National Seminar on “Decentralized Governance in Water & Sanitation Sector in Rural India”,
NIAR-LBSNAA, Mussorie, June 26-28, 2012
Source Sustainability in Drinking Water Schemes:
Role of Hydrology
Dr V C Goyal
Head
Research Coordination & Management
National Institute of Hydrology
(Ministry of Water Resources, Govt. of India)
Roorkee-247667
vcg@nih.ernet.in; vcgoyal@yahoo.com
Water Supply Systems
• Resource requirement
– Human (education, skills)
– Financial (credit, banking services)
– Physical (pipes, pumps, dams, spare parts)
– Natural (water, land, building materials)
– Social (community institutions and
organisations)
• major thrust of the rural water supply
programmes is to ensure provision of
adequate drinking water supply to the rural
communities
Drinking Water Security
• Ultimate aim is to achieve household level
drinking water security
• Integral Components:
– Adoption of appropriate technology
– revival of traditional systems
– conjunctive use of surface and ground water
– conservation
– rain water harvesting and recharging of
drinking water sources
Sustainability in DW Schemes
• a process which facilitates the existing/new
drinking water supply projects to provide safe
drinking water in adequate quantity, even
during distress periods,
• duly addressing equity, gender, vulnerability,
convenience and consumer preference issues,
through conjunctive use of groundwater,
surface water and roof-water harvesting
Elements of Sustainability
• Source Sustainability: ensuring availability of potable
drinking water in adequate quantity throughout the
year
• System Sustainability: optimizing the cost of
production of water, devising proper protocol for O&M,
capacity building of PRIs and awareness generation
• Financial Sustainability: proper utilization of funds
• Social and Environmental Sustainability: proper
project management and involvement of all key
stakeholders
Sustainability Index
• To assess the sustainability of water sources in
habitations (GoI, 2010)
• 29 parameters under
• 5 broad aspects: technology aspects, community
and social aspects, financial aspects, water quality
aspects and training aspects
• parameters include functionality of source, reliability
of source, number of sources with acceptable
quality, access to safe water, etc
GoI, 2010b. Evaluation Study on Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission
(RGNDWM), Programme Evaluation Organisation, Planning Commission, New Delhi,
97pp.
Hydrologic Concepts
• Hydrology provides a sound basis for study of the
interrelationships and interactions between water and its
environment in the hydrologic cycle
• scientific understanding of the interplay between the SW & GW
systems is important in designing sustainable water supply
systems
• Application of a variety of hydrological methods (hydrogeological, chemical, biological, isotope, etc.) provide
invaluable information about the source and movement of water
in different environments both above and below ground,
including rivers, lakes and aquifers
• provide useful insights into the behaviour of water resources in
a project area, improving the capabilities for assessing the
quality of existing water supplies and for identifying alternative
and sustainable sources of clean drinking water for the future
Water in a Watershed
Water required for:
Drinking
Bathing
Cleaning
Hygene & sanitation
Crop production
Agro-forestry
Industry
Recreation
Water affects:
Habitation
Land use
Vegetation
Soil
Biodiversity
Natural hazards
Economy
‘Four Waters’ for Hydrologic Research
Rain
Water
Surface
Water
Soil
Moisture
Ground
Water
Harvest &
Conserve
Rain Water
Store
Surplus
Runoff
Induce
Subsurface
Storage
Optimal
Utilization and
Adequate Recharge
Jars/tanks
Contour bunds
Farm tanks
Plantations
Check dams
Gabions
Nala bunds
Farm ponds
Tanks
Water ways
Base flow H
Furrows
Mulching
Contour bunds
Farm tanks
Plantations
Trenches
Recharge pits
Ponds/tanks
DW Supply Project
Raw Water
Storage
Raw
Water
Source
Raw Water
Pumping
Water availability
(seasonal/annual)
Protection
Catchment treatment
Recharge
Sus. Withdrawal
New sources
Water
Treatment
Water quality
Technology
Waste management
Water
Distribution
Water use efficiency
Conservation
Demand management
Recycling & reuse
Planning, development and management
Role of hydrologic analyses in a typical drinking water project
Way Forward
• Climate change impacts’ pressure on DWSS
• Role of hydrology needs to be understood and
adequately incorporated while designing and
implementing such schemes in India
• Sustainability in DWSS aided by advanced analysis
and modelling techniques & technology
• CB of users and sensitization of stakeholders
• Hydrologists should demystify the complex procedures
(equations, formulations, modelling, etc) and present
the concepts in user friendly forms for effective use by
the community