Urban Water

The study reviews the present status of urbanization in the developed and developing countries and assesses the changes in urban hydrological cycle owing to this. The softwares used for studying urbanization and sanitation issues in the urban areas have been reviewed.

The study endeavors to test the Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) in an urban area. The report presents the technical summary of the model, its structure, interaction between the various blocks of SWMM, the input requirements and the output. The Windows implementation of the blocks, including descriptions of the screen sequences, corresponding blocks, changes made for ease of use and limitations of the implementation are presented. The minimum hardware requirements and installation information for the Windows SWMM are discussed.

Get trained in SWMM - Storm water management modelling.

Visit the link for software capabilities http://www.epa.gov/ednnrmrl/models/swmm/

The study presents a preliminary hydrological investigation of the Deepar Beel, a natural freshwater lake near Guwahati, and notes the theoretical aspects of the techniques to be used, methodologies and instruments for conducting a detailed study of the natural processes at hand.

Deepar Beel acts as a natural stormwater reservoir during monsoon period and is greatly influenced by the rapid urbanization and improper land use pattern of Guwahati. It receives a large portion of sewage of the city, but the preliminary investigations reveal that the Beel is largely free from significant levels of pollution. This is due to the dilution effects of large storm water runoff during monsoons as also the release of the Beel water to river Brahmaputra through the Khanajun outlet. Yet, the soil quality is found to have deteriorated to a large extent.

Various parameters of soil and water quality indicate that the process of eutrophication is in progress in this wetland. Although many trace elements are present in the Beel sediments, no known toxic effects are observed on aquatic life. Increasing sedimentation and reduction in lake water capacity and inflow are also observed.

The report presents the status of urban hydrology and highlights some of the hydrological problems related to urbanization in the world and in India. It covers a discussion on urban hydrologic cycle, hydrological and related problems of India, impact of urbanization on streamflow and urban water management. Some information on available urban hydrological models and the recommendations for the management of urban areas is also included.

The problems of urban hydrology have been of world concern for several years, but there have been few compilations of background information and even fewer comprehensive investigations of specific urban situations. The new information and data are of vital importance to the development of urban hydrology research in future.

Content Courtesy: GIS Development

Forwarded to the portal by: Sangeeta Deogawanka

Ponds are important sources of fresh water in the world as they store surface runoff produced by the storms. In this research paper, demarcation of the portion of land contributing runoff to ponds in village Nandgaon (Uttar Pradesh) has been done using topographical information of the surrounding area of the ponds, in a GIS interface.

This blog post by Prakash Apte, draws attention to the increasing water demand in urban areas because of industrialisation and population growth by giving the example of Mumbai and points at the current scenario of the lack of availability of adequate and safe water supply to meet the needs of the ever increasing population in the city.

The author proposes that rainwater harvesting can be a viable solution in cities such as Mumbai to meet this increasing demand for water and can provide an opportunity for equitable, efficient and sustainable use of water resources.

There is an urgent need for evolving a rainwater harvesting system that is sustainable, replicable and economically viable and argues that the benefits of using rainwater harvesting can lead to a range of social, economic and environmental benefits and can contribute substantially to improving the quality of life in Mumbai.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has a role and application, in promoting a system and methodology for rain water harvesting and for providing the data needed to enable its large scale implementation in the context of Mumbai.

This guidebook by UN-HABITAT, provides an overview of the principles and practices required for sustainable urban water catchment management. It deals with the principles and practices for better management of water resources which, in turn, will lead to general improvement in the health of the local population, food security, environmental protection and sustainable development. It states that it is necessary to develop enduring partnerships among the participating institutions and organizations in the catchment area.

Along side, policies, laws and regulations should be geared to provide an enabling framework as needed for formulation and implementation of action plans at the local level. The guidebook also comprises case studies from Australia, India, Latin America and South Africa to showcase the prospects of local action for water resources management.

These two documents enlist best practices in urban water management, based on the experiences of Biome Solutions, and are relevant for households in a gated layout/group housing complex, where the water sourcing, supply and management is in the hands of the layout and there is no connection to the the local water supply authority.

Based on the annual costs of imported (purchased) water, pumping (energy), water supply infrastructure and borewell maintenance, wastewater treatment, human resources, rainwater harvesting maintenance, sinking fund (cost of replacement of infrastructure), this spreadsheet-based toolkit by Biome Solutions, helps calculate the total cost (in Rs/KL) of water.