BS Environmental and Sanitary Engineering

Fundamentals of Water Supply Prepared by: Engr. Ruel Galutan

Fundamentals of Water Supply:
Water is the most basic and fundamental component of life on earth. Water plays a key role in the
metabolic breakdown of essential molecule as proteins and carbohydrates. This process called
Hydrolysis goes on continually in living cells.
A liquid substance/compound readily present in nature with a basic molecular composition
"HOH or H2O(two molecules of hydrogen and one molecule of oxygen)
Physical and Chemical Nature of Water:
Water is one of the most abundant substances on earth without which life, it is said cannot exists. It
covers more than 70% of the earths surface and exists as vapor in the earths atmosphere.
- Water in liquid form is most dense at 4C (39.2 F)
- At 4C (39.2 F), one liter of water weighs 1 kg (1L=1KG) ( a density of 1g/cc).
- In its gas form as a vapor, water is lighter than air.
- At 4C (39.2 F),water has a specific gravity of 1
- Water is the only substance on earth that exists in nature in all three physical states of matter:
solid, liquid, and gas.
- The specific heat of water in the metric system is 1 calorie the amount of heat required to
raise the temperature of one gram one degree Celsius.
Facts about water:
An average family of four (4) uses 90,000 gallons of water a year
A 50-gallon water heater holds about 400 lbs. of water
Water is the most common compound on earth, the fluid from which all life originates. Its the
one liquid humans must have to live.
Human blood is 83% water
Human skin is 70% water
Human bones are 25% water
An average person can survive nearly 2 months w/o food, but only 5 to 7 days w/o water
97% of the water on the earth is saltwater: only 3% is freshwater
Most of the freshwater stored on the earth is frozen in glaciers
Only 1 % of the earths water available for drinking water

Classifications of sources of supply according to the relative position on the earth:
1. Meteoric Waters ( Sources above ground surface)
2. Surface Water (Sources on the ground surface)
3. Ground waters (Sources below ground surface)

Properties of Water:

Surface Tension It is ability of water to stick to itself and pull itself together. Water has an extremely
high surface tension.
Capillarity The ability of water to climb upon a surface against the pull of gravity.
Pure Water Water that is colorless and odorless and not found in nature as purified water ( a product
of water purification)
Natural Water readily found in nature, as impounded from precipitation, contains impurities
(physical, chemical, bacteriological or radiological)
BS Environmental and Sanitary Engineering
Fundamentals of Water Supply Prepared by: Engr. Ruel Galutan

Fresh Water water having a salt concentration below 0.01% (lakes, rivers, groundwater and other
bodies of water that have a through flow of water from rainfall.
Salt water Water, typical of oceans and seas, that contains at least 3% salt (30 parts salt per 1000
parts water)
Purified Water Water which undergoes treatment, physical, biological or chemical means to improve
water quality. Purification is an artificial means of obtaining chemically pure water. Water that has had
pollutants removed or rendered harmless.
Contaminated Water Water with any materials or substance that affects the quality of water and
affects the health of an individual.
Polluted Water Water with the presence of any foreign substance ( organic, inorganic, radiological,
biological) which tends to degrade its quality so as to constitute health hazard and impair the potability
of water. Water that contains one or more impurities that make the water unsuitable for a desired use.
Hard water - Water with the presence of elements such as calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg), Iron (Fe),
and aluminum (Al) which causes hardness. This is characterized by the difficulty of producing lather
from detergents and the presence of scale deposits in pipes and heaters or boilers.
Soft water Water without the presence of Calcium and Magnesium. This is characterized by easiness
of producing lather from detergents and absence of scale formation in boilers, heaters and pipes.
Grey Water Water from laundries, wash basins, sinks, shower, bathtubs.
Black Water Water plus human waste that is flushed out of toilets and urinals.
Storm Water Rain, surface-runoff. (rainwater drained from roof gutters and downspouts.
Water Sources:
Groundwater That portion of the rainwater which has percolated into the earth to form
underground deposits called aquifers (water-bearing soil formations).
Surface Runoff include river, lakes, ponds and impounding reservoirs.
Water wells water that flows into wells is called groundwater. This water comes from rain that is
absorbed into the ground and is slowly filtered through the different layers of the ground and into the
ground-water reservoir known as aquifers. The top of this zone is known as the water table, the level
at which water stands in a well that is not being pumped.

Wells Are holes in the earth from which a fluid may be withdrawn using manual or mechanical means
such as draw bucket, pump, etc.
- It is a hole which has been dug, bored, driven or drilled beneath the ground for the purpose
of extracting groundwater.
Two Zone:
1. Unsaturated Zone which is immediately beneath the ground surface and contains both water
and air in the voids and pores.
2. Saturated Zone where voids are all filled with water. Water in the saturated zone is referred
to as groundwater.
Water Table is the boundary between the unsaturated zone and the saturated zone.
Two types of Aquifer:
1. Unconfined Aquifer whose upper limit is the water table, are often shallow and the hydraulic
pressure at its surface water level or water table is equal to the atmospheric pressure.
2. Confined Aquifer Where an aquifer is sandwiched between an upper impermeable layer and
a lower impermeable layer.
BS Environmental and Sanitary Engineering
Fundamentals of Water Supply Prepared by: Engr. Ruel Galutan

Hydraulic Pressure or Artesian Pressure will cause the groundwater in a well to rise above the
confining layer or even above the ground surface.
Note: the first step in considering the use of wells as the sources of water supply is to calculate the
total capacity of the existing wells and compare this capacity to the demand for water based on the
population to be served.
Types of Wells based on Aquifer Tapped:
a. Shallow Well (<20m) Generally, a well is considered shallow if it is less than 20 m deep.
b. Deep Wells (>20m) Deep wells, which are over 20m deep, tap the deeper unconfined
aquifer. This aquifer is not confined by an overlying impermeable layer and is characterized by
the presence of a water table.
c. Artesian Wells are much like the deep wells except that the water extracted is from a
confined aquifer.
Types of Wells based on design and Construction methods:
a. Dug wells These can be constructed with hand tools and power tools. It can be dug to a
depth of about 15 meters (50ft) deep with a diameter usually ranging from 1 m to 1.5m and
can have the greatest diameter that a space may allow.
b. Driven Wells These are the simplest and usually the least expensive. Driven wells are like
dug wells, in the sense that they tap the shallow portion of the unconfined aquifers. A steel
drive-well point is fitted on one end of the pipe section and driven into the earth. The drive
point is usually is 1 to 2 (32mm to 51mm) in diameter. The point may be driven into the
ground to a depth of up to 15m (50 ft).
c. Bored wells These are dug with hand or power augers, usually into soft cohesive or non-
caving formations that contain enough clay to support the boreholes and are usually less
than 30m (100ft) deep. They are used when the earth to be bored is boulder free and will
not cave in. The diameter ranges from 2 to 30 inches. The well is lined with metal, vitrified
tile or concrete.
d. Drilled wells These require more elaborate equipment of several types, depending on the
geology of the site. They measure up to 300 m(984 ft)
Percussion or Cable Tool Method involves the raising and dropping of a heavy drill bit and
stem. Having thus pulverized, the earth being drilled in mixed with water to form slurry, which
is periodically removed. As drilling proceeds, a casing is also lowered (except when drilling
through rock).
This method is used to construct wells by repeatedly lifting and dropping a heavy string of
drilling tools into the borehole. The drill bit breaks or crushes consolidated rock into smaller
fragments, whereas the bit primarily loosens the material when drilling in unconsolidated
formations.
Rotary Drilling Methods(either hydraulic or pneumatic) utilize cutting bit at the lower end of
the drill pipe; a drilling fluid(or pressurized air) is constantly pumped to the cutting bit to aid in
the removal of particles of earth, which are then brought to the surface. After the drill pipe is
withdrawn, a casing is lowered into position.
Direct Rotary Drilling Methods - It was developed to increase drilling speeds and reach
greater depths in most formations.
Reverse Circulation Rotary Drilling differs from the direct rotary in that the drilling fluid
circulates in the opposite direction. The suction end of the centrifugal pump, rather than the
discharge end, is connected through the swivel to the Kelly and drill pipe.
BS Environmental and Sanitary Engineering
Fundamentals of Water Supply Prepared by: Engr. Ruel Galutan

Air Rotary Method air, with a small volume of water and surfactant (foam), serves as the fluid
and excavation is accomplished exactly as is done in the conventional direct rotary method. Air
Drilling is used principally in semi-consolidated and consolidated formations.
Down-the-hole Pneumatic hammer It combines the features of percussion effect with the
rotary drilling, using compressed air to drive a rotating pneumatic hammer at the end of the
string of tools. Another type of drilling method that uses air as its fluid in which the percussion
mechanism-commonly called the hammer assembly- is located directly behind the hammer bit.
It is basically a pneumatic jack hammer that is operated at the end of the drill pipe that rapidly
strikes the rock while the drill pipe is slowly rotated.
Water Treatment Processes:
1. Sedimentation This process removes some suspended matter from water simply by allowing
time and the inactivity of water to do the work of settling out heavier suspended particles.
2. Coagulation (Flocculation) This process also removes suspended matter, along with some
coloration. A chemical such as alum (Hydrated Aluminum Sulfate) is added to turbulent water.
3. Aeration (Oxidation) This process can improve the taste and color of water, remove iron and
manganese and decrease in corrosiveness.
4. Ozonation this is less aesthetic than aeration but more certain oxidation process. It is
commonly used in cooling lower treatment and in addition ozonation has a very wide range of
treatment applications.
5. Filtration This very common treatment can remove suspended particles, some bacteria and
some color.
a. Slow Sand Filters Used for rainwater application, low maintenance, easily constructed
devices that should be cleaned as often as the turbidity of water demands. They are
cleaned by the removal of filters, which are either washed for reuse of discarded.
b. Pressure sand Filters it requires control and the attention of the operator and this is
rarely used for individual water systems.
c. Diatomaceous Earth Filters This can be either vacuum or the pressure type. They
require periodic attention to make it effective.
d. Fine Filtration a combined process that removes iron and /or manganese from water.
The chlorine chemically oxidizes the iron or manganese, which form precipitates.
Chlorine also kills iron bacteria and disinfects.
e. Activated Carbon Filters These are particularly effective for removing tastes and odors.
Water is passed through granular carbon; which attracts large quantities of dissolved
gasses, soluble organics and finds solids.
f. Reverse Osmosis Sometimes used to reduce the mineral content in water. An inert,
semi-permeable membrane has higher pressure supply water on one side, as the
pressure slowly forces water through this filtering membrane, most of the
minerals(dissolve solids) are removed. Dissolved chemical, however remain.
6. Disinfection This is the most important health-related water treatment
7. Absorption a physic-chemical processes usually with activated carbon either in contact beds
or in suspension.
8. Softening lime, lime-soda or ion exchange processes.
9. Stabilization a chemical processes generally by addition of alkalinity or CO
2
, or addition
sequestering agent
10. Storage physical and chemical processes at any point in treatment cycle.
BS Environmental and Sanitary Engineering
Fundamentals of Water Supply Prepared by: Engr. Ruel Galutan


Jar test a test to determine the best chemical in combination of the chemicals the amount needed to
accomplish a desired objective in water, sewage I industrial waste treatment.
Kinds of impurities in water:
1. Physical Impurities refer to the inert suspension of floating substances.
2. Chemical Impurities- are generally dissolved or colloidal constituents of water which account
mostly for the color and palatability of water.
3. Bacteriological Impurities are the form of bacteria that are either responsible for the
breakdown of complex substances or are parasitic or pathogenic or both.
4. Radiological Impurities are the radionuclides that are present in water as a result of nuclear
weapons testing and discharge of radioisotopes.
5. Biological Impurities includes microscopic plants and animal life other than bacteria present
in water.
Components of Water Quality:
1. Chemical Aspects chemical contamination of water resources may be due to natural sources
or to certain industries and agricultural practices.
a. Hardness is due primarily to calcium and magnesium carbonates and
bicarbonates(which can be removed by boiling) and calcium and magnesium sulfate and
chloride(which can be removed by chemical precipitation using lime and sodium
carbonate). HArdwater in water is objectionable for the following reasons:
- Calcium and magnesium sulfate have a laxative effect
- Hard water makes lathering more difficult, and so it increases soap
consumption.
- In boiler, pots and kettles, hardness causes scaling, resulting in the reduction
of the thermal of the thermal efficiency and restriction of flow.
b. Alkalinity and Acidity the presence of acid substances is indicated by pH below 7.0 and
an alkaline substance by pH greater than 7.0 acidic water is corrosive to metallic pipes.
c. Carbon Dioxide The presence of appreciable quantities of carbon dioxide makes water
corrosive due to carbonic acid formations and the presence of free CO
2
.
d. Dissolve Oxygen aside from a flat taste, water devoid of oxygen may indicate an
appreciable level of oxygen-consuming organic substances.
e. Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) is a measure of the amount of organic content of
water. As bacteria utilize oxygen in the oxidation of organic matter, the COD increases and
the dissolved oxygen in the water decreases.
f. Organic Nitrogen is a constituent of all waste protein products from sewage, kitchen
wastes and all dead organic matter. Freshly produced waste normally contains pathogenic
bacteria. All water high in organic nitrogen should therefore be suspected for possible
contaminants.
g. Iron and Manganese groundwater usually contains more of these two minerals than
surface water. Iron and Manganese are nuisances that must be removed if in excess of
0.30mg/l and 0.1 mg/l, respectively. They stain clothing and plumbing fixtures, and the
growth of iron bacteria causes strainers and screens to clog and metallic conduits to rust.
The appearance of a reddish brown or black precipitate in a water sample after shaking
indicates, respectively, the presence of iron or manganese.
BS Environmental and Sanitary Engineering
Fundamentals of Water Supply Prepared by: Engr. Ruel Galutan

h. Toxic Substances A number of chemical substances, if present in appreciable
concentration in drinking water, may constitute a danger to health. These toxic
substances include arsenic, barium, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, cyanide, lead,
selenium and silver.
i. Phenolic Compounds these cause undesirable taste in water whenever present.
2. Physical Properties:
a. Turbidity is a measure of the degree of cloudiness or muddiness of water. It is caused
by suspended matter in water like silt, clay, organic matter or micro-organisms. Turbidity
has little detrimental effect on health; however, it has adverse aesthetic and
psychological effects to the consumers.
b. Color is due to the presence of colored substances in solution such as vegetable matter
and iron salts.
c. Odor can be detected by smelling. Pure water is odorless; hence the presence of
undesirable odor in water is indicative of the existence of contaminants on water.
d. Taste Algae, decomposing organic matter, dissolved gases and phenolic substances
may cause taste.
e. Temperature in general, water supplied between 50F and 60F (10C and 16C) is
preferred.
Water Demand:
Water Demands are influenced by the following factors:
1. Service levels to be implemented
2. Size of the Community
3. Standard of living of the populace
4. Quantity and Quality of water available in the area
5. Water tariffs that need to be shouldered by the consumers
6. Climatological conditions
7. Habits and manners of water usage by the people.
Water Service Levels are classified in the Philippines under three types:
1. Level I (Point Source) - this level provides a protected well or a developed spring with an outlet,
but without a distribution system. This is generally adaptable for rural areas where affordability
is low and the houses in the intended service area are not crowded. A level I facility normally
serves an average of 15 households within a radius of 250 meters.
2. Level II (Communal Faucet System or Stand posts) This type of system is composed of a
source, a reservoir, a piped distribution network, and communal faucets. Usually, one faucet
serves four to six households (4-6 households) within a radius of 25 m. It is generally suited for
rural and urban fringe areas where houses are clustered in sufficient density to justify a simple
piped system.
3. Level III (Waterworks system or Individual House Connections) This system includes a
source, a reservoir, a piped distribution network, and areas where the population can afford
individual connections. The house has service connection from the system. It is generally suited
for densely populated urban areas.
Design Population is the targeted number of people that the project will serve.
Water Consumptions served by small water utilities are commonly classified into domestic
use, commercial use, institutional use or industrial use.
BS Environmental and Sanitary Engineering
Fundamentals of Water Supply Prepared by: Engr. Ruel Galutan

Unit Consumptions for domestic water demand is expressed in per capita consumption per
day. The commonly used unit is liters per capita per day (lpcd).
Rate of Consumption:
Level I at least 20 lpcd
Level II 50 lpcd to 60 lpcd (each public faucet should serve 4-6 household)
Level III 80 -100 lpcd
Hydrologic Cycle or water cycle is a conceptual model published on the internet that describes the
storage and movement of water on, above and below the surface of the earth.
Sun It drives the water cycle, heats water in oceans and seas.

The Phenomena in the Water cycle:

Evaporation is the process by which liquid water is converted into a gaseous state. It takes
place when the humidity of the atmosphere is less than the evaporating surface (at 100%
relative humidity there is no more evaporation).
Condensation is the change in state of water from vapor to liquid when it cools. This process
releases latent heat energy to the environment.
Precipitation is any aqueous deposit (in liquid or sold form) that develops in a saturated
atmosphere (relative humidity equal 100%) and falls to the ground. Most precipitation occurs
as rain, but it also includes snow, hail, fog drip and sleet.
Infiltration is the absorption and downward movement of water into the soil layers. Once
infiltrated, the water becomes soil moisture or groundwater.
Runoff This is the topographic flow of water from the area on which it precipitates towards
stream channels located at lower elevations. Runoff occurs when the capacity of an areas soil
to absorb infiltration has been exceeded. It also refers to the water leaving a drainage area.
Evapo-transpiration This covers the release of water vapor from plants into the air.
Melting It is the physical process of a solid becoming a liquid. For water, this process requires
approximately 80 calories of heat energy for each gram converted.
Groundwater Flow This refers to the ground topographic flow of groundwater because of
gravity.
Advection This is the movement of water in any form through the atmosphere. Without
advection, water evaporated over the oceans could not precipitate over land.

Forms of Precipitation:
1. Drizzle sometimes called mists, consists of tiny liquid water droplets, usually with diameter
between 0.1mm and 0.50mm, with such slow settling rates that they occasionally appear to
float.
2. Rain consists of liquid water drops mostly larger than 0.50mm in diameter.
3. Glaze ice coating, generally clear and smooth but usually containing some air pockets, formed
on exposed surfaces by the freezing of super cooled water deposited by rain or drizzle.
4. Rime a white, opaque, granular deposit of ice composed essentially of ice granules more or
less separated by trapped air and formed by rapid freezing of super-cooled water drops
impinging on exposed objects.
BS Environmental and Sanitary Engineering
Fundamentals of Water Supply Prepared by: Engr. Ruel Galutan

5. Snow Composed of white or translucent ice crystals often mixed with simple crystal and often
agglomerated into snowflakes.
6. Hail precipitation in the form of balls or irregular lumps of ice.
7. Sleet generally transparent, globular, solid grains of ice formed by the freezing of raindrops or
refreshing of largely melted ice crystals falling through a layer of subfreezing air near the
earths surface.
8. Ice pellets composed of transparent or translucent ice. They may be spherical, irregular or
sometimes conical and are usually less than 5mm in diameter.
9. Small Hail composed of generally translucent particles consisting of snow pellets encased in a
thin layer of ice.
Hydrology the earth science that deals with the occurrence and movement of water upon and
beneath the land areas of the earth.
Precipitation includes all moisture that reaches the earth in any one of these forms: rain, drizzle,
dew, sleet, snow, hail, and frost.
Rainfall intensity It is the rate of occurrence expressed in inches per hour rainfall.
Drought it is the years continuously below average precipitation
Sublimation the process whereby a solid is transformed directly to the vapor state and vice versa.
Condensation the process by which vapor changes to the liquid or solid state.
Aquifer It is the formation which contain and transmit ground water; water-bearing stratum.
Artesian Aquifer where an aquifer is found between impermeable above and below it, both the
aquifer and the water it contains are said to be confined.
Springs The results of ground water overflow upon the earths surface for any cause.
Interception precipitation caught by leaves or falling rain that evaporates directly to the atmosphere
without reaching the earth depends on wind velocity, evaporation rate, type and density of vegetal
cover.
Aqueduct a conduit, closed or open, designed to convey water from a source to a point, usually a
reservoir, where the distribution systems begins.
Aqueduct includes:
1. Canals open or closed conduits where hydraulic grade line is on surface of water.
2. Flumes a canal supported on or above the surface of earth.
3. Pipelines water flowing under pressure in closed conduits usually circular.
4. Siphons true if above hydraulic grade line merely depression siphon when in or
near hydraulic grade line.
5. Tunnel usually an underground canal but can also be under pressure.

Infiltration Gallery - It is a shallow well that constructed along the rivers, lakes or ponds.
Impounding Reservoir basin constructed in the valley of a stream to store water during excess
stream flow and to supply water when the flow of the stream is sufficient to meet the demand of
water.
Gallery a horizontal or approximately horizontal tunnel or open ditch through water-bearing material
in a direction approximately normal to direction of flow of the underground water, the tunnel type of
gallery is sometimes called a horizontal well.
Capillary fringe smaller soil pores which contain water that is lifted by capillary action from the zone
of saturation.
BS Environmental and Sanitary Engineering
Fundamentals of Water Supply Prepared by: Engr. Ruel Galutan

Perched Water table Where an impervious stratum within the zone of aeration interrupts
percolation and causes ground water to accumulate in a limited area above the stratum.
Aquatic Life - Means all organisms living in freshwater, brackish and marine environment.
Contamination - means the production of substances not found in the natural composition of water
that make the water less desirable or unfit desirable or unfit for intended use.
Discharge - includes, but is not limited to, the act of spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting,
emptying, releasing or dumping of any material into a water body or onto land from which it might
flow or drain into said water.
Drinking water- means water intended for human consumption or for use in food preparation.
Dumping - means any unauthorized or illegal disposal into any body of water or land of wastes or toxic
or hazardous material: Provided, That it does not mean a release of effluent coming from commercial,
industrial, and domestic sources which are within the effluent standards.
Effluent - means discharge from known sources which is passed into a body of water or land, or
wastewater flowing out of a manufacturing plant, industrial plant including domestic, commercial and
recreational facilities.
Effluent standard - means any legal restriction or limitation on quantities, rates, and/or concentrations
or any combination thereof, of physical, chemical or biological parameters of effluent which a person
or point source is allowed to discharge into a body of water or land.
Freshwater - means water containing less than 500 ppm dissolved common salt, sodium chloride, such
as that in groundwater, rivers, ponds and lakes.
Groundwater - means subsurface water that occurs beneath a water table in soils and rocks, or in
geological formations.
Non-point source - means any source of pollution not identifiable as point source to include, but not
be limited to, runoff from irrigation or rainwater, which picks up pollutants from farms and urban
areas.
Point source - means any identifiable source of pollution with specific point of discharge into a
particular water body.
Pollutant- shall refer to any substance, whether solid, liquid, gaseous or radioactive, which directly or
indirectly alters the quality.
Septage - means the sludge produced on individual onsite wastewater disposal systems, principally
septic tanks and cesspools.
Sewage - means water-borne human or animal wastes, excluding oil or oil wastes, removed from
residences, building, institutions, industrial and commercial establishments together with such
groundwater, surface water and storm water as maybe present including such waste from vessels,
offshore structures, other receptacles intended to receive or retain waste or other places or the
combination thereof.
Sewerage - includes, but is not limited to, any system or network of pipelines, ditches, channels, or
conduits including pumping stations, lift stations and force mains, service connections including other
constructions, devices, and appliances appurtenant thereto, which include the collection, transport,
pumping and treatment of sewage to a point of disposal.
Sludge - means any solid, semi-solid or liquid waste or residue generated from a wastewater treatment
plant, water supply treatment plant, or water control pollution facility, or any other such waste having
similar characteristics and effects.
Surface water - means all water, which is open to the atmosphere and subject to surface runoff.
BS Environmental and Sanitary Engineering
Fundamentals of Water Supply Prepared by: Engr. Ruel Galutan

Treatment - means any method, technique, or process designed to alter the physical, chemical or
biological and radiological character or composition of any waste or wastewater to reduce or prevent
pollution.
Toxic amount - means the lowest amount of concentration of toxic pollutants, which may cause
chronic or long-term acute or lethal conditions or effects to the aquatic life, or health of persons or
which may adversely affect designated water uses.
Waste - means any material either solid, liquid, semisolid, contained gas or other forms resulting
industrial, commercial, mining or agricultural operations, or from community and household activities
that is devoid of usage and discarded.
Wastewater - means waste in liquid state containing pollutants.
Water Pollution - means any alteration of the physical, chemical, biological, or radiological properties
of a water body resulting in the impairment of its purity or quality.