WATER SUPPLY ENGINEERING

LECTURE 3: WATER SOURCES AND INTAKES

WATER SOURCES
Water on earth are naturally stored in
what we call water sources. They are
classified into three categories i.e
Surface water sources
Ground water sources and
conventional sources ;
WATER SOURCES CONT…
1. Surface sources, such as
i. Ponds and lakes;
ii. Streams and rivers;
iii. Storage reservoirs; and
iv. Oceans, generally not used for water
supplies, at present.
2.Groundwater sources , such as
i. Springs;
ii. Infiltration wells ; and
iii. Wells and Tube-wells.
WATER SOURCES CONT…
3. Non-Conventional sources
i. Rainwater harvesting/collection and
ii. Wastewater reuse
iii. Desalination
Desalination- is the process or removing salinity from
seawater.
Ocean/sea water are not suitable as its contains high salts. Why
seawater is not currently used for water supply? This is due to
lager concentrations of salinity. To be able to use it, we need a
desalination plant. Desalination of sea water is very expensive as
it uses thermo methods and large quantity of electricity is
needed.
Desalination technologies- thermo-desalination. Electrodyalisis,
Membrane technologies (Reverse Osmosis, Nanofiltration,
Ultrafiltration),.
WATER SOURCES CONT…
 Surface water sources for water supply
These are rivers and require complete treatment to make it
suitable for supply. The costs associated with treatment of
surface water is high as compared to the costs used for
ground sources. Examples of water utilities using surface
water in Tanzania include DAWASA which uses water from
Ruvu river,musoma water supply from Mara river, etc.
 Groundwater sources for water supply
This is typically used for rural water supply in small schemes.
This is because its treatment is relatively low /cheap as
groundwater is less polluted. Most of the treatment system is
disinfection and or softening if hardness identified. Examples
of water Authorities in Tanzania using Springs as a source
include DUWASA, BUWASA, etc. Mention others
WATER SOURCES CONT…
 Rainwater as a source
If rainfall patterns and storage for dry periods can be provided,
then a rainwater harvesting system can save for households and
small community water supply. However this should be considered
in places where there is heavy rainfall storms with high rainfall
intensity.
This is actually suitable in small scale supply
 Wastewater reclamation as a source
Wastewater reclamation, is the process involving treating wastewater
(a used water) back to useful state through different technologies such
as Waste stabilization Ponds, Constructed wetlands, Membrane
technologies and the treated/reclaimed water can be used for non-
domestic activities such as irrigation, fish caging, horticulture,
construction, gardening etc. If this is adopted in combination with
other sources can save a great quantity of water.
Seawater as a source (Desalination is very expensive! ! Still it is
impractical)
Water Source Selection
SOURCE SELECTION
The first step in designing a water supply is to select a suitable
source or combination of sources for water supply. The source
must capable of supplying water enough to the intended
community otherwise a supplement source must be found to
augment quantity.
 Factors for selection of a good source for water supply
 The source must be of good quality or requiring minimum
treatments
 The source must be of adequate quantity and sustainable
 The source must be located to a place where no or less pumping is
needed (Topography)
 The source must be located in a place relative near to the
consumers to avoid long piping costs
 The source must be less polluted to avoid higher treatment costs
(e.g. groundwater is preferred than surface sources due to being
less polluted).
WATER SOURCES
Water Sources Selection

• The selection of a water source may range from a relatively simple,

straightforward choice dictated by local conditions to a complex and
difficult decision involving the careful and deliberate consideration of
many factors
• At the household level, the decision can be simple while
considering comfortable options and some economics
• At higher levels (cluster, sub-regional) levels, the choice could
be more complex – different interests, options, choices
WATER SOURCES
Water Sources Selection ...

• In general terms, the selection process of a water source is based on

ensuring
• Quantity reliability and sustainability
and associated costs
• Quality reliability and sustainability
• More specifically, each optional source should be assessed considering
• Adequacy and reliability of water quantities – safe yield
• Water quality reliability
• Economics (Development costs, operation and maintenance costs)
• Monitoring requirements
WATER SOURCES
Water Sources Selection ...

• Adequacy and reliability of water quantities – safe yield

• Safe yield is affected by several factors including
• Conservation issues (flood protection, ecology, etc)
• Pollution control
• Navigational requirements
• Rivers
• Lakes
• Hydropower needs
• Prior water use permits (water rights)
• All these should be addressed in IWRM plans for sustainable
quantities in water sources
 WATER SOURCES
Water Sources Selection ...

• Water quality
• Good quality at natural occurrence
• Quality is affected by human activities – changes with time
• Economics
• Development costs
• Total cost of developing a water source option
• Highly variable between different water sources
• Existing system (Municipal network, haulage)
• Natural sources (lakes, rivers, groundwater)
 WATER SOURCES
Water Sources Selection ...

• Economics...
• Operation and maintenance costs
• System selection – gravity preferred, dual follows, pressurised
last (cost effectiveness)
• Treatment costs

• Monitoring requirements
• Verification of design assumptions
• Effect more studies with new data available
 WATER SOURCES
Water Sources Selection ...

• To ensure reliability and sustainability of water supplies from sources, it

is important to understand
• Water demand
• Temporal variation of the demand (historical, future, seasonal,
multi-year)
• This knowledge will enable adequate assessments
• if yield(s) of the source(s) can adequately and reliably meet the
current and future demands
• The required storage capacities for adequate supplies during
problematic periods (e.g. Droughts)
 WATER SOURCES
Water Sources Selection ...

APPLY YOUR KNOWLEDGE

In order to satisfy a total demand of 7.5 MLD for a new developing town
area, different water sources were investigated including a nearby
river, groundwater and taping from an existing supply pipeline. The
analysis results indicated availability of water for this new demand
from these three sources as indicated in Table for quantities. The new
area is closest to existing pipeline and priority is given to connecting
nearby households to this existing pipeline.

Select suitable water source(s) and pumping units to satisfy the

demand.
 WATER SOURCES
Water Sources Selection ...
APPLY YOUR KNOWLEDGE
Existing
Variable Specifics River Groundwater
system
Distance To town 167 m 8 km 10 km
High 0.15 m3/s 100 m3/hr
Yield 23.2 l/s
Low 0.07 m3/s 70 m3/hr
Capacity – Pump 1 NA 500 m3/hr 500 m3/hr
Capacity – Pump 2 NA 85 l/s 85 l/s
Pumping
Operation capacity 24 hours 10 hours 10 hours
Efficiency NA 90% 90%

Operation manpower Work time NA 8 hours 8 hours

WATER QUALITY OF THE
SOURCE
 The basic requirements of drinking water are
that,
It should be free of disease causing (pathogenic)
organisms
Fairly clear (low turbidity, little color)
Containing no compounds that can cause
offensive taste or smell.
Containing n compounds that can cause adverse
effects of acute on long or short term
not causing corrosion no incrustation to pipe
systems
WATER QUALITY OF THE
SOURCE
 Water Quality
The water in the source is always contaminated
with various impurities which may either be
physical, chemical and microbiological. These
contaminants are always tested by water quality
indicators which are either physical, chemical and
bacteriological indicators or characteristics:
 Physical Characteristics:
(i) Turbidity
(ii) Color
(iii) Taste and Odour
(iv) Temperature
(v) suspended solids
WATER QUALITY OF THE
SOURCE
 Chemical Characteristics:
(i) pH
(ii) Acidity
(iii) Alkalinity
(iv) Hardness
(v) Chlorides
(vi) Sulphates
(vii) Iron
(viii) Solids (TDS)
(ix) Nitrates
(x) Electrical Conductivity (EC)
WATER QUALITY OF THE
SOURCE
 Bacteriological Characteristics:
The bacteriological indicators indicates the
bacteriological/microbiological pollution of water.
These indicators are
i. Faecal coliforms (FC)
ii. Total coliforms (TC)
iii. Faecal streptococcus (FS)
Presence of these indicators signifies the presence of
pathogenic microbes (bacteris, viruses) which
potentially cause water-borne diseases such as
cholera (Caused by Vibro-cholerae), Typhoid fever
(caused by salmonella typhii), Schistomiasis (caused
by schistosomes hosted by snails, etc.
WATER QUALITY ANALYSIS
A water quality analysis is a laboratory procedures of
determining the pollutants in water and the pollution
level.
When selecting a suitable sources, the design engineer,
will carryout water quality analysis to determine
different parameters and compare with the existing
drinking water standards such as WHO and TBS. if the
water quality parameters comply with the drinking
standards, then this source is good and is selected, but if
they don’t comply with the standards, then this source is
declared unsuitable and an alternative source must be
found. If it’s the only source with sufficient water
quantity, then adopt some treatments to remove
pollutants and use it.
WATER QUALITY ANALYSIS
As part of water supply project planning, water analysis for
various parameters/indicators are done. One of the key
parameter is bacteriological. As it is impractical to measure all
organisms in water, fecal coliform bacteria are chosen to
represent the group of pathogenic microorganisms in water
which may cause water related diseases.

 The methods for Bacteriological tests.Are

 Standard Plate Count Test
 Most Probable Number
 Membrane Filter Technique (this is the commonly used
method for bacteriological determination in water).
Both fc and Tc are reported in form of Coliform forming
Units per 100 ml.
 WATER QUALITY ANALYSIS
Membrane Filter Technique

In this test a known volume of water sample is filtered through a

membrane with opening less than 0.5 microns. The bacteria present in
the sample will be retained upon the filter paper. The filter paper is put
in contact of a suitable nutrient medium and kept in an incubator for 24
hours at 35°C. The bacteria will grow upon the nutrient medium and
visible colonies are counted. Each colony represents one bacterium of
the original sample. The bacterial count is expressed as number of
colonies per 100 ml of sample.
Water Quality
Bacteriological Characteristics:
Bacterial examination of water is very important,
since it indicates the degree of pollution. Water
polluted by sewage contain one or more species of
disease producing pathogenic bacteria. Pathogenic
organisms cause water borne diseases, and many non
pathogenic bacteria such as E.Coli, a member of
coliform group, also live in the intestinal tract of
human beings. Coliform itself is not a harmful group
but it has more resistance to adverse condition than
any other group. So, if it is ensured to minimize the
number of coliforms, the harmful species will be very
less. So, coliform group serves as indicator of
contamination of water with sewage and presence of
pathogens.
Water Quality
Turbidity
If a large amount of suspended solids are present in
water, it will appear turbid in appearance. The
turbidity depends upon fineness and
concentration of particles present in water.
These days turbidity is measured by applying
Nephelometry, a technique to measure level of
light scattered by the particles at right angles to
the incident light beam. The scattered light level is
proportional to the particle concentration in the
sample. The unit of expression is Nephelometric
Turbidity Unit (NTU). The IS values for drinking
water is 10 to 25 NTU.
INTAKE STRUCTURES
-Introduction
Intakes are structures constructed in or
adjacent to lakes, reservoirs, or rivers for the
purpose of withdrawing water.
In general, they consist of an opening with a
grate or strainer through which water
enters, and a conduit to allow water flow by
gravity to a low-lift pumping station. Water is
then pumped from the low-lift pumping
station to the water treatment plant.
INTAKE STRUCTURES
The key requirements of the intake
structures are that they are:
Reliable.
Of adequate size to provide the required
quantity of water.
Located to obtain the best quality water.
Protected from objects that may damage
equipment.
Easy to inspect and maintain.
Designed to minimize damage to aquatic life.
Located to minimize navigational hazards
INTAKE STRUCTURES
DESIGN ELEMENTS
The following are the key design elements of an
intake structure
1.Reliability
Reliability is an essential feature of intake
structures. Water system ceases to function
when the intake system fails. Small systems with
only one intake structure are particularly
vulnerable. Therefore, it is recommended to have
duplicate i.e. two intakes for large systems
including multiple inlet ports, screens, conduits,
and pumping units.
INTAKE STRUCTURES
2.Capacity
Because they are very difficult to expand to
provide additional capacity, a design life of
the intake structures should range from 20
to 40 years (minimum) should be considered
This is aiming at ensuring no much troubles
on the water supply, in case the future
capacity increases and necessitates
expansion. Alternatively ,it is wise to design
at least two units, so that, when one is in
service (O&M), the other takes over the
operation.
INTAKE STRUCTURES
3:Location
The major factors to be considered in
locating the intake are listed table 1.1
Factors Governing Location of
Intake
(I) As far as possible, the site should be near
the treatment plant so that the cost of
conveying water to treatment plant is less.
(2) The intake must be located in the purer
zone of the source to draw best quality water
from the source, thereby reducing load on the
treatment plant.
(3) The intake must never be located at the
downstream or in the vicinity of the point of
disposal of wastewater.
Factors Governing Location of
Intake
4. The site should be such that it permit
greater withdrawal of water, if required at a
future date.
5.The intake must be located at a place from
where it can draw water even during the
driest period of the year.
6.The intake site should remain easily
accessible during floods and should not get
flooded. Moreover, the flood waters should
not be concentrated in the vicinity of the
intake
Factors for Considerations in
locating water intakes
Criteria of intake location
1. Water quality
2. Water depth
3. Silt, sand
4. Treatment facility
5. Cost
remarks
• Be located where no water currents
• Be located where no Wind and wave
impacts
• Be located where no Variation with
water depth due to water stratification
• Be located where no poor water
quality
• Adequate submergence over inlet
ports
• Be located atleast 1m above the river
bottom to avoid impact of sands/silts
• Be located to minimize conduit length
to treatment plant
• Be located such that it will require less
O&M requirements
RIVER INTAKE -EXAMPLE
INTAKE STRUCTURES

INTAKE TYPES
INTAKE TYPES
Broadly intakes are classified as Exposed and
Submerged but the selection of the type of
intake is highly dependent on local
circumstances. Because the circumstances are
fundamentally different, the systems are often
classified as either river intakes or
lake/reservoir intakes. But this classification
is for big systems. For smaller systems like
groundwater, rainwater, have also some kind of
intakes as will be seen in proceeding discussion
INTAKE TYPES
INTAKE TYPES
For lakes, submerged intakes are
preferred over exposed intakes due to
difficulties in O&M as well as lack of access
For Rivers intakes, both types are normally
used. In large rivers that are controlled by
locks and dams and the variation in flow
and water surface elevation are of less
concern than in lakes. NB: River intakes
must be designed to protect pumps due to
wear caused by grits.
INTAKE TYPES
Conduits
The intake conduit connects the inlet
works with the low-lift pump station. Either
a tunnel or pipeline may be used. Although
tunnels have a high degree of reliability, they
are expensive to construct. For large water
systems, they may be the more economical
choice when both capital and long-term
maintenance costs are considered.
 INTAKE DESIGN CRITERIA
Design Capacity
The design process to select a design flow rate (
Q ) is based on a forecast demand. (amount to
be abstracted).
With Q, the hydraulics of the intake structure
design are based on the following
i. Worst case estimate of friction loss,
ii. An estimate of potential sand intrusion into
the conduit,
iii. The all-time historic low water level, and
iv. A life expectancy of 60 years
Design Capacity

The design flow is used to select pumps and

motors. Space is provided for additional pumps
that will be required to meet the ultimate flow.
Intake Layouts(arrangement)
The intake arrangements consists of the
following
i. Pumps
ii. intake gates
iii. screens as well as
iv. Overhead crane-for lifting screenings and
other debris from the intake/screen.
Design hydraulics
Sizing/dimensioning of the intake (L,W,h)
Q = vA
where Q flow rate, m 3 /s
v velocity of flow, m/s
A cross-sectional area of flow, m 2
INTAKE DESIGN CRITERIA
Example
A two-cell intake located in a cold climate
reservoir is being designed for a winter
design flow rate of 6,000 m 3 /d. The Intake
will have three ports at three different
elevations in each cell. Each port must be
able to deliver the design flow rate operating
alone. Determine the area of each port
opening.
Using A=Q/V then A= 0.886 aprox
0.9m2.This are does not take into account
area of the screen to be installed to exlude
debris.
Intake design cont.…
screen-consideration
Intake design cont.…
screen-consideration
Gates. Sluice gates may be used on either
the interior or exterior of the tower
because other valves are fouled by debris
Coarse Screens also known as bar racks,
are provided to prevent leaves, sticks, and
other large pieces of debris from entering
the pumps.
To maintain the desired inlet design velocity,
the design of the port must take the area
occupied by the bars into account.
Intake design cont.…
screen-consideration
Solution cont.…
Revise the area obtained in previous
example by considering area occupied by
bar racks with a clear opening of 4 cm
and a bar 1 cm in width. Assume that the
opening is a square.
Intake design cont.…
screen-consideration
Solution cont.…
The unit space occupied by a bar and the
adjacent opening is 4 cm 1 cm 5 cm. The
fraction of the area occupied by the bar is 1
cm/5 cm 0.20 or 20 percent. To account for
the bars, the area of the port opening must
be increased by 20 percent or
A= 0.2 x0. 9 ) +0.9 =1.08m2 or approx 1.1m2
.
Intake design cont.…
screen-consideration
Fine Screens. A fine screen is placed
downstream of the coarse screen. Its
purpose is to collect smaller material that
has passed through the coarse screen but is
still large enough to damage downstream
equipment. Generally, it is placed in the low-
lift pump station ahead of the pump intake.
NB: In river intake, submerged intakes are
screened only with course screens, so no
consideration of fine screen.
Intake design cont.…
screen-consideration
Conduit
The conduit may be either a tunnel or a
pipeline. Generally, it is designed to flow
by gravity.
Size. The conduit is sized to carry the
maximum design flow rate . To minimize
the accumulation of sediment the flow
velocity should be greater than 1 m/s .
Intake conduit design
The conduit is designed by Hazen-Williams
Equation.
Hazen-Williams equation is the one most
commonly used to describe the flow of water
in pipes and is written as follows.
Q= 0.278 CD2.63 S0.54

where Q flow rate, m3 /s

C = Hazen-Williams coefficient of roughness
D = diameter of pipe, m
S = slope of energy grade line, m/m
HW
Using the previous examples of flow 6000
m3/d design the wet well intake
considering the following
Intake dimensions,
Coarse screen
pump basin
Fine screen
Pump/screen design
Detailed pump and screen design will be
tackled separately in the proceeding
lectures
END OF LECTURE 3
EXTRA NOTES FOR READING
 INTAKE STRUCTURES

RAW WATER ABSTRACTION...

INTAKES – Types
• Types of water intake structures for natural sources
are usually related to source types
• Rainwater (rooftop, catchment/dam)
• Groundwater (spring, shallow well, deep well)
• Surface water (rivers, lakes)
 INTAKE STRUCTURES

RAW WATER ABSTRACTION ...

INTAKES – Types...
• Rainwater
• Small scale (rooftop) systems
• Gutters / Downpipes
• Large scale (Catchment/dams) systems
• Catchment provide area for collecting water
(depressions)
• Dam provide barrier to flow forming water
pools (reservoirs) behind them
 WR 231
Water Supply Engineering

RAW WATER ABSTRACTION ...

INTAKES – Types...
• Groundwater
• Spring intakes
• Spring is naturally surfacing groundwater
• Typical sunken intakes; sometimes surface
intakes
• Wells
• Abstract water from subsurface water sources
(e.g. Groundwater)
• Typically subsurface intakes
INTAKE STRUCTURES

SPRING INTAKE
 INTAKE STRUCTURES

Dug Well

Drilled (moderate deep) Well

Sub-surface harvesting
WELL INTAKES
 INTAKE STRUCTURES

RAW WATER ABSTRACTION...

INTAKES – Types...
• Surface water
• Can be distinguished between the sources (River
intakes, Lakes intakes)
• Main types include
• Lateral intakes with damming (e.g. weirs)
• Lateral intakes without damming (e.g.
channelisation)
• Bottom intake structures (rivers with clear water
– little or no suspended sediments)
• Overhead intakes (energy production in large
rivers)
• Floating intakes
 WR 231
Water Supply Engineering

Protected side intake Bottom intake

 WR 231
Water Supply Engineering

Floating intake Sump intake

 WR 231
Water Supply Engineering

SYSTEM COMPONENTS

INTAKES – Types...
• To ensure reliability of water quantities for the supply
system abstracting river water, storage reservoirs
are usually opted to store raw river water
• Raw river water accumulates behind a dam
• Water intake structures are constructed on the
dam or on any sides of the reservoir (dependent
on the design and intended water use – irrigation,
community supply, etc)
FACTORS FOR INTAKE LOCATION
 WR 231
Water Supply Engineering

• Several factors mainly

• Where best quality water is available
• Avoid heavy currents (high vel.: trap fish, etc)
• Water quantities assured (present and future) even at
worst conditions (intakes in natural pools)
• Good accessibility and availability of facilities (e.g.
power)
• Not interfered by other water uses (e.g. navigation,
recreational, sanitation)
• Closest to treatment plant
• Upstream of any potential pollution areas
 WR 231
Water Supply Engineering
END OF EXTRA
NOTES