WATER RESOURCES PROJECT PLANNING

WATER RESOURCES PROJECT PLANNING

The goals of water resources project planning may be by the use of

constructed facilities, or structural measures, or by management and
legal techniques that do not require constructed facilities.

The latter are called non-structural measures and may include rules to
limit or control water and land use which complement or substitute for
constructed facilities.

A project may consist of one or more structural or non-structural

resources.
WATER RESOURCES PROJECT PLANNING
Water resources planning techniques are used to determine what
measures should be employed to meet water needs and to take
advantage of opportunities for water resources development, and
also to preserve and enhance natural water resources and related
land resources.

The scientific and technological development has been conspicuously

evident during the twentieth century in major fields of engineering. But
since water resources have been practiced for many centuries, the
development in this field may not have been as spectacular as, say,
for computer sciences.
PRIORITIES FOR WATER RESOURCES PROJECT PLANNING
Water resource projects are constructed to develop or manage the
available water resources for different purposes. The water
allocation priorities for planning and operation of water resource
systems should broadly be as follows:

1. Domestic consumption
This includes water requirements primarily for drinking, cooking,
bathing, washing of clothes and utensils and flushing of toilets.

2. Irrigation
Water required for growing crops in a systematic and scientific
manner in areas even with deficit rainfall.
PRIORITIES FOR WATER RESOURCES PROJECT PLANNING
Water resource projects are constructed to develop or manage the
available water resources for different purposes. The water
allocation priorities for planning and operation of water resource
systems should broadly be as follows:

3. Hydropower
This is the generation of electricity by harnessing the power of
flowing water.

4. Ecology / environment restoration

Water required for maintaining the environmental health of a region.
PRIORITIES FOR WATER RESOURCES PROJECT PLANNING
Water resource projects are constructed to develop or manage the
available water resources for different purposes. The water
allocation priorities for planning and operation of water resource
systems should broadly be as follows:

5. Industries
The industries require water for various purposes and that by thermal power
stations is quite high.

6. Navigation
Navigation possibility in rivers may be enhanced by increasing the flow, thereby
increasing the depth of water required to allow larger vessels to pass.

7. Other uses like scenic natural views

TOOLS FOR WATER RESOURCES PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

THE SUPPLY OF WATER

Water available in the unit
This may be divided into three sources

- Rain falling within the region. This may be utilized directly before it reaches the
ground, for example, the roof – top rain water harvesting schemes in water scarce
areas.

- Surface water bodies. These static (lakes and ponds) and flowing (streams and
rivers), water bodies may be utilized for satisfying the demand of the unit, for example
by constructing dams across
rivers.

- Ground water reservoirs. The water stored in soil and pores of fractured bed rock may
be extracted to meet the demand, for example wells or tube – wells.
TOOLS FOR WATER RESOURCES PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

THE SUPPLY OF WATER

Water transferred in and out of the unit

If the planning is for a watershed or basin, then generally the water available within
the basin is to be used unless there is inter basin water transfer. If however, the
unit is a political entity, like a nation or a state, then definitely there shall be inflow
or outflow of water especially that of flowing surface water.

Riparian rights have to be honored and extraction of more water by the upland unit
may result in severe tension.
TOOLS FOR WATER RESOURCES PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

THE SUPPLY OF WATER

Regeneration of water within the unit

Brackish water may be converted with appropriate technology to
supply sweet water for drinking and has been tried in many extreme
water scarce areas.

Waste water of households may be recycled, again with appropriate

technology, to supply water suitable for purposes like irrigation
TOOLS FOR WATER RESOURCES PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

THE DEMAND OF WATER

Domestic water requirement for urban population

This is usually done through an organized municipal water
distribution network.

This water is generally required for drinking, cooking, bathing and

sanitary purposes etc, for the urban areas.

The units “lpcd” stands for Liters per Capita per Day”.
TOOLS FOR WATER RESOURCES PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

THE DEMAND OF WATER

Domestic and livestock water requirement for rural population
This may be done through individual effort of the users by tapping a local available
source or through co-operative efforts.

Irrigation water requirement of cropped fields

Irrigation may be done through individual effort of the farmers or through group
cooperation between farmers, like Farmers’ Cooperatives. The demands have to
be estimated based on the cropping pattern, which may vary over the land unit
due to various factors like; farmer’s choice, soil type, climate, etc.

Actually, the term “Irrigation Water Demand” denotes the total quantity and the way
in which a crop requires water, from the time it is sown to the time it is harvested.
TOOLS FOR WATER RESOURCES PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

THE DEMAND OF WATER

Industrial water needs

This depends on the type of industry, its magnitude and the quantity of water
required per unit of production.
STRUCTURAL TOOLS FOR WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT

Dams
These 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.

Barrages
These 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.
STRUCTURAL TOOLS FOR WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT
Canals/Tunnels
These are conveyance structures for transporting water over long distances for
irrigation or hydropower.

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

Another option that is important for any water resource project is Watershed
Management practices. Through these measures, the water falling within the
catchment area is not allowed to move quickly to drain into the rivers and streams.
This helps the rain water to saturate the soil and increase the ground
water reserve.
MANAGEMENT TOOLS FOR WATER RESOURCES PLANNING
The following management strategies are important for water resources planning:

• Water related allocation/re-allocation agreements between planning units sharing

common water resource.

• Subsidies on water use

• Planning of releases from reservoirs over time

• Planning of withdrawal of ground water with time.

• Planning of cropping patterns of agricultural fields to optimize the water availability from
rain and irrigation (using surface and/or ground water sources) as a function of time

• Creating public awareness to reduce wastage of water, especially filtered drinking water
and to inculcate the habit of recycling waste water for purposes like gardening.
MANAGEMENT TOOLS FOR WATER RESOURCES PLANNING
• Research in water management: Well established technological inputs are in verge in water
resources engineering which were mostly evolved over the last century. Since, then not much of
innovations have been put
forward. However, it is equally known that quite a few of these technologies run below optimum
desired efficiency.

Research in this field is essential for optimizing such structure to make most of water resource
utilization.

An example for this is the seepage loss in canals and loss of water during application of water in
irrigating the fields. As an indication, it may be pointed out that in the country, of the water that is
diverted through irrigation canals up to the crop growing fields, only about half is actually utilized
for plant growth. This example is also glaring since agriculture sector takes most of the water for
its assumption from the developed project on water resources.

A good thrust in research is needed to increase the water application efficiently which, in turn, will
help optimizing the system.
INTER-BASIN WATER TRANSFER

It is possible that the water availability in a basin (Watershed) is not sufficient

to meet the maximum demands within the basin. This would require Inter-
basin water transfer.

The possible quantity of water that may be transferred by donor basin may be
equal to the average water availability of basin minus maximum possible water
requirement within basin (considering future scenarios).

The minimum expected quantity of water for recipient basin may be equal to
the minimum possible water requirement within basin (considering future
scenarios) minus average water availability of basin.
INTER-BASIN WATER TRANSFER

Possible components of an inter-basin transfer project include the

following:

• Storage Dam in Donor basin to store flood runoff

• Conveyance structure, like canal, to transfer water from donor to
recipient basin
• Possible pumping equipments to raise water across watershed-
divide
INTER-BASIN WATER TRANSFER
Possible implications of inter-basin transfer: Since a large scale water transfer
would be required, it is necessary to check whether there shall be any of the
following:

• River bed level rise or fall due to possible silt deposition or removal.

• Ground water rise or fall due to possible excess or deficit water seepage.

• Ecological imbalance due to possible disturbance of flora and fauna habitat.

• Desertification due to prevention of natural flooding (i.e. by diversion of flood

water)

• Transfer of dissolved salts, suspended sediments, nutrients, trace elements etc.

from one basin to another.
TASK FOR PLANNING A WATER RESOURCES PROJECT
The important tasks for preparing a planning report of a water resources project would
include the following:

• Analysis of basic data like maps, remote sensing images, geological data, hydrologic
data, and requirement of water use data, etc.

• Selection of alternative sites based on economic aspects generally, but keeping in

mind environmental degradation aspects.

• Studies for dam, reservoir, diversion structure, conveyance structure, etc.

- Selection of capacity.
- Selection of type of dam and spillway.
- Layout of structures.
- Analysis of foundation of structures.
- Development of construction plan.
- Cost estimates of structures, foundation strengthening measures, etc.
TASK FOR PLANNING A WATER RESOURCES PROJECT

• Studies for local protective works – levees, riverbank revetment, etc.

• Formulation of optimal combination of structural and non-structural

components (for projects with flood control component).

• Economic and financial analyses, taking into account environmental

degradation, if any, as a cost.

• Environmental and sociological impact assessment.

ENGINEERING ECONOMY IN WATER RESOURCES PLANNING

All Water Resources projects have to be cost evaluated. This is an

essential part of planning.

Since, generally, such projects would be funded by the respective State

Governments, in which the project would be coming up it would be
helpful for the State planners to collect the desired amount of money,
like by issuing bonds to the public, taking loans from a bank, etc.

Since a project involves money, it is essential that the minimum amount

is spent, under the given constraints of project construction. Hence, a
few feasible alternatives for a project are usually worked out.
ENGINEERING ECONOMY IN WATER RESOURCES PLANNING

For example, a project involving a storage dam has to be located on a map of

the river valley at more than one possible location, if the terrain permits.

In this instance, the dam would generally be located at the narrowest part of
the river valley to reduce cost of dam construction, but also a couple of more
alternatives would be selected since there would be other features of a dam
whose cost would dictate the total cost of the project.

For example, the foundation could be weak for the first alternative and
consequently require costly found treatment, raising thereby the total project
cost.
ENGINEERING ECONOMY IN WATER RESOURCES PLANNING
At times, a economically lucrative project site may be causing
submergence of a costly property, say an industry, whose relocation
cost would offset the benefit of the alternative. On the other hand, the
beneficial returns may also vary. For example, the volume of water
stored behind a dam for one alternative of layout may not be the same
as that behind another. Hence, what is required is to evaluate the so
called Benefit-Cost Ratio defined as below:
ASSESSMENT OF EFFECT ON ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY
This is a very important issue and all projects need to have clearance
on aspects of impact that the project is likely to have on the
environment as well as on the social fabric. Some of the adverse
(negative) impacts, for which steps have to be taken, are as follows:

• Loss of flora and fauna due to submergence.

• Loss of land having agricultural, residential, industrial, religious,
archaeological importance.
• Rehabilitation of displaced persons.
• Reservoir induced seismicity.
• Ill-effect on riverine habitats of fish due to blockage of the free river
passage
ASSESSMENT OF EFFECT ON ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY

There would also be some beneficial (positive) impacts of the

project, like improvement of public health due to availability
of assured, clean and safe drinking water, assured
agricultural production, etc.

There could even be an improvement in the micro-climate of

the region due to the presence of a water body.
GUIDELINES FOR DRINKING AND IRRIGATION WATER PROJECTS
Drinking water

Adequate safe drinking water facilities should be provided to the entire

population both in urban and rural areas. Irrigation and multi purpose projects
should invariably include a drinking water component wherever there is no
alternative source of drinking water.

Primarily, the water stored in a reservoir has to be extracted using a suitable

pumping unit and then conveyed to a water treatment plant where the physical
and chemical impurities are removed to the extent of human tolerance. The
purified water is then pumped again to the demand area, that is, the urban or
rural habitation clusters. The source of water, however, could as well be from
ground water or directly from the river.
GUIDELINES FOR DRINKING AND IRRIGATION WATER PROJECTS

1.3.4.2 Irrigation

Irrigation planning either in an individual project or in a basin as whole

should take into account the irrigability of land, cost of effective
irrigation options possible from all available sources of water and
appropriate irrigation techniques for optimizing water use efficiency.

Irrigation intensity should be such as to extend the benefits of

irrigation to as large as number of farm families as possible, keeping in
view the need to maximize production.
GUIDELINES FOR DRINKING AND IRRIGATION WATER PROJECTS

• Water allocation in an irrigation system should be done with due regard to equity
and social justice.

Disparities in the availability of water between head-reach and tail-end farms and
(in respect of canal irrigation) between large and small farms should be obviated
by adoption of a rotational water distribution system and supply of water on a
volumetric basis subject to certain ceilings and rational water pricing.
GUIDELINES FOR DRINKING AND IRRIGATION WATER PROJECTS

• Concerned efforts should be made to ensure that the irrigation

potential created is fully utilized. For this purpose, the command
area development approach should be adopted in all irrigation
projects.

• Irrigation being the largest consumer of freshwater, the aim should

be to get optimal productivity per unit of water. Scientific water
management, farm practices and sprinkler and drip system of
irrigation should be adopted wherever possible.
GUIDELINES FOR DRINKING AND IRRIGATION WATER PROJECTS

Water allocation: Research on institutional arrangements for water

allocation covers three major types of water allocation: public allocation,
user-based allocation, and market allocation.

This work includes attention to water rights and to the organizations

involved in water allocation and management, as well as a comparative
study of the consequences of water reallocation from irrigation to other
sectors.

A key aspect of this research is the identification of different stakeholders'

interests, and the consequences of alternative institutions for the livelihoods
of the poor.
GUIDELINES FOR DRINKING AND IRRIGATION WATER PROJECTS
Rotational water distribution system: Water allocated to the forms one after the
other in a repeated manner.

Volumetric basis: Water allocated to each farm a specified volume based on the
area of the farm, type of crop etc.

Irrigation Potential: Irrigation is the process by which water is diverted from a river
or pumped from a well and used for the purpose of agricultural production. Areas
under irrigation thus include areas equipped for full and partial control irrigation,
spate irrigation areas, equipped wetland and inland valley bottoms, irrespective of
their size or management type.

It does not consider techniques related to on-farm water conservation like water
harvesting. The area which can potentially be irrigated depends on the physical
resources 'soil' and 'water', combined with the irrigation water requirements as
determined by the cropping patterns and climate.
GUIDELINES FOR DRINKING AND IRRIGATION WATER PROJECTS
Command area development: The command area development program aims
mainly at reducing the gap between the potential created for irrigation to achieve
higher agriculture production thereof. This is to be achieved through the integrated
development of irrigated tracks to ensure efficient soil land use and water
management for ensuring planned increased productivity.

Sprinkler irrigation: Sprinkler irrigation offers a means of irrigating areas which

are so irregular that they prevent use of any surface irrigation methods. By using a
low supply rate, deep percolation or surface runoff and erosion can be minimized.
Offsetting these advantages is the relatively high cost of the sprinkling equipment
and the permanent installations necessary to supply water to the sprinkler lines.
Very low delivery rates may also result in fairly high evaporation from the spray and
the wetted vegetation. It is impossible to get completely uniform distribution of
water around a sprinkler head and spacing of the heads must be planned to
overlap spray areas so that distribution is essentially uniform.
GUIDELINES FOR DRINKING AND IRRIGATION WATER PROJECTS

Drip: The drip method of irrigation, also called trickle irrigation, originally
developed in Israel, is becoming popular in areas having water scarcity and
salt problems.

The method is one of the most recent developments in irrigation. It involves

slow and frequent application of water to the plant root zone and enables
the application of water and fertilizer at optimum rates to the root system. It
minimizes the loss of water by deep percolation below the root zone or by
evaporation from the soil surface.

Drip irrigation is not only economical in water use but also gives higher
yields with poor quality water.
WATER QUALITY

The following points should be kept in mind regarding the quality of

water:

1. Both surface water and ground water should be regularly monitored

for quality.

2. Effluents should be treated to acceptable levels and standards

before discharging them into natural steams.

3. Minimum flow should be ensured in the perennial streams for

maintaining ecology and social considerations.
WATER QUALITY

Since each of these aspects form an important segment of water

resources engineering, this has been dealt separately in course under
water and waste water engineering.

The technical aspects of water quality monitoring and remediation are

dealt with in the course of Water and Waste – Water Engineering.
Knowledge of it is essential for the water resources engineer to know
the issues involved since, even polluted water returns to global or
national water content.
WATER QUALITY
Normally the physical, chemical and biological parameters are checked
which gives an indication towards the acceptability of the water for drinking
or irrigation. Unacceptable pollutants may require remediation, provided it is
cost effective. Else, a separate source may have to be investigated. Even
industrial water also require a standard to be met, for example, in order to
avoid scale formation within boilers in thermal power projects hard water
sources are avoided.

The requirement of effluent treatment lies with the users of water and they
should ensure that the waste water discharged back to the natural streams
should be within acceptable limits. It must be remembered that the same
river may act as source of drinking water for the inhabitants located down
the river.
MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR EXCESS AND DEFICIT WATER
IMBALANCES
Water is essential for life. However, if it is present in excess or deficit quantities than
that required for normal life sustenance, it may cause either flood or drought.

Flood control and management

• There should be a master plan for flood control and management for each flood
prone basin.

• Adequate flood-cushioning should be provided in water storage projects,

wherever feasible, to facilitate better flood management.
MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR EXCESS AND DEFICIT WATER
IMBALANCES

• While physical flood protection works like embankments and dykes

will continue to be necessary, increased emphasis should be laid on
nonstructural measures such as flood forecasting and warning,
flood plain zoning, and flood proofing for minimization of losses
and to reduce the recurring expenditure on flood relief.
MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR EXCESS AND DEFICIT WATER
IMBALANCES

Drought prone area development

• Drought-prone areas should be made less vulnerable to drought

associated problems through soil conservation measures, water
harvesting practices, minimization of evaporation losses, and
development of ground water potential including recharging and
transfer of surface water from surplus areas where feasible and
appropriate.
MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR EXCESS AND DEFICIT WATER
IMBALANCES
Flood cushioning: The reservoirs created behind dams may be emptied to some
extent, depending on the forecast of impending flood, so that as and when the
flood arrives, some of the water gets stored in the reservoir, thus reducing the
severity of the flood.

Embankments and dykes: Embankments & dykes also known as levees are
earthen banks constructed parallel to the course of river to confine it to a fixed
course and limited cross-sectional width. The heights of levees will be higher than
the design flood level with sufficient free board. The confinement of the river to a
fixed path frees large tracts of land from inundation and consequent damage.
MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR EXCESS AND DEFICIT WATER
IMBALANCES
Flood forecast and warning: Forecasting of floods in advance enables a warning to be
given to the people likely to be affected and further enables civil defense measures to be
organized. It thus forms a very important and relatively inexpensive nonstructural flood-
control measure.

However, it must be realized that a flood warning is meaningful if it is given sufficiently in

advance. Also, erroneous warnings will cause the populace to loose faith in the system.
Thus the dual requirements of reliability and advance notice are the essential ingredients
of a flood-forecasting system.

Flood plain zoning: One of the best ways to prevent trouble is to avoid it and one of the
best ways to avoid flood damage is to stay out of the flood plain of streams. One of the
forms of the zoning is to control the type, construction and use of buildings within their limits
by zoning ordinances. Similar ordinances might prescribe areas within which structures
which would suffer from floods may not be built. An indirect form of zoning is the creation of
parks along streams where frequent flooding makes other uses impracticable.
MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR EXCESS AND DEFICIT WATER
IMBALANCES
Flood proofing: In instances where only isolated units of high value are
threatened by flooding, they may sometimes by individually flood proofed.

An industrial plant comprising buildings, storage yards, roads, etc., may be

protected by a ring levee or flood wall.

Individual buildings sufficiently strong to resist the dynamic forces of the flood
water are sometimes protected by building the lower stories (below the expected
high-water mark) without windows and providing some means of watertight
closure for the doors.

Thus, even though the building may be surrounded by water, the property within it
is protected from damage and many normal functions may be carried on.
MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR EXCESS AND DEFICIT WATER
IMBALANCES
Soil conservation measures:

Soil conservation measures in the catchment when properly planned and

effected lead to an all-round improvement in the catchment characteristics
affecting abstractions. Increased infiltration, greater evapotranspiration and
reduced soil erosion are some of its easily identifiable results.

It is believed that while small and medium floods are reduced by soil
conservation measures, the magnitude of extreme floods are unlikely to be
affected by these measures.
MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR EXCESS AND DEFICIT WATER
IMBALANCES
Water harvesting practices:

Technically speaking, water harvesting means capturing the rain where it falls, or capturing
the run-off in one’s own village or town. Experts suggest various ways of harvesting water:

• Capturing run-off from rooftops;

• Capturing run-off from local catchments;

• Capturing seasonal flood water from local streams; and

• Conserving water through watershed management. Apart from increasing the availability
of water, local water harvesting systems developed by local communities and households
can reduce the pressure on the state to provide all the financial resources needed for water
supply. Also, involving people will give them a sense of ownership and reduce the burden
on government funds.
MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR EXCESS AND DEFICIT WATER
IMBALANCES

Minimization of evaporation losses:

The rate of evaporation is dependent on the vapour pressures at the

water surface and air above, air and water temperatures, wind speed,
atmospheric pressure, quality of water, and size of the water body.

Evaporation losses can be minimized by constructing deep reservoirs,

growing tall trees on the windward side of the reservoir, plantation in
the area adjoining the reservoir, removing weeds and water plants from
the reservoir periphery and surface, releasing warm water and spraying
chemicals or fatty acids over the water surface.
MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR EXCESS AND DEFICIT WATER
IMBALANCES
Recharging: Artificial recharge provides ground water users an opportunity to
increase the amount of water available during periods of high demand—typically
summer months. Past interest in artificial recharge has focused on aquifers that have
declined because of heavy use and from which existing users have been unable to
obtain sufficient water to satisfy their needs.

Transfer of surface water: Basically, it's the movement of surface water from one
river basin into another. The actual transfer is the amount of water not returned to its
source basin. The most typical situation occurs when a water system has an intake
and wastewater discharge in different basins. But other situations also cause
transfers. One is where a system's service area covers more than one basin. Any
water used up or consumed in a portion of the service area outside of the source
basin would be considered part of a transfer (e.g. watering your yard). Transfers can
also occur between interconnected systems, where a system in one basin purchases
water from a system in another basin.