Challenges in Safe Drinking Water Supply for Rural

Households in India through Village Distribution

Systems Feed from Bulk Water Supply
B. Rajeshwar Rao
Dy. Executive Engineer, Rural Water Supply & Sanitation, O/o E-N-C.R.W.S.S. Hyderabad,
Telangana State. (Phone no: +919346761373) Email ID: rajeshwardesigns@gmail.com
Abstract This paper is to express a few solutions in brief; the TASKS that are facing to
Provide Safe Drinking Water Supply for Rural Households in India through village
Elevated Service Reservoirs feed from long sustainable bulk water supply Transmission
Networks. In Rural India the general practices of Drinking water supply systems, the water
is collected to an Elevated storage tank directly by available clear water provision of
pumping/gravity from Bulk Water Supply then the stored water is distributed by gravity
from the tank to the households at the peak demand periods only thus intermittent supply
takes place which leads clear water contamination and improper distribution etc., The
Technical Parameters has to be revised appropriately to overcome the Constraints in Rural
Areas in Indian Socio-Economical Environments for providing safe Drinking water supply
systems (24x7).
Index Terms Safe Drinking Water, Distribution System (DNS), Transmission System,
Bulk Water Supply, Constraints in Rural Areas, Peak day demand, Peak hourly demand,
Control Water Tariff

I. INTRODUCTION:
In many places of INDIA, the water supply systems flow patterns are not similar to the systems which are
adopting in developed countries.
1. In general, the 24X7 systems, the water is pumped continuously (24X7) to a distribution pipe network with
average discharges, then reaches to consumers directly for instant use and during lesser demand periods (in
nights) the pumped surplus water in the DNS causes to rise the system pressure then the surplus water moved
to an elevated storage tank (floating on DNS) and thus water balancing takes place from both the ways to
meet the peak hour demands by the DNS, without drop in required residual heads.
2. This type of 24X7 direct pumping system depends on clear water availability by (24X7), power supply by
24X7, systematic users (habituated to 24X7 system that not to collect water for storage of entire day
demands) and appropriate system designs to suit all the situations.
3. In Rural India, the general practices of Drinking Water Supply (DWS) systems, the water is collected to an
Elevated storage tank directly by available clear water provision of pumping/gravity then the stored water is
distributed by gravity from the tank to the consumers through the DNS at the peak demand periods only thus
intermittent supply takes place which leads clear water contamination and improper distribution etc.,
4. To Provide Safe & Adequate Water readily and conveniently Accessible by users at all times (i.e. during
all seasons round the clock) and in all situations (at the peak demand requirements i.e. occasions of festival
days /Sundays), in Rural Areas in Indian Socio-Economical Environments involves the certain following
Technical Constraints to face.
A. Technical Constraints:
1. Improper adoption of the sufficient design per capita day demand (LPCD).
Uncontrolled withdrawal of water through 15mm size service pipelines in absence of water meters with
controlled water tariff plans.
2. Collection of water by individual households (HH) for entire day demands at once for Storage instead of
instant use through in house taps for Bath & kitchen uses.
3. As per the existing unreliable water supply in Quality &Quantity and timings, the consumers confidential
levels and mindsets have been disturbed
4. Improper assessment of sufficient storage capacity of village service reservoirs for peak hour demands.

5. Non availability of quality Power Supply by 24X7.

6. Non availability of Bulk Water Supply by 24X7 due to improper Network Design for simultaneous filling
of village tanks.
7. Improper assessment of sufficient peak hour design demands for the pipe line designs for internal village
Distributions.
8. Improper assessment of sufficient peak day design demands for designs of the pipe lines from the long
sustainable Bulk water supply systems.
9. Improper adoption of sufficient storage capacity of Balancing Reservoirs for Bulk Water Supply.
10. In-absences of R&D for Updated Methods for planning of Appropriate Systems for O&M feasibility.
11. There is much importance to establish the systems in Rural Areas for reduced cost rather than results.
II. TECHNICAL PARAMETERS:
The Technical Parameters has to be revised to overcome the Constraints for safe Drinking water supply
systems (24x7): To Provide Safe & adequate water readily and conveniently accessible by users at all times
[1] (i.e. during all seasons round the clock) in all situations (at the peak demand requirement i.e. during
occasions, festival days /Sundays requirements).
A.The Distribution system :

The Distribution system is to be designed as continuous (24x7) systems, for peak hour flow with sufficient residual
heads based on socio-economic environmental conditions of Rural Habitants for direct use through HH connections. And
to build up their confidence with establishment of most reliable systems for safe water availability at all times and
educating them by IEC (Information Education & Communication) activities such that do not collect water at once to
store water in individual houses for use of entire day demand.
For the design of the distribution systems (DNS), suitable to the peak hourly demands (PD), the peak factor (PF) has to
be revised appropriately for maintaining the minimum residual heads at peak hour demands for applicable to Developing
countries like INDIA. The peak factor (PF) for the Developed Countries are nearly fixed (2 to 3) as utilizing the systems
by so many decades onwards the Peak Hourly Demands are stabilized w. r. to stakeholders practices for 24X7 systems.
But it is not just similar for Developing countries and involves so many parameters and increases the PF in many folds to
overcome the hurdles for the target of safe water systems (24X7).
B.Peak hourly demand :
The expected peak factors for peak hour discharge for design of Main pipe lines for Distribution systems are given in
TABLE I and a peak factor 6 to 8 may suitable for normal demands for big villages (>5000 population).
TABLE I. PEAK FACTOR FOR PEAK HOURLY DEMANDS FOR D ISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS DESIGNS
Peak Factor Peak hourly Demands for Distribution Mains for 1

population command
by each DNS

200 LPCD

165 LPCD

135 LPCD

100 LPCD

70 LPCD

P.F. for
Laterals

< 2000

12

12

24

24

2,000-5,000

24

24

5,000-10,000

16

24

10,000-50,000

16

24

> 50,000

12

24

sl no

1(Sustainable

24X7 supply may be possible for >=100 LPCD)

C. The storage capacity of service reservoir:

The storage capacity of service reservoir, depends on the rate of supply to village tanks, type of supply to
village tanks and Mode of supply of village tanks, Such that the Elevated Service Reservoirs like
ESRs/OHSRs, GLSRs are to be designed to cater for at least to store one additional day water requirements,
the storage capacity should be 1.5 to 2 times of average daily demand to cater even if there is any break
downs in transmission system to reach safe bulk water to villages.

D. Bulk Water Supply:

1. Transmission system in rural areas, as little population and scattered located areas leads low velocities than
recommended self-cleaning velocities (0.6 m/sec). Hence system may not run with quality water and
simultaneous filling of the storage reservoirs in all villages may not possible. To overcome the problem the
gravity transmission pipe line system has to be designed for maximum of net 16 hours to cater even if there is
any break downs in transmission system to reach safe bulk water quickly to villages.
2. And the systems for specific case, even for 8 hours (peak factor of 3) may be optimum solution for certain
very less population zones with sufficient balancing reservoirs to avoid the emptying of the pipes too i.e. in
the case, minimum capacity of balance reservoir (2 to 3 hours of retention time is required).
Water transmission system to fill the village service reservoirs is optimum with respect to less discharge as
the village extent with lesser population density areas , scattered and not spread like towns and located far
away between the villages, hence lot of pressure drop in inevitable smaller diameter pipes (as velocity normal
minimum 0.6 m/sec) for recommended self-cleaning velocities ,hence increase of discharge by increasing the
design per capita demand or designed for reduced operating hours is an optimum solution for transmission
gravity main networks for feeding the village service reservoirs.
3. Hence the Bulk Water Supply Transmission system has to be designed to their day demands in net 8 to 16
hours (peak factor 1.5 to 3) for 100 LPCD at service level. But the working pumps will be operated by 24X7
and number of operating pumps limited, according to the demands such that the Balancing Reservoirs should
neither empty nor overflows for continuous supply.
4. No residual heads required over discharging points (over MWL of Tanks), for balancing the flows for
design of Transmission system for simultaneous filling of all the tanks in the networks. The SCADA system
for controlling in rural backgrounds may not suitable for all situations but may be utilized for fine tuning
after the appropriate adoption of the self-control designs for pipe lines.
5. For maintaining the zero residual heads, over discharging points, each exit points ohsr/glsr/sump/bpt
connections with 2 contiguous pipe sizes are to be utilized in series by fractioning their lengths between the
JN & exit points to exhaust the total residual heads by frictional (+other) losses. This is an appropriate
method for design of gravity mains for continuous supply from OHBR for balancing the inflow &outflow for
maintaining initial HGL over the LWL of OHBR for system sustainability.
6. Velocity limitations in piped pressure flows (for Gravity Networks from MBRs) from the practical
observations, velocity range between 0.4m/s to 3.6m/s is observed satisfactory. The pipes higher velocities
may be utilized only for reducing the excess heads over the MWLs of tanks and the pipes with moderate
velocities (0.6m/s to 1.0m/s) utilized for general provisions according to pipe line terrain. But the pipe lines
should frequently scour for lesser than the self-cleansing velocities (0.6m/s). [2]
7. Design LPCD, are depends on provision of water meters with control tariffs plans.As uncontrolled
withdrawal of water through 15mm service pipelines leads intermittent supply with lesser design LPCD than
required LPCD to suit with the water tariff plans in actual implementation thus induces plenty problems and
obstructions, the system runs with very less reliability in water distribution then system will fails for proving
safe water supply. (In real grounds PF are 12 to 24 instead of 3 and the water carrying capacity of an
individual 15mm size taps are around 1300 LPH @ 6m residual heads which is more than one full day
demand, 500 liters for 5 members of one Household service connection for Rural Areas)
8. Design LPCD at service level, may be higher or lesser than the implemented tariff plan in realty. Hence a
little more design demand can be considered based on the proposed suitable reliability tariff plan. Design
LPCD also depends on culture, nature of habitations, depends upon social economic situation of villages, and
lot of uncertainties which may be common and depends on the system adoptability based on implementation
to cater the peak day demands (Sunday, village market day, wedding days etc.,) requires additional water.
9. For 24x7 water availability, the gravity pressurized systems, design from village water tank with sufficient
design LPCD (for >=100) based on adoptable water tariff plan and with 1.5 to 2 times of average daily
demand for storage of elevated service reservoirs at villages is for better reliability and also suitable for the
setup with one peak day demand storage sump combined with at least day peak demand storage for
elevated reservoir for big villages (>5000 populations) with 24x7 provisions for water & power supply.
10. Peak day demand: Transmission system for village tanks, in flows from Bulk Water Supply may break
down by 24 hours from the transmission system. Hence Pipe lines designed for peak day demand, (peak
factor 1.5 for net 16 operating hours for average day demands) for major trunks and the secondary networks
for very small villages designed for peak factor of 4 to 2 and based on the power supply interruptions and
gravity network feasibility for minimum self-cleaning velocity correspondingly reduce the design operating
pumps/hours <16 i.e., for small isolated zone of villages with less population and for scattered located.

11. Balancing Reservoirs for Bulk Water Supply (OHBR): Generally, capacity is for 1 to 3 hours retention
time, and also with sufficient storage capacity that balances the inflow and out flows.
12. Break Pressure Tanks (BPT): The group of small villages in low laying areas may be isolated from the
main trunk by putting BPTs (with 25% to 100% daily demand storage capacity) are good option for pipe
lines with little more diameters keeping for self-cleaning velocity for filling in reduced hours from BPT
(BPT can be utilized as service reservoir for a group of small villages).
13. Pumping Mains: Pumping in pipeline networks for more than 2 discharge locations may not suitable for
account of water hammer variations increments for alternate filling in operation and maintenance.
14. Distribution system: Peak hourly demand peak factor 6 to 8 used in normal demands for big villages
(>5000 population) and situations possibility in water supply 24x7. But due to sudden hike in the village
demand by more than the said peak hourly demands for unwanted breakdown situations for village inflows,
the peak hourly demand may rise 12 to 24 times the average hourly demand. Thus leads low pressure zones
may be possible.
15. Hence it is better to design the distribution system for peak factor of 12 for rural areas even it designed
for 24x7 system with 1.5 to 2 times average daily demand elevated storage capacity (or combined capacity of
sump plus ohsr ) to overcome all the above problems to increase reliability of safe water supply (24X7).
16. Minimum Residual Heads for DNS, +7 m on ferrule point for rural areas anywhere in the village.
Models given in Fig. 1 & Fig. 2 are suitable for rural areas with Bulk water supply with 100 LPCD @
Service Level.
17. Water meter with control tariff: it is very important constraints. The usage and wastage will not be
curtailed without use of water meters by controlled tariffs. The service lines are even minimum 15mm
diameter pipes water discharges through them are abnormal and cannot be controlled by self. Hence water
meters should be provided with control tariffs.
18. Based on the controlled water tariff system, the design per capita demand for the system will be
dependent on the type of tariff plan adopted. For 100 LPCD @ service level as design discharge for
distribution system in rural areas, as follows,
a. Up to 55 LPCD (8kL) monthly consumption is free for all, Rs30/- per month each HH service charges,
b. From55 to 70 LPCD (10kL) with moderate O&M charges (rate Rs 10/kL) + 30/= 50/- max. per month
c. From 70 to 100 LPCD (15kL) consumption with 2 times of O&M charges =150/- max. per month.
d. From 100 to 135 LPCD (20kL) consumption with 4 times of O&M charges =350/-.max. per month
e. From 135 to 150 LPCD (25kL) consumption with 8 times of O&M charges =750/-.max. per month
Note: Linear interpolation for medium consumptions between Tariff Levels.
If > 150 LPCD (>25kL) consumption may proposed for disconnection of Household connection and all deposits forfeited
even after two months if reading exceeds 25kL monthly consumption.

III. CONCLUSIONS
1. In Rural India the general practices of Drinking water supply systems, the water is collected to an Elevated
storage tank directly by available clear water provision of pumping/gravity from Bulk Water Supply then the
stored water is distributed by gravity from the tank to the consumers at the peak demand periods only thus
intermittent supply takes place which leads clear water contamination and improper distribution etc.,
2. The Technical Parameters has to be revised appropriately to overcome the Constraints in Rural Areas in
Indian Socio-Economical Environments for providing safe Drinking water supply systems (24x7) feed by
bulk water supply through the Transmission System Networks.
3. The design parameters for hydraulic components with enough cushioning to accommodate the Factor of
Safety for assured safe DWS availability by 24X7 under all the circumstances.
4. Distribution system: pipelines designed for peak hourly demands, peak factor may vary between 6 to 8 for
the 24x7 systems but 12 may be considered for rural areas to safeguard the residual heads at tail end points
even in worst situations of certain unwanted demand and supply fluctuations to avoid the intermittent supply.
5. The continuous direct pumping model utility, which used for the Developed Countries, may not work in
reality for Rural India based on socio-economic environmental conditions and unreliable quality Power
Supply by 24X7 in village backgrounds.
6. The peak factor for hourly demands ,is depends on so many parameters in rural areas with limited
resources and lack of much importance for public health ,leads other than technical hurdles too and creates
the abnormal situations to succeed the safe drinking water supply systems (24X7).
7. The expected peak factors, for peak hour discharge for design of Main pipe lines for Distribution Systems
(DNS) are given in TABLE I, may be applicable for Rural Areas by provision of Water Meters with

implementation of affordable control Water TARIFF PLANS (Given in previous Paras, based on socioeconomic status expected for 2020 year for people conditionings in TELANGANA STATE in INDIA) with
150% to 200% average day demand storage at Elevated Service Reservoir (or combined capacity with
Ground Level Storage tanks) with minimum of 1.5 Peak Factor for Transmission System (TS) from bulk
water supply for inflow to reservoirs.
8. Models for 24X7 systems for Indian Rural Environments, given in Fig. 1 & Fig. 2 are suitable and
adoptable for design demands not less than 100 LPCD @ service level. The total losses etc., up to 30% may
be considered for UFW for the system reliability for entire 30 years design period, as the long bulk water
Transmission with higher pressures & for uncontrolled losses in Rural Distribution Systems.
9. Transmission System: pipeline designed for peak day demand, (peak factor 1.5 for net 16 operating hours)
for major trunks and the secondary networks for very small villages designed for peak factor of 4 to 2 and
based on the power supply interruptions and gravity network feasibility for minimum self-cleaning velocity
correspondingly reduce the design operating hours <16 i.e., for small isolated zone of villages with less
population and for scattered located. The number of operating pumps (run by 24X7) should be limited
accordingly from flow fluctuations in Balancing Reservoirs based on real demands.
10. Design capacity of elevated service reservoir at village level: elevated service reservoir designed for peak
day demand and 1.5 to 2 times of average daily demand whichever is higher for standby provision for
reliability supply in un-tear situation breaks from Bulk water supply.
11. The rural habitants are not systematic for use of safe water, at present their mindsets are disturbed with
the existing unreliable water supply systems that they are eagerly awaiting for water and try to collecting the
total full day demands at once for storage in their houses instead of direct use for instant needs. The planning
of Safe Drinking Water Supply Systems at lesser costs may not fulfill the goals in reality with the present
unfeasible Rural Socio-Economic Environments. The systems with insufficient provisions may leads to fail
the purpose of rural habitants as they are at the initial stage to change for up-gradations.
12. The provision of Design Parameters for all the units planned collectively with enough cushioning for
more reliable with respect to the actual system operational rural environments for providing the safe Drinking
Water Supply Systems.

Q peak flow =PF*Q avg. flow

(1)

PEAK DAY FULL

ESR capacity.
FOR 24X7 SYSTEM
In flow
Bulk Supply

P.F >=1.5

Out flow
P.F=6 to12
village DNS
Fig. 1. A Village System with Bulk Water Supply from Sub GRID

Note 1.Storage tanks with full of Peak Day Demands

Note 2.Pipe lines to be designed for individual Peak Factors as mentioned.

Qpeak flow =PF*Qavg.flow,

to full PEAK DAY
ESR capacity.
FOR 24X7 SYSTEM
Inflow from
Village SUMP
P.F >=1.5
P.F>=4
In flow Supply
BULK WATER village SUMP

P.F =6 TO 12

out flow village DNS

Fig. 2 -A Village System with Bulk Water Supply from Sub GRID with isolated SUMP

Note 1.Storage tanks with to full Peak Day Demands in total.

Note 2.Pipe lines to be designed for individual Peak Factors as mentioned.
Note 3.For Individual (Water Treatment Plant) WTP, Big Villages in place of sump replaced by WTP.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I am very grateful to Sri Dr.Rajesh Gupta, Professor of V.N.I.T. Nagpur., and Sri. G.Krishna Murthy, Retd.
Engineer-In-Chief Panchayati Raj ,Hyderabad, Sri.B.Surender Reddy, the Engineer-In-Chief Rural Water
Supply ,Hyderabad, Sri.V Prabhakar Rao ,Retd. Superintending Engineer P.R.RWS, Sri Dr. D.M.Mohan ,
Retd. Chief Engineer, HMWS &SB Hyderabad., Shri D Hanumantha Chary Retd. Dy.Chief Engineer
HMWS &SB Hyderabad. And all RWS & PRED Engineers for their motivation & cooperation, useful
discussions from time to time enabled me to write this paper.
REFERENCES
[1] NRDWP Guide lines -2013 for Rural Areas from Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Govt of India
[2] CPHEEO Manual for Water Supply & Treatments from Ministry of Urban Development, Govt of India