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Hydraulic and Water Resources

Engineering
Description | Recommended courses

Description
Water resources engineering is the quantitative study of the hydrologic cycle -- the
distribution and circulation of water linking the earth's atmosphere, land and oceans. Surface
runoff is measured as the difference between precipitation and abstractions, such as
infiltration (which replenishes groundwater flow), surface storage and evaporation.
Applications include the management of the urban water supply, the design of urban storm -
sewer systems, and flood forecasting.

Hydraulic engineering consists of the application of fluid mechanics to water flowing in an


isolated environment (pipe, pump) or in an open channel (river, lake, ocean). Civil engineers
are primarily concerned with open channel flow, which is governed by the interdependent
interaction between the water and the channel.
Applications include the design of hydraulic structures, such as sewage conduits, dams and
breakwaters, the management of waterways, such as erosion protection and flood protection,
and environmental management, such as prediction of the mixing and transport of pollutants
in surface water. Hydroelectric-power development, water supply, irrigation and navigation
are some familiar applications of water resources engineering involving the utilization of
water for beneficial purposes. More recently, concern for preserving our natural environment
and meeting the needs of developing countries has increased the importance of water
resources engineering.
Civil engineers play a vital role in the optimal planning, design and operation of water
resource systems. Job opportunities in hydrology and water resources are quite varied.

Positions are available in large and small consulting firms, and at all levels of government
(municipal, provincial and federal). Particularly in Quebec, due to its abundant water
resources, hydrology has played an important role in the social and economic development of
the province.
Uses of Water

Water is one of the most vital natural resources for all life on Earth. The availability and
quality of water always have played an important part in determining not only where
people can live, but also their quality of life. Even though there always has been plenty of
fresh water on Earth, water has not always been available when and where it is needed,
nor is it always of suitable quality for all uses. Water must be considered as a finite
resource that has limits and boundaries to its availability and suitability for use.

Figure 1. Offstream uses (depicted on the left) are those in which water is removed from
its source, either by pumping or diversion. Instream uses (depicted on the right) are
those in which water remains in place, and typically refers to stream (rather than
groundwater). Where water supply is limited, conflicts may result between and among
the various uses.

The balance between supply and demand for water is a delicate one. The availability of
usable water has and will continue to dictate where and to what extent development will
occur. Water must be in sufficient supply for an area to develop, and an area cannot
continue to develop if water demand far outstrips available supply. Further, a water
supply will be called upon to meet an array of offstream uses (in which the water is
withdrawn from the source) in addition to instream uses (in which the water remains in
place). Figure 1 represents the demands on water as a tug-of-war among the various
offstream and instream uses.
Traditionally, water management in the United States focused on expanding or
manipulating the country's supplies of fresh water to meet the needs of users. A number
of large dams were built during the early twentieth century to increase the supply of
fresh water for any given time and place. This era of building large dams has passed. In
the twenty-first century, the finite water supply and established infrastructure require
that demand be managed more effectively within the available sustainable supply.
Water-use information can be used to evaluate the impacts of population growth and
the effectiveness of alternative water management policies, regulations, and
conservation activities.

The Water-Use Cycle


Water is constantly in motion by way of the hydrologic cycle. Water evaporates as vapor
from oceans, lakes, and rivers; is transpired from plants; condenses in the air and falls
as precipitation; and then moves over and through the ground into waterbodies, where
the cycle begins again. *

The water-use cycle is composed of the water cycle with the added influence of human
activity. Dams, reservoirs, canals, aqueducts , withdrawal pipes in rivers,
and groundwater wells all reveal that humans have a major impact on the water cycle.
In the water-use cycle, water moves from a source to a point of use, and then to a point
of disposition. The sources of water are either surface water or groundwater. Water is
withdrawn and moved from a source to a point of use, such as an industry, restaurant,
home, or farm. After water is used, it must be disposed of (or sometimes, reused). Used
water is either directly returned to the environment or passes through a treatment
processing plant before being returned.

U.S. Water Withdrawals in 1995


The U.S. Geological Survey compiles nationwide water-use data every 5 years. The year
1995 is the last year for which full datasets are available.

As Figure 2 shows, the United States in 1995 used about 402,000 million gallons of
water per day (MGD). Most of this water use was fresh water, about 341,000 MGD, or
about 85 percent, while 60,800 MGD was saline water. The majority of fresh-water
withdrawals, about 264,000 MGD, or about 77 percent, came from surface-water
sources, while about 76,400 MGD came from groundwater. The source of saline water is
surface water.

Even though discussions of water use typically focus on fresh-water use, saline water use
also is important in the United States. Some categories of water use, such as
thermoelectric, industrial, and mining, use saline water, mainly for cooling generators in
thermoelectric power plants. Industries and mines use saline water to cool machinery
and to wash and transport products, mainly for cooling of machinery.

Categories of Water use


The U.S. Geological Survey categorizes water use for analyzing current patterns and
predicting future trends.

Commercial water use includes fresh water for motels, hotels, restaurants, office
buildings, other commercial facilities, and civilian and military institutions. Domestic
water use is probably the most important daily use of water for most people.

Domestic use includes water that is used in the home every day, including water for
normal household purposes, such as drinking, food preparation, bathing, washing
clothes and dishes, flushing toilets, and watering lawns and gardens.

Industrial water use is a valuable resource to the nation's industries for such purposes
as processing, cleaning, transportation, dilution, and cooling in manufacturing facilities.
Major water-using industries include steel, chemical, paper, and petroleum refining.
Industries often reuse the same water over and over for more than one purpose.

Irrigation water use is water artificially applied to farm, orchard, pasture,


and horticultural crops, as well as water used to irrigate pastures, for frost and freeze
protection, chemical application, crop cooling, harvesting, and for the leaching of salts
from the crop root zone. Nonagricultural activities include self-supplied water to irrigate
public and private golf courses, parks,

Figure 2. This illustration summarizes water withdrawals in the United States in 1995.
The bar chart depicts fresh-water withdrawals (in billion gallons per day, or BGD). The
table includes fresh-water and saline withdrawals (in million gallons per day, or MGD).
nurseries, turf farms, cemeteries, and other landscape irrigation uses. The importance of
irrigation to the United States is illustrated by the large amount of fresh water that is
used to cultivate crops, which are consumed domestically and throughout the world. In
fact, irrigation is the largest category of water use in the United States, as it is
worldwide.

Livestock water use includes water for stock animals, feed lots, dairies, fish farms, and
other nonfarm needs. Water is needed for the production of red meat, poultry, eggs,
milk, and wool, and for horses, rabbits, and pets. Livestock water use only includes fresh
water.

Mining water use includes water for the extraction of naturally occurring minerals;
solids, such as coal and ores; liquids, such as crude petroleum; and gases, such as
natural gas. The category includes quarrying, milling (such as crushing, screening,
washing, and flotation), and other operations as part of mining activity. A significant
portion of the water used for mining, about 32 percent, is saline.

Public Supply water use refers to water withdrawn by public and private water
suppliers, such as county and municipal water works, and delivered to users for
domestic, commercial, and industrial purposes. In 1995, the majority of the nation's
population, about 225 million, or 84 percent, used water delivered from public water
suppliers. About 42 million people supplied their own water, with about 99 percent of
that water being groundwater, usually from a local well.

Thermoelectric Power water use is the amount of water used in the production of
electric power generated with heat. The source of the heat may be from fossil fuels,
nuclear fission, or geothermal. Fossil fuel power plants typically reuse water. They
generate electricity by turning a turbine using steam power. After the steam is used to
turn the turbines, it is condensed back to water by cooling it. The condensed water is
then routed back to the boiler, where the cycle begins again.

Trends from 1950 to 1995


After continual increases in the nation's total water withdrawals (fresh water and saline
water) for the years reported from 1950 to 1980, withdrawals declined from 1980 to
1985 and remained fairly constant from 1985 to 1995. The 1995 estimate of total
withdrawals (402,000 MGD) is about 2 percent less than the 1990 estimate and nearly
10 percent less than the peak year of 1980. Likewise, total fresh-water withdrawals for
1995 were about 8 percent less than in 1980.

The decline in withdrawals is especially significant in light of the fact that population
posted an increase of 16 percent during the same period. Clearly as a nation, the United
States is using its surface water and groundwater resources more efficiently. This
decline signals that water use responds to economic and regulatory factors, and that the
general public has an enhanced awareness of water resources and conservation issues.

Trends by Category
The public supply, domestic, and livestock categories are the only categories to show
continual increases from 1950 to 1995, largely because of continual increases in
population. The increase of 4 percent in public supply withdrawals from 1990 to 1995,
compared to the population increase of 7 percent served by public supply, indicates that
conservation programs have been effective in lowering public supply per capita use from
about 184 gallons per day (GPD) in 1990 to 179 GPD in 1995.

More water continues to be withdrawn for thermoelectric power generation than for any
other category. Withdrawals for thermoelectric power generation peaked in 1980 at
210,000 MGD and fluctuated around 190,000 MGD during 1985, 1990, and 1995.

Industrial withdrawals declined from 1980 to 1995 after remaining about the same for
the years reported between 1965 and 1980. Lower industrial withdrawals are the result
of new industries and technologies that require less water, improved plant efficiencies,
increased water recycling; changes in laws and regulations to reduce the discharge of
pollutants; and conservation measures.

Total irrigation withdrawals were about the same during the period from 1955 to 1960,
then steadily increased from 1965 to 1980, and gradually decreased from 1980 to 1995.
Irrigation application rates vary from year to year and depend on annual rainfall,
surface water availability, energy costs, farm commodity prices, application
technologies, and conservation practices. Declining application rates are the result of
more efficient irrigation systems and techniques. Also, application rates in the more
humid eastern United States, where irrigated acreage continues to increase, tend to be
lower than in the arid western United States.

Figure 3. A chart of fresh-water withdrawals from 1950 to 1995 reveal trends in total
water use and the relative withdrawals from groundwater and surface-water sources.
(Values are in billion gallons per day, or BGD). The U.S. population also is depicted (in
millions).

Factors Affecting Water-Use Trends


Figure 3 summarizes fresh-water withdrawals and population in the United States from
1950 to 1995. The general increase in water use from 1950 to 1980 and the decrease
from 1980 to 1995 can be attributed, in part, to the following major factors:

Most of the increases in water use from 1950 to 1980 were the result of expansion
of irrigation systems and increases in energy development.
The development of center-pivot irrigation systems and the availability of
plentiful and inexpensive groundwater resources supported the expansion of
irrigation systems.
Higher energy prices in the 1970s, and large drawdown in groundwater levels in
some areas increased the cost of irrigation water. In the 1980s, improved
application techniques, increased competition for water, and a downturn in the
farm economy reduced demands for irrigation water.
The transition from water-supply management to water-demand management
encouraged more efficient use of water.
New technologies in the industrial sector that require less water, improved plant
efficiencies, increased water recycling, higher energy prices, and changes in laws
and regulations to reduce the discharge of pollutants resulted in decreased water
use.
The enhanced awareness by the general public of water resources and active
conservation programs in many states have contributed to reduced water
demands.

Future Water Use


Water-use trends established over the past half century provide some basis for
estimating future water demands. It seems likely that water withdrawals for public
supply and domestic uses will continue to increase as population increases. Higher
water prices and active water conservation programs, however, may reduce the per
capita use rates. With increased competition for water for instream uses, such as river-
based recreation, aesthetic enjoyment, fish and wildlife habitat,
and hydroelectric power, along with higher municipal uses, irrigators will have
increasing difficulty competing economically for available water supplies.

In the United States, many existing sources of water are being stressed by withdrawals
from aquifers and diversions from rivers and reservoirs to meet the needs of homes,
cities, farms, and industries. Consideration must also be given to leaving water in the
streams and rivers to meet environmental, fish and wildlife, and recreational needs.

As planners, managers, and elected officials wrestle with the varied water management
problems facing the nation at the beginning of the twentyfirst century, they need
consistent information on water supply and use by state, watershed, and water-use
category. This will help the United States realize the maximum benefit from its water
resources and will help strike that crucial balance between supply and demand.

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