CHAPTER THREE

SOURCE OF WATER
 Basically The source of all water is rainfall. The water enters
the ground is known as ground water and the part which
flows over the land is termed a surface water
Therefore sources of water supply schemes can be classified as
 Rain and snow

 Surface water:

 Rivers Lakes Pond Sea water Impounding

reservoirs
 Underground sources

 Springs

 Wells
 Raw Water Quality and Source Selection

 Availability of water from the source should be

 At least be equal to the demand(enough quantity )
 Good Quality

 Reliable

 Safe

 According to water rights

 Consider environmental impacts

 Along with capital and operational costs of the project,

Types of water sources fall into two general categories
i. surface water sources
ii.Groundwater sources

Any source of water is selected for the purpose of water supply

scheme after considering the following points
1) Quality of water of the source
2) Quantity of the yield, and
3) Location of the source
 Quality of water in the source

Determined by
- Physical quality test water
- Chemical quality test water and
- Biological quality test water tests
 Based on these tests source of water can be divided into four

different classes
Class I :
 Does not require any other treatment except
disinfection.
 Also known as highly satisfactory source of water
 Many deep wells water comes under this category.
Class II:
 Require treatment like filtration and disinfection
only
 Categorised as satisfactory standard
 Water from shallow wells,
 springs and lakes may come in this category
Class III:
 This water requires treatment like coagulation,
filtration, and sometimes special auxiliary
treatment like aeration, softening and followed
by filtration.
 Classifies as specious (baseless) water source
Class IV:
 This water may contain toxic substances or highly
polluted with sewage and. industrial wastes.
 Cannot be purified by the normal treatment used for
water supply
 Never taken up as a water supply source
2) Quantity of the yield
 Quantity of water available from a source
 The yield of groundwater can be determined by direct pumping
(pump test result), whereas for measuring of surface water
various methods were adopted.
3) Location of the source
 Should be in close vicinity of the town
 Should be away from the point of waste disposal
 In case of river it should be well off in the upstream side
 Factors Governing the Selection of Source of Water

Important factors generally considered in the selection of a

particular source are;-
i) The Quantity of Available Water
 The quantity of water available at the source must be

sufficient to meet the various demands during the

entire design period of the scheme
ii) The Quality of Available Water
 The impurities present in the water should be as less

as possible,
 should be removed easily and economically by normal

treatment methods.
iii) Distance of the Source of Supply
 The source of water must be situated as near the city as
possible.
iv) General Topography of the Intervening Area
 The area or land b/n the source and the city should not

be highly uneven
 i.e. it should not contain deep valleys or high

mountains and ridges.

v) Elevation of the Source of Supply
 The source of water must be on a high contour than the

city or town to be supplied with water

 To make the gravity flow possible.
 When the water is available at lower levels than the
average city level
 Pumping has to be resorted
 Ground Water Sources and their Occurrences

 Rainfall is the main source of ground water.

 Rainfall that percolates below the ground surface passes
through the voids of the rocks and joins the water table.
 The water table is the upper limit of the zone of saturation
Occurrence of groundwater depends largely upon the type of
formation, and the geology of the area
Water storage capacity of the ground water is
dependent upon
 The porosity and permeability of the rocks
 The rate at which water is added to it by infiltration
 The rate at which water is lost from it
 The most common methods used in groundwater
exploration

 Study of any available geological maps and reports

 Study of topographical maps (e.g. 1: 50,000 scale)
 Examination of any existing wells
 Hydro geological survey
 Surface geophysical investigations (including electrical
resistivity, seismic refraction, well logging)
 Aerial photography and satellite imagery
 Test wells (drilling, pumping tests, geophysical logging)
 Ground water generally raised from aquifers by pumping in
the form of wells
 Common types of wells depending on the requirement, nature
of geological formations, methods of construction, etc., are:
 Dug wells (open wells)
 Infiltration well
 Bored/drilled well
a) Dug wells (open wells)
 Are shallow wells constructed by open excavation
 Should be sunk 7.5m below ground water table
 Water is lifted manually, if the yield is ample,
pumping may be necessary
b) Infiltration well
 In the banks of rivers, particularly sandy alluvial deposits
 The wells are connected by pipe lines to convey the pumped
water for further distribution.
c) Bored/drilled well
 In soils that are sufficiently stiff and cohesive to prevent
the serious caving
 Drilled by mechanical means (auger)
 These augers are useful for wells up to 15 cm in diameter
and depths 30 to 100 meters or more.
 Ground Water Yield Estimation Methods
The yield of a well depends upon
 water storage capacity of the aquifer
 Its hydraulic characteristics
 permeability
 porosity and
 transmissibility
The condition in which water is extracted through
penetration of
 Pervious layer is termed as unconfined aquifer
 Between two impervious layers is known as confined
aquifer
The velocity of the ground water approaching the well can be
determined by the Darcy’s equation.
V = KS where; V = face velocity of water entering into well
K = coeff. of permeability,
S = slope of the hydraulic gradient
Q = AV = AKS
Coefficient of permeability;- the rate of flow of water from an aquifer through a
unit cross sectional area, under a unit hydraulic gradient
he coefficient of permeability, k, cm/sec at temperature of 10oC
Flow type k-value Nature of soil
Good aquifer 10-3 – 102 Clean gravel, sand or mixture
Poor aquifer 10-7 -10-3 Fine sand, silt, mixture of
sand, silt & clay
Impervious 10-9 -10-7 un-weathered clays
Coefficient of transmissibility;-
The rate of flow of water through a vertical strip of aquifer
per unit width and full depth under a unit hydraulic
gradient

The coefficient of permeability, K, and coefficient of

transmissibility, T, can be correlated by;
T = Kd where; d = depth of aquifer
Unconfined aquifer:- the top most upper water bearing
stratum having no confined impermeable over burden
lying on it
Ground
surface
H = Depth of well in the
R R aquifer
h = Depth of well while
pumping
Drawdown
curve R = Radius of circle of
Drawdown influence
(H-h) Cone of r = Radius of well
H depression
P = any point on the
Depth of water y drawdown curve with co-
while pumping h x ordinates x and y, with
center of the bottom of
r the well as origin

The line of contact of the cone of depression with the

static water table is known as “circle of influence”. 74

Confined aquifer;- this is an aquifer confined on its
upper and under surface by impervious rock
formations.

76


77
 Example
1. Calculate the discharge of a tube well of diameter 80cm in
cubic meter per day. The thickness of water bearing strata
and drawdown are 10m and 4m respectively. Assume the
radius circle of influence as 30m and permeability constant
as 20 m3/day/unit area
2 2

Q  1.36 K
H h 

log( R / r ) = 928m3/day
 Example 2
2. A pumping test was carried out on a 15 cm diameter well and
the following observations were made:
 Radius of influence 96m
 Depth of water strara is 45 m.

 The drawdown observed in the wells during pumping is 5m

Coefficient of permeability is K = 5.0x10

-4 m/sec

Determine the discharge of GW

 Example 3

3. A 30 cm, gravity well is being pumped at the rate of

1350lpm. Measurements are made in nearby test wells at
the same time are as follows;
 drawdown at 6m away = 4.5m

 drawdown at 30m away = 0.9m

 distance of the groundwater table above bottom of

the well = 75m

 Determine; the drawdown in the well
 Solution;-

Q = 1350lpm = 1350*60/1000 = 0.0225 m3/sec

2 2 2 2

0.0225 = 75  70.5  1.36 K

75 70.5

Log R / 6 
 1.36 K
Log R / r 

2 2

Again, 0.0225 = 1.36 K

75  74.5
 R 
Log  
 30 

By solving (1) and (2), we get R = 46m and

then K = 0.00003
Now, Q= 0.0225, R = 46m and r = 0.15m  h = 62m
Drawdown in the Well will be 75-62 = 13m
81
4. A pumping test was carried out on a 15 cm diameter well
and the following observations were made:
i) Rate of pumping 230l/s
ii) Depth of water in the well before pumping is 45 m.
iii) The drawdown observed in the neighbouring wells
during pumping:
- 1.5 m in a well at a distance of 30 cm
- 0.5 m in a well at a distance of 60 cm
Find out
(i) the radius of circle of influence
(ii) the coefficient of permeability
 A fully penetrating well of diameter 0.4 is abstracting water
from 2.5m thick confined aquifer. The steady state draw
downs at 8m and 50m were observed to be 2.5m and 0.6m
respectively. Compute the steady state discharge from the
well. The coefficient of permeability is 10-3m/s . Aso
determine the drawdown in the well
Solution;-

Q  2.73tK
H  h
log( R / r )

2.5 0.6
Q  2.73Kt  2.73Kt
log( R / 8) Solving R = 90m
log( R / 50)
2.5
3 3
Q  2.73* 10 * 2.5 *  0.0162m /sec
log(90/8)
Again, H-h
3
0.0162  2.73* * 2.5 *
10
log(90/0.2)
Or, Drawdown in the well = (H-h) = 6.29m 85
 Ex
A pumping test was carried out on a 30 cm diameter well and the
following observations were made:
(i) Rate of pumping 860l/s

(ii) Depth of water in the well before pumping is 90 m.

The drawdown observed in the neighbouring well during pumping:

 6m in a well at a distance of 50m
 0.6m in a well at a distance of 100m
 Determine
a) The radius of circle of influence
b) the coefficient of permeability
c) Drawdown in the Well
 Spring Water
 Springs are found mainly in mountainous or hilly ter-rain.
 A spring found in a place where a natural outflow of
groundwater occurs
 In general, spring water is of good quality. But it may have
Pathogenic contamination
 The water may emerge either in the open as a spring, or
invisibly as an outflow into a river, stream, lake or the sea
 key signs of a good spring is

 The water maintains a constant temperature

throughout the day

 should also be colourless
Identification of spring source
 Local people----Primary source

 green vegetation in a dry area may also be an indication of

a spring source.
The spring water quantity
 Yield is studied in terms of flow rate and consistency
 If the ratio between the highest yield in the rainy season and
the yield in the dry season is below 20, then the spring has
an acceptable consistency and can be regarded as a reliable
source in both wet and dry seasons.
 The yield is highly influenced by the water storage capacity
of the aquifer.
 Surface Water Sources
 Surface sources are those sources of water in which the
water flows over the surface of the earth and it is thus
directly available for water supplies
The important sources of Surface water are:
a) Ponds and lakes
b) Streams and rivers
c) impounding reservoirs
 Actually, rainfall is the primary source of all water

 However, the rainfall is not constant at all places and its

variation depends upon the altitude of the place