140010051

Nishal Caleb. K
Date:03/09/2018
Assignment for Module-C
Water Management
1) What are the major drinking water sources in your hometown?
A. My hometown = Vijayawada
The major drinking water sources are
1)River Krishna - contributes to large part of drinking water
2)Ground water
3)Overhead Tanks
4)Hand Bores
Length of water mains 960 kms
No. of House Service Connections 1,08,712
No. of Public Stand Posts 2,892
No. of Power Bores 56
No. of Boosters 27
No. of Hand Bores 2421

2) Which organization/department is responsible for maintaining and

supplying the drinking water?
A. Water Supply
In supply of protected drinking water, the Vijayawada Municipal
Corporation is fore runner in Andhra Pradesh State. Every day 39 MGD of
protected water is supplied to the city residents. There are 59 water
reservoirs with a storage capacity of 620.50 lakh gallons. Approximately
150 ltr. per head/day is supplied.
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Nishal Caleb. K
Date:03/09/2018
The area of Vijayawada Municipal Corporation is61.88 km2 (23.89 sq mi).
The Corporation is administered by an elected body headed by the
Mayor.
3) What changes have you observed in the availability and quality of
water during past 10 years? What are the possible reasons?
A. The availability of the water has decreased during the past 10
years due to the construction of dams upstream of river Krishna in
Karnataka and Maharashtra. The quality of the ground water has been
deteriorating for the past 10 years. Ground-water is found to be fresh to
brackish, hard to very hard, often enriched with nitrate, phosphate, and
faecal coliform. Manganese and iron are found in high concentrations in
some localities. The deterioration is more in shallow aquifers. Shallow
aquifers exhibit wide range of quality variations due to deltaic nature of
the deposits and drainage conditions. Arsenic, Nitrate enrichment (more
than permissible limit) and Fluoride contents in the ground water are
within the permissible limits.
Reasons:
 The increase in population implies increase in the quantity of
drinking water.
 The salinity of ground water is caused mainly due to depositional
environment and other factors like geomorphic landform, water
logging conditions, sluggish nature in ground water movement,
excess use of fertilizers and unregulated growth of aquaculture in
the coastal area which also play an important role.
 The most of the command area in the delta is either water logged
or seasonally water logged. The intensive irrigation, near flat
topography, low ground water development, poor drainage and
clayey soils are the factors responsible for the water logging
conditions. Localized Nitrate pollution is another problem in the
district, which is due to excess use of fertilizers, urban sewerage
and improper drainage system.
4) What are the pressing water related issues in your hometown?
A. The major problems in the
 Salinity
 Water logging
 Shortage of water
 Water contamination (Algae formation)
 140010051
Nishal Caleb. K
Date:03/09/2018
 Sewage mixing with canals
 Silt formation in water tanks
5) Based on your understanding, recommend some measures to address
the most pressing water related issues in your hometown?
A. The action plan comprises of works like
 Stocking of the requisite materials for supply network
 Repairing borewells
 Laying new pipelines
 De-siltation of drains and cleaning of water tanks
 Constructing more water reservoirs in the city to ensure supply of
drinking water round-the-clock
 Should arrange special lifting motors that are to pump up water for the
residents of the hilly terrains
 Artificial recharge schemes have to be implemented to avoid further
deterioration of quality of ground water.
 Roof top Rainwater Harvesting is to be implemented in the urban areas
wherever deepening of water levels is taking place.
 Defective borewells should be made functional.
 Minor issues with power supply at pumping stations should also be
taken care of.
 In the limited fresh ground water potential areas, modern irrigation
methods like drip and sprinkler irrigation should be adopted to increase
the command area of the well.
 Ground water should be judiciously exploited in the shallow fresh water
aquifers of deltaic area without disturbing the fresh/saline water
interface.
 A multi-sectorial approach is needed to study the ground water
development, augmentation and management perspective. Therefore,
all the aspects related to ground water, involvement of NGOs and
mass awareness campaigns will play an important role in conserving
and developing the precious fresh ground water resources.