DRINKING WATER SUPPLY FOR RURAL

POPULATION OF EASTERN
TUCUMAN, ARGENTINA (CS #437)
by: Leandro raul diaz, Universidad Nacional de Tucuman
DESCRIPTION
The Eastern area of Tucuman province
was faced to significant problems of
“unsafe water” and inappropriate
drinking water supply system. The
shallow wells are contaminated by
arsenic and other harmful pollutants .
Several studies were conducted to
solve the problem of insufficient
drinking water supply mainly in small
rural communities.
This area, from the social and economic point of view,
presents lower indicators than the province average,
being the region’s departments (Administrative divisions)
the most deserted and with a population with unsatisfied
basic needs indices (UBN)1 greater than the provinces’
media.
Specifically, small rural communities and areas of
scattered population rely on self-supply drinking water
systems with shallow individual wells. Some communities
have collective drinking water supply infrastructure in
place. The main detected problems are the water uptake
through shallow, vulnerable and polluted profiles (up to
30 m) and the existence of variable flows with the
presence of incompatible elements, both organic and
inorganic (arsenic), for drinking water and without the
adequate treatment for its use.
ACTION TAKEN
The provincial government invited the National University of Tucuman to develop a
feasibility study and technical projects for a community of 25,000 inhabitants. The
University involved lectures, researchers and students to develop this complex
project. It was essential that IWRM aspects were employed: the interdisciplinary
approach given to the study, analyzing the water resource available, its demand
and the evaluation of the best economic and technical alternatives. The project
team conducted a complex study including technical solutions, institutional
arrangements of future water supply operation. Both ground and surface water
resources were assessed to be used for drinking water purposes. The technical and
financial justification favored the ground water sources. The outcomes of the
project contain also non-structural proposals targeting to endow sustainability to
the solutions (creation of Cooperatives to manage the services) involving the
services users in their management
 The water obtained in this
environment is in general of
good quality, with an
increase in salt content to
the East, as well as arsenic
content in most superficial
levels, generally at about 30
m depth.
The typology of the geological profile,
the topography, the rain regimen, the
permeability conditions, the aquifers
vulnerability index and the human
burden play an important role in the type
of resource to use, whether it is ground
or surface water.
The conclusions indicated that the
groundwater sources are not uniformly
distributed, but appear in deposits of
more or less abundance according to the
profiles of the sedimentary package.
ALTERNATIVES EVALUATION
WARTER SOURCES SURFACE WATER GROUNDWATER
Seasonal Seasonal variation: Flows with great Constant: Slight variations occur by the lack of
features seasonal variations depending on the aquifers recharge in the winter season.
registered rain amount.
Regional Location Not coincident: in the plain area, in the East Coincident: the East of the province is the area
of Tucumán, there aren´t permanent with the best deep aquifers development that
surface water riverbeds. can be beneficial for perforations.
Vicinity to population Far away from population: The water According to convenience: the perforation
course requires conduits and pumping may be almost always performed where
works, in order to be able to perform the convenient, in order to construct less
supply. distribution nets, handle pressures and use
existing power lines.
Contamination Risk High: sensitive of being easily Low: the groundwater abstraction is
contaminated, especially in rivers of great performed from deep aquifers that according
length that flowthrough industrialized or to the performed vulnerability analysis have a
populated areas. performed low vulnerability index.
 Maintenance High: The abstractions are located in Low: the elements for the normal operation
seasonal rivers with great energy demand are held stable. Although pumping
in summers. This generates a high risk of equipment problems may appeared, nor is
partial or total destruction the the infrastructure neither the perforation
infrastructure and permanent destroyed.
reconstruction during the rainy season.

Specialized No: Although a constant maintenance is No: the operation of the pumping equipment
conduction manpower required, the staff work is limited to with submersible pumps implies counting
maintain the infrastructure or control the with some basic electricity and hydraulics
water entrance by opening or closing the knowledge whereby trained staff is
gates. necessary.

Electric Energy Relative: if surface abstraction can be built Constant: the power to feed an electric pump
Demand with a dominant level, the gravity is needed according to the well parameters
distribution can be performed, otherwise and the distribution net features.
pressurized pumping is required.
Complementary Higher size: border enclosures, gates, Reduced size: a perforation, with its head,
Facilities blasters and treatment plants that need command box and elevated tank can be built
greater surface are required. Not always with ease in 10 x 15 m terrains, which are
there is land available. easily obtained either by donations or by
locations within public spaces.

General • An adequate quality control for its • Specific knowledge of the quantity and
Conclusions seasonal variability must be taken into quality of drinking water in the different
consideration. reservoirs is obtained.
• The treatment system must be • The depth of wells, quality of the aquifers
dimensioned taking into account the and a good execution of wells is
most critical months that makes the important.
work expensive.
TECHNICAL DESIGN

The technical report was arranged with the provincial government and
included the application standards, design horizon, calculation methodology,
parameters to be adopted, calculation tools, results to be presented, reference
system of maps, their content and nomenclature to be used, price analysis
format and its content, budget, work schedule and investment phases.

Several activities were performed to be included into a technical report:

• A filed trip and consultation with local administration.
• Visual survey of the current situation and topographic altimetry study with
the latest GPS technology.
TECHNICAL DESIGN

• Compilation and systematization of the gathered and province supplied information.

Preliminary analysis.
• Particular information survey for the project through survey instrumentation in 39
locations. Socio-demographic and socioeconomic population aspects and dwelling features
were surveyed.
• Results analysis and demographic growth projections elaboration.
• Calculation of the future demand based upon population studies, endowment and agreed
calculation coefficients.
• Calculation and design of complete services projects following the agreed technical
parameters.
• Budgeting of the project according to province financial guidelines.
• Technical and graphical documentation elaboration
LEARNED LESSONS
The main lessons are related with the need to develop Water Resources (WR) policies designed to
optimize the resource utilization, and that while developing a sectoral approach, this matter doesn´t
leave aside the IWRM nor waste external funding sources opportunities (with a nonrefundable nature) in
conjunction with the local authorities contribution.
CASE IMPORTANCE FOR THE IWRM
In this case, two aspects which are normally not faced together but contrary are prioritized. On one hand,
the necessary studies to achieve the basic water resources knowledge in order to have reliable, systematic
and normalized information within the hydrological water cycle as well as the water quality and quantity
corresponding time-space distributions, for their utilization as a baseline for future studies. On the other
hand, the execution of specific projects to give solution to the health problems together with the future
sustainability of water services through the Civil Organized Society participation.
 WATER SUPPLY AND DISTRIBUTION
PROBLEMS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: A
CASE STUDY OF JIMETA-YOLA, NIGERIA
Abdullahi B. Mohammed1 and Abdulrahman A. Sahabo2
1&2Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Modibbo Adama University of Technology Yola, Nigeria
ABSTRACT

Provision of clean water has been a major challenge facing most of the urban
centers in developing countries, especially through pipe connection. This study
focuses on assessment of water supply and distribution system in JimetaYola
Nigeria, with the aim of providing strategies for improvement. The study
examined the supply as well as the distribution coverage in the area. Four
different datasets were used in the study area namely; street, existing pipeline
network, population and land use data. The area covered by the network was
delineated by digitizing the existing pipeline network on the street map using
ArcGIS 10.1. Proximity analysis was used to determine the network coverage
within the inhabited areas; problems associated with water supply and
distribution in the study and the consumers’ perception of the services provided
were examined using questionnaires. Recommendations were made to ensure
effective operation and maintenance of water supply and distribution system in
other to ensure total coverage.
METHODOLOGY

For the purpose of this study, four different datasets were used in the study area
namely; street, existing pipeline network, population and land use data.
Questionnaires were also administered. Street and land use data were generated
from Yola geodatabase using ArcGIS 10.1, existing pipeline network was
obtained from Adamawa state water board and population and household data
was obtained from the National Population Commission (NPC). In questionnaire
administration, stratified random sampling was used because of large
population. 50 respondents were selected at random from each of the 11 wards of
Jimeta, making a total of 550 questionnaires. Out of this number, 510
questionnaires were returned
DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

In analyzing the data collected, the existing water distribution network was
digitized on the street map using ArcGIS 10.1 to delineate the areas covered by the
network, since the network pipeline was laid along the roads. This will show
the areas being served by the network and the areas outside the network.
Proximity analysis was also carried out by overlaying the land use map on the
digitized existing distribution network, so as to determine the area of coverage
within the built up or inhibited areas in the study area.
Findings of this study includes; marital status, sex, occupation age and tenancy
status of respondents. Majority of the respondents were not connected to the
water distribution pipeline, only about 29% of the respondents have pipe
connection in their houses and that justifies the 30% pumping capacity of the water
facilities in the study area. And for that reason, those that were not connected
resorted to other sources where over 50% rely on water vendors for their daily
water need.
CONCLUSION

Most of the towns and cities in developing countries experience rapid urbanization
without corresponding expansion of facilities to cater for the increasing
population. Jimeta being the administrative capital of Adamawa state witnessed a
tremendous influx of people from all angles, and the water facilities were installed
about 40 years ago when Adamawa state was created. Thus, the facilities
have been over stretched and that led to acute shortage in supply, low quality of
water being distributed due to obsolete equipment at the treatment plant, as
well as rusted and broken pipes due to intermittent supply, as revealed by this
study. Therefore consumers tend to spend much in buying water from vendors or
travel some distances to fetch water.
RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations were made;
the government should set a sound policy as regards to water supply, and make
provision of safe water a priority. Making funds available for maintenance of
water facilities and equipment can do this. There is also the need for the
government to improve and establish an effective revenue collection process.
Pipeline should be connected to every single house and adequate record of
distribution network and house connection maps should be kept. The use of
meters should be introduced; installing meters in housed will solve most
problems of wastage and promote savings on the side of consumers
 CASE STUDY OF A WATER
DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM DESIGN
Dr. R. Bruce Robinson, Dr. Chris D. Cox The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
INTRODUCTION

 The objective of this paper is to describe a realistic design case study which is used
in a course required for Civil Engineering students at the University of Tennessee,
Knoxville. The class is a senior-level design-oriented class on water distribution
and wastewater collection systems. The case study focuses on a hydraulically
independent area of the Knoxville Utilities Board’s water distribution system. The
students analyze the hydraulics of the system including diurnal flow variations,
fire flows, pumps and storage tanks in order to identify deficiencies and
weaknesses of the system. They then propose and evaluate system
improvements and submit an engineering report. The paper will discuss the case
study’s organization, show the tools and data that the students use, and give
examples of their results
METHODOLOGY

 In this case study, students are required to:

1) analyze the system’s ability to meet the diurnal demands on peak day while still maintaining a
minimum pressure of 20 psi at all nodes
2) assess the system’s ability to meet reasonable fire flows
3) based on the analysis above, design and evaluate improvements to the system, e.g., replace or
provide additional pumps, build another storage tank, replace or supplement pipes in order make the
system adequate.
The students work in teams of up to 3 members. The students use EPANET 1 software, a public
domain program developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to analyze the
performance of the distribution system. EPANET is a sophisticated dynamic water distribution-
system model capable of simulating multiple pumps, multiple storage tanks, valves, and diurnal flow
variations. The model can produce several outputs including pressure contour maps and tables of pipe
flows, rates of head loss, and nodal pressures for any time.
 The first exercise the students complete is to assess the system’s adequacy
without a fire occurring.
 The students next consider a major fire at an assigned location in the system. The
students survey their assigned location by car to identify a building that would
make a good fire flow test.
 Based on their analyses, the students then decide what improvements to make to
the system and test them. They are usually able to increase several pipe
diameters, add an additional pump and storage tank to make the system work.
RESULTS

 Student responses have generally been enthusiastic. Some teams have taken the
project as a personal challenge and have spent upwards of 40 hours per team
member, although the average is less than 20 hours per team member. Overall,
the students enjoy working with the EPANET computer program, and appreciate
the realism of the case study. To quote one student, "I finally felt like an engineer.
 Although the case study has been successful and the students seem to learn much
from it, students tend to approach their design improvements by trial and error
without using the analytical skills that they learned earlier in the semester.
Specifically, they do not analyze the storage tanks to determine required volumes
for flow equalization and fire flow. They also tended not to look for pipes with
higher head loss/unit length as target pipes for upgrading, nor did they make
some simple single pipe line analyses to estimate how big pipes need to be.
 WATER DISTRIBUTION NETWORK
DESIGN AND ANALYSIS: A CASE STUDY
Bhavana Ajudiya, Sanjay Yadav and Prof B H Pandit
 ABSTRACT

 This paper concerns for the design of rural water distribution systems in developing countries.
Most of population of India is staying in rural area. At end of nineteen century community is not
getting water at their resident in the village. But water is basic need of human being and it is
directly effete on human health. Indian government is decided to provide safe, regular and
adequate water to the community at their resident. This paper is helpful to water supply
engineers are facing the problem of designing new distribution network in haphazard developed
rural area. For designing of best economical water distribution system LOOP version 4 heuristic
software is used with a case study. Design procedure satisfied all constraints with a minimum
total cost. The constraints include residual nodal pressure, velocity of flow in pipe, pipe material,
reservoir level, peak factor and available commercial pipe diameters. In investigation, it is found
that water distribution network cost occupied almost 70% of the total cost of water supply
system. Extensive research has been done to minimize cost through optimization in design of
water distribution network. In addition to the simulation tool, optimization techniques to
identify the least cost design of distribution systems, while achieving the most equitable
distribution of water have been developed.