usually be
assumed to be fairly constant, the estimation of the
future population typically involves a nonlinear
extrapolation of past population trends.
 Water demand (..continued)
1.3 Design Demand
 A water supply should normally be designed for the ultimate
demand.
 Water demand has to be calculated based on available
data and projections, accuracy of provided data has to be
assessed.
 Population projections have to take into account that
creating a new system in an area lacking sufficient systems
will attract more people to move to this new system;
historical growth rates from the past will be exceeded (in
addition, child mortality is expected to decrease, having a
further positive influence on growth rates).
 Water demand has to introduce projections based on these
data.
 Water demand has to be expressed as the sum of the
specific water demands multiplied by their respective
numbers of units; if not applicable as a percentage of either
the total consumption or of household consumption.
 Water demand has to be calculated for each consumer
group separately.
 Water demand (..continued)
 The total water demand is the sum of the water demands of
all consumer groups.
 For systems supplying more than one settlement, demand
calculations have to be done separately for each
settlement.
1.4 SERVICE AREA
 The water demand calculation has to be performed for the
area that will be serviced by the infrastructure to be
designed.
 This might be a complete settlement where no system exists,
or a part of a settlement requiring an extension from an
existing water supply system.
 The decision on the service area subject to planning is
usually decided prior to the project. Adaptations may occur
depending on planning results.
1.5 SPECIFIC CONSUMPTION
 The specific consumption, calculated as lpcd, depends on
the service Type. Usually, the selected specific consumptions
do not change over time. This is one basic assumption for
design.
 Water demand (..continued)
1.6 RESIDENTIAL DEMAND
 Household (domestic) demand usually accounts for the majority
of the demand. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to assess it
as realistically as possible, even if the future is hard to predict.
1.6.1 Population Projections
 The present population should be estimated based on the latest
census.
 However, sometimes the figures are unreliable and should be
crosschecked with information obtained from other sources e.g.
Chiefs.
 The population in principal towns and urban centers should be
analysed for different areas and income categories separately.
High, medium and low class housing areas should be forecast
independently.
1.6.2 Service Type
 The service type is usually defined by the capacity of each
consumer to pay for an individual connection.
 Service types (individual connection users (IC) and non-
individual connection users (NC)) are derived based on the
end consumers’ ability to pay – which is established from the
results of the socio-economy survey. It is based on the
assumption that 5% of household revenue can be dedicated
to water related expenses (water supply and
sanitation/sewerage).
 Water demand (..continued)
 The connection rate during a certain time horizon is thus the
percentage of people that will be supplied with a specific
service level compared to the total population over the same
time horizon. The sum of all service levels must always come to
100%.
 Designers have to be aware that with economic development
the ratio between individual connection users (IC) and non-
individual connection users (NC) will change. In time, the
number of ICs will usually increase.
1.6.2.1 individual connection (IC) users
 A house connection delivers the best service for people. The
specific consumption may vary according to the living standard
depending on their income categories:
• High level income
• Medium level income
• Low level income
 Each category has different consumption patterns and thus
different specific consumptions to be applied to. A usual range is
between 50 to 200 lpcd, with most consumers being between 80
to 100 lpcd.
 Water demand (..continued)
1.6.2.2 non-individual connection (NC) users
 These are consumers using kiosks or communal water points.
 The distribution between individual connection users (IC) and
non-individual connection users (NC) i.e. consumers using kiosks
or communal water points should be assumed to be as shown in
the table 2 below.
 However, local factors may warrant deviation from the
figures in table 2, which only shall be construed as indicative.
 The actual specific consumption is to be based on reasoned
assumptions by the designer based on all available
information. The respective assumptions as made by the
designer must be documented accordingly in the Feasibility
Study and the Design Report.
 When the designed supply is an extension or completion of
an existing supply, then the distribution of IC and NC is
estimated after the monitoring of the existing situation.
 Water demand (..continued)
1.6.2.3 Table 2: Service Type
 Water demand (..continued)
1.6.3 OVERALL RESIDENTIAL (HOUSEHOLD) DEMAND
 The overall household demand is the sum of the specific
demand multiplied with the relevant figure for the
connection rate multiplied by the served population for
each single time horizon:

 (6.1) QHH,i = QIC,i + QNC,i

With:
QHH,i: Overall household demand at time horizon I
QIC,i: Demand by individual connection users (IC) at
time horizon i
QNC,i: Demand by non-individual connection users
(NC) at time horizon I
i: The difference between the year the calculation is
for and the year serving as a starting base
 Water demand (..continued)
1.6.3.1 INDIVIDUAL CONNECTIONS DEMAND
 The calculation of the different sub factors of household
demand is presented hereunder:
 (6.2) QIC,i = qIC,i * Popi * CRIC,i
With:
QIC,i: Water demand of people with individual
connections (IC) at time horizon i
qIC,i: Specific consumption for individual connections
(lpcd)

Pop,i: Population at time horizon i

CRIC,i: The connection rate of individual connectios (IC) at

time horizon i
i: The difference between the year the calculation is
for and the year serving as a starting base
 Water demand (..continued)
1.6.3.2 POPULATION CALCULATION

 The relevant population is calculated according to the

following formula:
 (6.3) Popi = Pop * (1 + grpop ) i

With:
Popi : Population at time horizon i
Pop: Population in the year of calculation
grpop : Yearly growth rate of the population as an
absolute figure (if used as a percentage, then
divide by100 before performing the sum inside
the brackets)
i: The difference between the year the calculation
is for and the year serving as a starting base