Chapter 1

Sources, Quantity and Quality of Water

Q. State the importance of Public Health Engineering with respect to water supply and
sanitation.
Ans: Public Health Engineering provides knowledge regarding,
 Providing treatment to raw water to make it fit for drinking.
 Storage and distribution of water
 Collection of all types of wastes.
 Treatment to wastes to make these safe for disposing in nature or for reuse.
 How to determine future population to workout water demand of the city.
Q. Draw the flow diagram of water supply scheme
Ans:

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Q. Enlist various surface and subsurface sources of water. OR Enlist any four sources of
water.
Ans:-I) surface sources of water:-
i) Ponds and lakes
ii) Streams and rivers
iii) Storage reservoirs and
iv) Oceans,
II) subsurface sources of water:-
i) Springs
ii) Infiltration galleries
iii) Infiltration wells and
iv) Wells and tube wells
Q. Define intake structure. List different types of intake and explain any one.
Ans: The structure which is constructed across the surface of water so as to permit the
withdrawal of water from the sources.
Types of intake structure
1. Canal intake
2. Reservoir intake
3. Lake intake
4. River intake
1) Canal intake: A canal intake consists of a pipe placed in a brick masonry chamber
constructed partly in the canal bank. On one side of the chamber, an opening is
provided with coarse screen for the entrance of water. The end of the pipe inside the
chamber is provided with a bell mouth fitted with a hemisphere fine screen. The
outlet pipe carries the water to the other side of the canal bank, from where it is taken
to treatment plants.

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 OR
2) Reservoir intake: Reservoir intake which is mostly used to draw water from earthen
dam reservoir. It consist of a intake tower constructed on the slope of the dam,
screens are provided to intake pipes and are controlled by sluice valve is provided to
control water flow. Water level in reservoir changes from time to time intake pipes
are provided at different levels.

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 OR
3) River intake: It is circular masonry tower well of 4 to 7 m diameters. It is
constructed along the river bank at place from where water can be drawn in
required quantity. The various river intakes are wet intake, dry intake and movable
intake.

Q. What do you mean by Rate of Demand ? List various types of water demand.
Ans: Rate of Demand: Rate of water to be supplied per head per day is known as rate of
demand. It is expressed in liters/person/day or liters / capital/ day.
Types of water demand
1. domestic demand
2. public demand
3. industrial, commercial, and institutional
4. fire demand
5. losses and wastes
Q. What is fire demand ? How it estimated?
Ans: Fire may break in any area at any time causing serious damage to the property and loss
of life, large quantity of water required for extinguishing fire known as fire demand.
Fire demand is calculated by following formulae
1. Kuchling’s formula Q = 3182 √𝑃

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 𝑃
2. Freeman’s formula Q = 1136.50 [ 5 + 10]

Where, Q= fire demand in lit/minute

P = Population in thousand
3. Buston’s formula
Q = 5663 √𝑃 litres
4. National board of fire under writer’s formula
Q = 4637 √𝑃 (1-0.01√𝑃) lit/min
Q. What are various types of water demand? Give there percentage in terms of total
demand?
Sr. Types of water Rate of water demand Percentage (%)
No. demand (lpcd)
1 Domestic demand 135 50%
2 Industrial demand 40 15
3 Public demand 25 9
4 Fire demand 15 6
5 Losses and wastes 55 20
Total 270 100
Q. State any four factors affecting rate of demand. Explain any one in detail.
Ans: Factors affecting rate of demand
1) Climate conditions: At the place where summers are very hot and dry, the
consumption of water is more. In summer domestic and public use increases as
compared to winter.
OR
2) Metering system: The quantity of water supplied to a building is recorded by water
meter and the consumer is then charged accordingly.
OR
3) Habits of people: it is depends upon the living standards of people and it are
varies from urban to rural areas.
OR
4) Quality of water: if the quality of water gets lowered then people will not use that
water and look for another source of water.
OR
5) Cost of water: cost at which water is supplied consumer may also affect the rate of
demand, higher the cost lower will be the demand.

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Q. Define design period. State factors affecting it.
Ans: The number of years for which design of water works have been done is known as
design period.
Factors affecting design period:-
1. Funds available for the completion of project
2. Anticipated expansion rate of town
3. Expected life of pipe and other structural material used in water supply scheme
4. Quantity of water available from the source
5. The rate of interest on loans taken for project.
6. Future population of city.
Q State the various methods of forecasting of population. Explain any one.
Ans: Methods of forecasting of population-
1. Arithmetic Increase method
2. Geometric Increase method
3. Incremental increase method
4. Decrease rate of growth method
5. Simple graphical method
6. Comparative graphical method
7. Master plan or zoning method
8. Logistic curve method
9. Apportionment method (National ratio)
1. Arithmetic Increase method-This method is based on the assumption that average rate
of increase in population from decade to decade is constant. From the previous census
data, increase in population between consecutive decades is found and from this average
increase per decade is worked out.
Pn = P + n.d
Where,
Pn = Future population after n decades
P = Present population
d = Average increase in population and
n= no. of decade
2. Incremental increase method – first the average of increase in population is calculated.

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 Then increase or decrease in population change for each decade is found out and from
these average incremental increase in worked out. By this method future population is
calculated by using following formula.
Pn = P + n.d + n.(n+1) x t
2
Where P = Present Population
d= Average increase per decade
t = average increment increase
n = number of decades
Q. What is need for analysis of water? Enlist various tests on water.
Ans:
The ground water is free from organic impurities and requires no treatment. But it should
be usually chlorinated before using. Water obtained from shallow wells should be properly
treated.
The examination of water is done in the water works laboratory, it is necessary to
examine the quality of water.
The main advantages are:
i) To know the raw water quality
ii) To remove pathogenic bacteria.
iii) To make the water safe for domestic and industrial use.
iv) To locate the source of pollution
v) To protect public health
vi) To remove dissolved impurities like minerals, salts.
Various tests for water:
i) Physical test: colour, Taste and odour, Temperature, Turbidity.
ii) Chemical test: Total solids, Hardness, Chlorides, Dissolved oxygen, PH
value, Fluorides, Alkalinity.
iii) Biological test: E-coli, MPN (Most Probable Number), Total Count or
Agar Plate Count Test.
Q. State the precautions required to be taken during water sampling.
1. If sample is to be collected from tap or faucet, sufficient quantity of water should be
allowed to pass through the tap before collecting the sample from it; because it will
eliminate the stagnant water.

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 2. If water is to be collected from streams, water sample should be taken at least 40-50
cm below the surface, to avoid the collection of surface impurities, oils, tree leaves
etc. which are also removed by strainers while collecting the water through intakes.
3. In case of ground source i.e. water sample collected from well or tubewell, sufficient
amount should be pumped out before collecting the sample.
4. After collecting the sample, the stopper of the bottle should be well secured and the
bottles containing samples of water should be labelled stating the source, date and
time of collection.
5. Container should be washed thoroughly.
Q. State any four norms of Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB).
Drinking water standards
1. Colour – 5 units of cobalt scale
2. Turbidity – 2.5 PPM
3. Total solids – 500 PPM
4. Chlorides – 200 PPM
5. Free Ammonia – 0.15 PPM
6. pH – 7 to 8.5
7. Fluoride – 1 PPM
8. Arcenic – 0.05 PPM
9. Cynide – 0.05 PPM
Q. State the permissible limits of drinking water as per I.S.
1. Colour – 5 on platinum cobalt scale
2. pH – 6.5 to 8.5
3. turbidity – 5 to 10 NTU
4. temperature 100C to 15.600C
5. total solids – 2000 mg/l
6. hardness – 600 mg/l
7. chlorides – 1000 mg/l
8. calcium – 75 mg/l