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08 WATER RESOURCES ENGINEERING CONCPETS AND STRUCTURES

Limited availability of fresh water, increasing water demands, and continuing development
pressures in flood-prone areas all punctuate the need for well-educated, well-equipped water
resources engineers.

Water resources engineering is a

branch of civil engineering
concerned with maximizing the
social and economic benefit
associated with the world’s water
resources while minimizing the
adverse environmental impacts due
to modifications to the natural
environment.

It deals with the principles and

analysis of water resources systems
such as: multi-purpose reservoir,
water supply distribution system,
storm water drainage, irrigation
system, and agricultural drainage
system.
- Special topics: river and flood control, drought mitigation and water resource planning
management.
-
Courses in water resources engineering prepare students for positions in the public and private sector
that require the following skills:
1. Planning and designing water distribution systems, sanitary and storm water collection systems,
and the pumping and storage infrastructure required by these systems
2. Designing highway drainage systems and conveyance structures such as culverts and bridges.
3. Managing floodplains and municipal streams and developing floodplain maps and
management plans.
4. Managing rivers and reservoirs for recreation, flood control, irrigation, and other multi-use
functions.
5. Developing groundwater resources and remediating polluted groundwater resources.
6. Designing the hydraulic features of new hydraulic structures such as dams, locks, hydroelectric
stations, levees, erosion control measures, and many other applications.
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BENEFICIAL USES OF WATER

1. For domestic purposes - drinking, washing, bathing, cooking, or other household needs, home
gardens and watering of lawns or domestic animals
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2. For municipal purposes - water requirements of the community

3. For irrigation – for producing agricultural crops
4. For power generation - producing electrical or mechanical power
5. For fisheries - propagation of culture of fish as a commercial enterprise
6. For livestock raising - for large herds or flocks of animals raised as a commercial enterprise
7. For industrial purposes - in factories, industrial plants and mines, including the use of water as
an ingredient of a finished product
8. For recreational purposes - swimming pools, bath houses, boating, water skiing, golf courses,
and other similar facilities in resorts and other places of recreation.

SURFACE WATER AND GROUNDWATER RESOURCES

PRINCIPLES OF WATER RESOURCES

1. Principle of planning for water resource projects

2. Planning for prioritizing water resource projects
3. Concept of basin – wise project development
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4. Demand of water within a basin

5. Structural construction for water projects
6. Concept of inter – basin water transfer project
7. Tasks for planning a water resources project

WHY THE NEED FOR A SCIENTIFIC PLANNING STRATEGY?

1. Gradual decrease of per capita available water on this planet and especially in our country.
2. Water being used for many purposes and the demands vary in time and space.
3. Water availability in a region – like county or state or watershed is not equally distributed.
4. The supply of water may be from rain, surface water bodies and ground water.

CATEGORIES OF WATER RESOURCES ENGINEERING

1. Groundwater engineering focuses on modeling and managing subsurface water and

designing extraction systems.
2. Hydrology is primarily associated with watershed and river modeling and understanding
interactions between atmospheric, surface, and subsurface water.
3. Hydraulics (or hydromechanics) emphasizes the mechanics of water flow, including
pressurized flow, open channel flow and flow-structure interactions.

DEVELOPMENT OF WATER RESOURCES

Due to its multiple benefits and the problems created by its excesses, shortages and quality
deterioration, water as a resource requires special attention. Requirement of
technological/engineering intervention for development of water resources to meet the varied
requirements of man or the human demand for water, which are also unevenly distributed, is hence
essential.

The development of water resources, though a necessity, is now pertinent to be made sustainable.
The concept of sustainable development implies that development meets the needs of the present
life, without compromising on the ability of the future generation to meet their own needs.

SUSTAINABLE WATER UTILIZATION

The quality of water is being increasingly threatened by pollutant load, which is on the rise as a
consequence of rising population, urbanization, industrialization, increased use of agricultural
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chemicals, etc. Both the surface and ground water have gradually increased in contamination level.
Technological intervention in the form of providing sewerage system for all urban conglomerates, low
cost sanitation system for all rural households, water treatment plants for all industries emanating
polluted water, etc. has to be made. Contamination of ground water due to over-exploitation has
also emerged as a serious problem. It is difficult to restore ground water quality once the aquifer is
contaminated. Ground water contamination occurs due to human interference and also natural
factors. To promote human health, there is urgent need to prevent contamination of ground water
and also promote and develop cost-effective techniques for purifying contaminated ground water
for use in rural areas like solar stills.

In summary, the development of water resources potential should be such that in doing so there
should not be any degradation in the quality or quantity of the resources available at present. Thus
the development should be sustainable for future.

HYDRAULIC STRUCTURES

A hydraulic structure is a structure submerged or partially submerged in any body of water, which
disrupts the natural flow of water. They can be used to divert, disrupt or completely stop the flow. A
hydraulic structure can be built in rivers, a sea, or any body of water where there is a need for a
change in the natural flow of water.

TYPES OF HYDRAULIC STRUCTURES

WATER-RETAINING STRUCTURES

The dam is an essential hydraulic structure that all other structures directly or indirectly relied upon.
Dams and barrages are typical water-retaining structures that are built purposely to impound water.
The retained water behind dams and barrages could be used for other purposes such as irrigation,
recreational activities, navigation, and a lot more.

Dams are detention structures for storing water of streams and

rivers. The water stored in the reservoir created behind the dam
may be used gradually, depending on demand.
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Barrages are diversion structures which help to divert a portion

of the stream and river for meeting demands for irrigation or
hydropower. They also help to increase the level of the water
slightly which may be advantageous from the point of view of
increasing navigability or to provide a pond from where water
may be drawn to meet domestic or industrial water demand.

A reservoir is an artificial lake where water is stored.

Most reservoirs are formed by constructing dams across rivers.
A reservoir can also be formed from a natural lake whose
outlet has been dammed to control the water level.
The dam controls the amount of water that flows out of
the reservoir.

WATER-CONVEYING STRUCTURES

Any artificial facility cut in the ground with the sole purpose of transporting water diverted from main
sources (river and dams) is termed as the water-conveying structure. These types of structures are
comprised of canals and tunnels (usually made from soil and rocks) or siphons, aqueducts, flumes,
and pipelines (usually made from concrete and metals). Before the construction of any water-
conveying structure, a detailed geotechnical soil test and analysis is recommended to avail the
surface and subsurface properties of the soil on which the structure is upon rest. The same soil test and
analysis also applies to other types and classes of hydraulic structures to ensure safety and to save
resources.

Canals/Tunnels are conveyance structures for

transporting water over long distances for
irrigation or hydropower.
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A siphon is one of the canal structures used for irrigating

farmlands. It is an irrigation facility used for conveying irrigation
water that passes waterways such as creeks, ditches, rivers or in
any form of the bodies of water.
Siphon is also used when passing a depression or congested area
such as residential neighborhood. It is usually in the form of
standard reinforced pipes and box typed conduits. Siphons are
designed by hydraulic analysis and structural analysis.

Aqueducts required a great deal of planning. They were made

from a series of pipes, tunnels, canals, and bridges. Gravity and
the natural slope of the land allowed aqueducts to channel
water from a freshwater source, such as a lake or spring, to a
city.

Flumes are specially shaped, engineered structures

used to measure the flow of water in open
channels. Flumes are static in nature - having no
moving parts - and develop a relationship between the
water level in the flume and the flow rate by restricting
the flow of water in various ways.

Pipelines are pipes, usually underground, that transport and

distribute fluids. When discussing pipelines in an energy context,
the fluids are usually either oil, oil products and natural gas.
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Irrigation is the artificial application of water to the soil through

various systems of tubes, pumps, and sprays. Irrigation is usually
used in areas where rainfall is irregular or dry times or drought is
expected. There are many types of irrigation systems, in which
water is supplied to the entire field uniformly.

SPECIAL-PURPOSE HYDRAULIC STRUCTURES

As the name implies, special-purpose hydraulic structures are built as an integral part of hydraulic
project to meet a special purpose such as hydropower generation (e.g., surge towers and shafts,
forebays, and head ponds), navigation (e.g., landings, berths, substations for ship repair, etc.), fishing
(e.g., fish nursery ponds, fish lifts and locks, fishways, etc.), water supply for domestic and industrial
uses (e.g., water intakes to treatment plant, pumping stations, etc.), waste disposal/sewerage (e.g.,
sewage headers, pumping stations, channels after treatment plant to water bodies, etc.), and land
reclamation (e.g., irrigation canals, drainage systems, silt tanks, etc.).

These structural options are used to utilize surface water to its maximum possible extent. Other
structures for utilizing ground water include rainwater detentions tanks, wells and tube wells.

TRENDS IN THE INDUSTRY

One of the major responsibilities of water resource engineers is “water-resource recoverability,” which
requires them to recover reusable elements in wastewater. Engineers are able to filter out valuable
nutrients from the water that can be used for fertilizer, or obtain particles as a substitute for sand. In
other cases, engineers are able to capture heat from wastewater. This heat can be used to heat
buildings, while other organic wastewater material can be utilized as renewable energy.

UPDATING WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITIES

Engineers are able to treat wastewater so that it can be used for irrigation, potable water or even as
cooling water for industrial plants. Moreover, engineers are beginning to implement treatment
facilities in communities with aging infrastructures so these communities can benefit from the recycling
of wastewater. Upgrading treatment facilities, especially in rural areas, ensures that communities can
benefit from nutrient reduction, thus ensuring water-resource sustainability.
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UV DISINEFECTION TECHNOLOGY

To provide clean drinking water, water resource engineers are integrating ultraviolet disinfection
technology into water treatment plants. UV technology is an environmentally safe option that
provides sanitary water to communities. The technology is able to sterilize water without using
potentially harmful chemicals such as chlorine.

COOLING WATERWAYS AND OCEANS

Water resource engineers are helping confront global warming through the process of cooling
waterways and oceans. Cooler water is better equipped to trap carbon dioxide. CO2 and other
greenhouse gases are the main reason for global warming. Water resource engineers are at the
forefront of geoengineering, which is a field dedicated to reducing the negative effects of global
warming.
To cool waterways and oceans, water resource engineers have been collaborating with scientists to
develop innovative ways to trap CO2. Scientists and engineers have hypothesized that if they are
able to refreeze more of the North Pole and South Pole, this could reduce the level of CO2 in the
Earth’s atmosphere. It is also hypothesized that if we could pump salt into the atmosphere, it would
make clouds more reflective toward heat. This reflection could reduce temperatures directly related
to the CO2 in the atmosphere.

What innovations in water resources can you propose in these challenging

times?

What are the significant features of the different hydraulic structures according
to sustainability?