CHAPTER VII RESERVOIRS AND DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

7.1 System of Supply Water may be supplied to the consumers by the following two systems: i. ii. Continuous System Intermittent System

7.1.1 Continuous System If water is supplied to the consumers for all 24 hours a day from a system of supply, it is called the continuous system. It is the best system and has following advantages and disadvantages: Advantages: 1. Water is available whenever needed; hence, there is no need of private storage tank. 2. No stagnant in the pipe at any instant; hence, fresh water is always available. 3. Adequate quantity of water is available at any time for fire fighting. Disadvantages: 1. More wastage of water if the people do not possess any civic sense and do not understand the importance of water. 2. If there is leakage in the system, large volume of water is wasted because of long duration of flow. 3. On repairing, supply may be interrupted during supply hours. 7.1.2 Intermittent System If water is supplied to the consumers only during fixed hours of a day from a system of supply, it is called the intermittent system. It is the most common system adopted in Nepal. The timings are fixed normally in the morning or evening. Timing may be changed to suit climatic and seasonal conditions. Advantages: 1. Useful when either sufficient pressure or quantity of water is not available at the source to meet the demand. 2. At various distribution zones of the city, water can be supplied by turn. 3. Repairing works can be done in non-supply hours. 4. Leakage in the system causes less wastage of water because of small durations of flow. Disadvantages: 1. Inconvenience to customers because they have to remain alert to collect the water during supply periods.

2. Requires domestic storage in small tanks in each house to use water for non-supply period. Consumers may not have sufficient storage, which may cause insanitary condition. 3. No water is available for fire fighting in non-supply hours and before the system is on, fire may cause huge damage. 4. During the non-supply time, taps left open unknowingly or due to negligence, which leads to more wastage of water. 5. Greater diameter of pipes is required because full day supply should be done in a short period. 6. During non-supply time, pressure in the line may fall below atmospheric pressure, which may induce suction of external maters and soil through leak joints. 7.2 Clear Water Reservoirs According to use, reservoirs may be classified into clear water reservoirs and service reservoirs or distribution reservoirs. Clear water reservoir is used to store the filtered water until it is pumped or conveyed into the service reservoirs for distribution. The minimum capacity must be 14 to 16 hours average daily flow and it should be divided into two or more compartments to enable repairing or cleaning. The reservoirs are generally built under ground or half below ground level and half above the ground level depending on site conditions and constructed with masonry or RCC. Hence, construction is similar to masonry or RCC reservoir. 7.3 Service Reservoirs 7.3.1 Purpose and Construction It is used to store the filtered water from clear water reservoir and constructed before distribution system. It is constructed with masonry and RCC. Elevated types are also popular. These service reservoirs should be designed for balancing storage, breakdown storage and fire storage. Purpose: i. ii. iii. To absorb the hourly variations in demand. To maintain constant pressure in the distribution mains. Water stored can be supplied during emergencies.

Location and Height of Distribution Reservoirs: Should be located as close as possible to the centre of demand. Water level in the reservoir must be at a sufficient elevation to permit gravity flow at an adequate pressure.

Types of Reservoirs: i. ii. iii. iv. Underground reservoirs Small ground level reservoirs Large ground level reservoirs Overhead tanks

Storage Capacity of Distribution Reservoirs The total storage capacity of a distribution reservoir is the summation of: i. Balancing Storage: The quantity of water required to be stored in the reservoir for equalising or balancing fluctuating demand against constant supply is known as the balancing storage (or equalising or operating storage). The balance storage can be worked out by mass curve method or analytical method.

Mass Curve Method: A mass diagram is the plot of accumulated inflow (i.e. supply) or outflow (i.e. demand) versus time. The mass curve of supply (i.e. supply line) is, therefore, first drawn and is superimposed by the demand curve. The procedure to construct such diagram is as follows: From the past records, determine the hourly demand for all 24 hours for typical days (maximum, average and minimum). Calculate and plot the cumulative demand against time, and thus plot the mass curve of demand. Read the storage required as the sum of the two maximum ordinates between demand and supply line as shown in fig. Repeat the procedure for all the typical days (maximum, average and minimum), and determine the maximum storage required for the worst day.

Analytical Method: Calculate the cumulative hourly demand and cumulative hourly supply for 24 hours in tabular form. Find the hourly excess of demand (deficit), excess of supply (surplus), total demand (TD) and total supply (TS). Then note the maximum cumulative surplus (MCS) and maximum cumulative deficit (MCD). Then the capacity of balancing reservoir (CBR) is given by: If TS > TD, CBR = MCS + MCD TS + TD and If TS TD, CBR = MCS + MCD ii. Breakdown Storage: The breakdown storage or often called emergency storage is the storage preserved in order to tide over the emergencies posed by the failure of pumps, electricity, or any other mechanism driving the pumps. A value of about 25% of the total storage capacity of reservoirs, or 1.5 to 2 times of the average hourly supply, may be considered as enough provision for accounting this storage. Fire Storage: The third component of the total reservoir storage is the fire storage. This provision takes care of the requirements of water for extinguishing fires. A provision of 1 to 4 per person per day is sufficient to meet the requirement.

iii.

The total reservoir storage can finally be worked out by adding all the three storages.

7.3.2 Types of Service Reservoirs i. ii. iii. Surface Reservoirs Elevated Reservoirs Stand Pipes

Surface reservoirs are made mostly of masonry or concrete. Common practice is to line surface reservoirs with concrete, gunite, asphalt or asphaltic membrane to check leakage of water. Sometimes, these reservoirs may be built underground, especially when they are of large size, and a park may be constructed on its top. Surface reservoirs should be located at high points in the distribution system, so that gravity supply can be done directly. In some cases however, pumps are used to pump water, from the clear water storage surface reservoir to the elevated distribution reservoir. Elevated reservoirs are constructed at an elevation from the ground level and made of RCC or steel. These are also called overhead tanks and the shapes may be circular, rectangular, egg shaped, spherical, elliptical, etc. Any elevated reservoir consists of inlet, outlet, overflow for water; ladder for accessibility, manhole for inspection, ventilator for air circulation, a water level indicator and a lightening rod. Standpipe is also an elevated reservoir usually constructed of steel (sometimes RCC), circular in plan and up to 15 to 30 metres high. The main function of standpipe is to increase pressure in the distribution system by creating extra storage in the tank above the elevation required to give the necessary pressure for distribution. The diameter of these tanks varies from 10 to 15 m. The volume of water stored in the tank above the entrance of the outlet pipe can be used and hence it is the useful storage of standpipe. 7.5 Layout of Distribution System The purpose of distribution system is to deliver water to consumer with appropriate quality, quantity and pressure. Distribution system is used to describe collectively the facilities used to supply water from its source to the point of usage. Requirements of Good Distribution System 1. Water quality should not get deteriorated in the distribution pipes. 2. It should be capable of supplying water at all the intended places with sufficient pressure head. 3. It should be capable of supplying the requisite amount of water during fire fighting. 4. The layout should be such that no consumer would be without water supply, during the repair of any section of the system. 5. All the distribution pipes should be preferably laid one metre away or above the sewer lines. 6. It should be fairly water-tight as to keep losses due to leakage to the minimum. Layouts of Distribution Network The distribution pipes are generally laid below the road pavements, and as such their layouts generally follow the layouts of roads. There are, in general, four different types of pipe networks; any one of which either singly or in combinations, can be used for a particular place.

7.5.1 Tree System/Dead End System

In this system, one main pipeline through the centre of the area to be served and from both sides of the main, the sub-mains takes off. The sub-mains are further divided into several branches from which service connections are given to the consumers. It is suitable for old towns and cities having no definite pattern of roads. Advantages: a. b. c. d. Relatively cheap. Determination of discharges and pressure easier due to less number of valves. Pipe lying is very simple. Pipes are designed only for population likely to be served by them.

Disadvantages: a. Due to many dead ends, stagnation of water occurs in pipes. b. The water available for fire fighting is low because supply can neither be increased not be diverted. c. Many scour valves are required and less successful in maintaining satisfactory pressure in the far areas. 7.5.2 Grid Iron System One main pipeline through the centre of the are to be served and from both sides of the main, the sub-mains are take off in perpendicular direction; then, branch lines inter connect all submains so that water can be circulated through the entire distribution system. It is suitable for cities with rectangular layout, where the water mains and branches are laid in rectangles.

Advantages: a. Water is kept in good circulation due to the absence of dead ends. b. In the cases of a breakdown in some section, water is available from some other direction. c. Fire fighting water can be made easily available by diverting water from the other sections to the affected area using valves. Disadvantages: a. Exact calculation of sizes of pipes is not possible due to provision of valves on all branches. b. More number of cutoff valves and longer length of pipers are required. c. Overall cost is high. 7.5.3 Ring System

The supply main is laid along the peripheral roads and sub mains branch out from the mains. Thus, this system also follows the grid iron system with the flow pattern similar in character to that of dead end system. So, determination of the size of pipes is easy. Advantage: Water can be supplied to any point from at least two directions. Suitable for cities having well planned roads and roads in circular or rectangular pattern. The length of main pipe is larger and hence, large quantity of water is available for fire fighting.

Other advantages and disadvantages are as same as in grid iron system. 7.5.4 Radial System

In this system, the area is divided into different zones. The water is pumped into the distribution reservoir kept in the middle of each zone and the supply pipes are laid radially ending towards the periphery. Advantages: 1. It gives quick service. 2. Calculation of pipe sizes is easy. 3. High pressure of distribution. Disadvantage: The major disadvantage of this system is that it requires more reservoirs. All other advantages and disadvantages are same as in grid iron system.

7.6 Design of Distribution System It consists of the design of the pipeline and its network adopted in the system. For design, the following points are considered: a. b. c. d. Type of flow (continuous or intermittent) Method of distribution (gravity or pumping) Probable future demand Life of pipes etc.

7.6.1 Pipe Hydraulics Hydraulic design of pipes is required to determine the size of the pipes between inlet and exit just to carry sufficient amount of water. For design of pipes, the following two basic equations of hydraulics are used: a. Continuity Equation b. Bernoullis Equation (Read descriptions on your own) HEAD LOSS IN PIPES: a. Major Loss Darcy Weisbach Formula, Mannings Formula, Hazen William Formula b. Minor Losses due to sudden enlargement, sudden contraction, at the entrance, at the exit, due to gradual enlargement or gradual contraction, at the bend, due to various pipe fittings (Read descriptions on your own) 7.6.2 Design Criteria 1. Discharge: Discharge should be sufficient to meet the future demand. Pipelines are designed for 2.5 to 3 times the average demand. Generally peak factor is taken as 3 to 4 in Nepal. 2. Pressure: Pipelines are designed for sufficient residual pressure so that it reaches to the desired height. The residual head for single storey is taken as 7 m, two storeys is 12 m and three storeys is 17 m and it shouldnt be greater than 22 m above the ground level. In rural areas of Nepal, the minimum available head should be 5 m above the public tap level. 3. Minimum size of pipes: The lower the diameter the head loss is greater. For population less than 20,000, minimum diameter of distribution pipe is 10 cm and for greater than 20,000, it is 15 cm. For dead end pipes, it is 10 cm, for distribution and service pipe 10 cm and 20 cm for house connections but for grid pipes and dead end pipes less than 10 cm may be used. 4. Velocity: If velocity is low, larger diameter pipes are required and problem of silting may occur. If velocity is high, cost becomes high in pumping and cost of pipes and fittings will increase to bear extra pressure. On the other hand, higher the velocity, smaller the diameter which leads to loss of energy. Hence, it shouldnt be too low and not too high. It is taken as 0.6 to 3 m/s in pumping and 0.6 to 1.5 m/s for gravity supply.

5. Gradient: No need of gradient in pressure flow pipes but pipes should be laid below the HGL. The gradient of HGL shows the residual head available at any selected point hence high slop of HGL means head loss is high. 7.6.3 Design Steps Survey and preparation of contour maps and plans Land between treatment plant and distribution area is surveyed and contour maps and plans showing the position of the roads, streets, lawns, parks, position of underground service lines are prepared and then studied. 2. Tentative layout The tentative layout of various zones are marked (includes tentative mains, sub mains, branches, valves, service reservoirs, etc.). 3. Calculation of discharge Based on population and type of distribution zone and fire demand. 4. Computation of pipe diameters Hazen-Williams Formula is common. Pipelines are designed for discharge of 2.25 to 3 times the average rate of demand. 5. Computation of available residual pressure head If the available residual head is lesser or too high, pipe size should be revised. 7.6.4 Hardy Cross Method Analysis of water distribution system includes determining quantities of flow and head losses in the various pipe lines, and resulting residual pressures. In any pipe network, the following two conditions must be satisfied: 1. The algebraic sum of pressure drops around a closed loop must be zero, i.e. there can be no discontinuity in pressure. 2. The flow entering a junction must be equal to the flow leaving that junction; i.e. the law of continuity must be satisfied. Based on these two basic principles, the pipe networks are generally solved by the methods of successive approximation. The widely used method of pipe network analysis is the HardyCross method. Hardy-Cross Method This method consists of assuming a distribution of flow in the network in such a way that the principle of continuity is satisfied at each junction. A correction to these assumed flows is then computed successively for each pipe loop in the network, until the correction is reduced to an acceptable magnitude. If Qa is the assumed flow and Q is the actual flow in the pipe, then the correction d is given by d=Q-Qa; or Q=Qa+d Now, expressing the head loss (HL) as HL=K.Qx 1.

We have the head loss in a pipe =K. (Qa+d) x =K. [Qax + x.Qax-1d + .........negligible terms] =K. [Qax + x.Qax-1d] Now, around a closed loop, the summation of head losses must be zero. SK. [Qax + x.Qax-1d] = 0 Or, SK.Qax = -SKx Qax-1d Since, d is the same for all the pipes of the considered loop; it can be taken out of the summation.
a x

= -d. SKx Qax-1

Or, d=-SK.Qax/ Sx.KQax-1 Since d is given the same sign (direction) in all pipes of the loop, the denominator of the above equation is taken as the absolute sum of the individual items in the summation. Hence, Or, d=-SK.Qax/ S l x.KQax-1 l Or, d=-SHL / x.S lHL/Qal Where HL is the head loss for assumed flow Qa. The numerator in the above equation is the algebraic sum of the head losses in the various pipes of the closed loop computed with assumed flow. Since the direction and magnitude of flow in these pipes is already assumed, their respective head losses with due regard to sign can be easily calculated after assuming their diameters. The absolute sum of respective KQax-1 or HL/Qa is then calculated. Finally the value of d is found out for each loop, and the assumed flows are corrected. Repeated adjustments are made until the desired accuracy is obtained. The value of x in Hardy- Cross method is assumed to be constant (i.e. 1.85 for Hazen-William's formula, and 2 for Darcy-Weisbach formula).