URBAN WATER MANAGEMENT FROM AN ECOLOGICAL

PROSPECTIVE: LOOK INTO THE FUTURE

Sabita Madhvi Singh* and Neetu Singh

Associate Professor*, Department of Civil Engineering, JSS Academy of Technical Education,
Noida.
Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, JSS Academy of Technical Education,
Noida.

Email: smsingh@jssaten.ac.in, neetusingh@jssaten.ac.in

1. Introduction:
Urban water management is basically concerned with the management of urban storm water
generated during and following the rainfall. Due to rise in construction activities in urban areas
the surfaces which was previously available for storm water to get infiltrated is now covered by
an impervious surface. The reduction in pervious surface is not only increasing the quantity of
storm water but also the time period of flood also get reduced, hence the peak of flood will be
higher.
Globally, more people live in urban areas than in rural areas, with 54 per cent of the worlds
population residing in urban areas in 2014. In 1950, 30 per cent of the worlds population was
urban, and by 2050, 66 per cent of the worlds population is projected to be urban. Just three
countriesIndia, China and Nigeria together are expected to account for 37 per cent of the
projected growth of the worlds urban population between 2014 and 2050. India is projected to
add 404 million urban dwellers, China 292 million and Nigeria 212 million.
Indias rate of urbanization rose gradually from around 10% at the end of the 19 th century to 31%
in 2011.Ecological perspective of urban storm water management involves solving the problem
of urban flooding along with the ground water replenishment, In the long run reduce carbon
emissions and help fight climate change.

Urban water management takes into consideration the total water cycle, facilitates the integration
of water factors early in the land planning process, and encourages all levels of government and
industry to adopt water management and urban planning practices that benefit the community,
the economy and the environment.
Urban water refers to all water that occurs in the urban environment and includes consideration
of natural surface water and groundwater, water provided for potable use, sewage and other
'waste' waters, stormwater, flood services, recycling of water (third pipe, stormwater harvesting,
sewer mining, managed aquifer recharge, etc.), techniques to improve water use efficiency and
reduce demands, water sensitive urban design techniques, living streams, environmental water
and protection of natural wetlands, waterways and estuaries in urban landscapes.
 The aim of urban water management is to create cities and towns that are resilient, liveable,
productive and sustainable. They interact with the urban hydrological cycle in ways that:

provide water security through efficient use of the diverse water sources available

protect and restore the health of waterways and wetlands

mitigate flood risk and damage

create public and private places that harvest, clean and recycle water, resulting in water
resource, environmental and social liveability benefits.

provide water for productive, sustainable, liveable and resilient communities

Figure 1: Precipitation change in future (Source: IPCC Report)

A warmer climate, with its increased climate variability, will increase the risk of both floods and
droughts (Wetherald and Manabe, 2002; Table SPM2 in IPCC, 2007). As there are a number of
climatic and non-climatic drivers influencing flood and drought impacts, the realisation of risks
depends on several factors. Floods include river floods, flash floods, urban floods and sewer
floods, and can be caused by intense and/or long-lasting precipitation, snowmelt, dam break, or
reduced conveyance due to ice jams or landslides. Floods depend on precipitation intensity,
volume, timing, antecedent conditions of rivers and their drainage basins (Figure1). Future
floods will be more severe as mention in IPCC report. Human encroachment into flood plains
and lack of flood response plans increase the damage potential.
2. Methodology:
Storm water management mode (SWMM) is a conceptual, dynamic, distributed model. SWMM
simulation generates the output in the form of runoff generated in a sub catchment, inflow and
outflow at junctions in a drainage network, discharge in conduits and backflow effects due to a
rainfall event. The other important tool of SWMM is LID (low impact development) which can
be applied on a part or on complete sub catchment. LID can be of different types like rain
gardens, grass swales, pervious pavements, etc. So this tool helps in simulating the pervious
surfaces in the real situation to analyze the changes in outputs and benefits on reducing the
quality and quantity of runoff.

2.1 Study Area:

Area considered for simulation is located at north western part of Delhi. The total area
considered is 355 ha. The soil type found is alluvial. It is densely constructed area situated near
to Najafgarh drain running from 28o4336.33 N to 28o4347.18.

Figure 2 Kanjhawalla Basin

 Figure 3 Study Area

For simulation this whole area is divided into 8 subcatchmnets, and drainage network is
comprised of 222 conduits, 228 junctions and 7 outfalls.

Figure 4 Model of study area in SWMM

The area is divided into number of sub catchments based on the slope of area. The links are
digitized using ARCGIS tools and used here to represent natural and man-made drains. The
joints between them are showed by the junction points which act as inlet points of the drainage
network and outfalls are the end points of the drainage network. The comparison of simulation
results of the model with LIDs covering 10% of total area in each subcatchments and without
LIDs gives the idea about the benefits drawn by introducing pervious surfaces in cities like
Delhi.

2.2 Rainfall Data for Simulation:

The simulation is carried out for 24 hours from 20th august 2012, 9:00 am to 21st august 2012.
The return period of this event is 5 years. This has produced a total rainfall of 14.70 mm in the
study area.

Figure 5 Rainfall Data for simulation

3. Results and Discussion:

The first simulation without considering the LIDs into the model gives the highest runoff in the
sub catchment S_566 of 9170 m3 and minimum runoff of 580 m3 in sub catchment S_602. The
20 junctions were found to get flooded and 38 conduits were surcharged due to the rainfall event.
In the second simulation with LID controls covering area of 10% of sub catchment in the model,
the maximum runoff observed was 8260 m3 in sub catchment S_566 and minimum runoff was
520 m3 in S_602. The junctions flooded were found same but conduits getting surcharged have
reduced to 33 from 38.
 Comparison of runof
6

4
Runoff(SIM 1)
runof (cms) 3
Runoff(Sim 2)

0
4:48:00 6:00:00 7:12:00 8:24:00

time (hrs)

Figure 6 Comparison of runoff for two simulation scenarios

The other comparison of the model without LID controls and with LID controls covering area of
50% of sub catchments is made. The simulation results has showed that the maximum runoff
observed was same as that of 2nd simulation but in other sub catchments the runoff has reduced to
a greater extent as shown in the figure

Comparison of runof
10000
8000
6000
4000 runoff sim(1)
2000 runoff sim(2)
runof (m3) 0
runoff sim(3)

sub catchment
 Figure 7 Comparison of runoff for three simulation scenarios

The junctions getting flooded has reduced to 17 and conduits getting surcharged has reduced to
28. So the introduction of pervious surfaces can reduce the runoff quantity and also the drainage
networks load. The amount of reduction obtained also depends upon the type of control
provided.

4. Conclusion:
World are recognizing the need to manage their water resources more effectively. Increased
urbanization, population growth and climate change will continue to drive the need globally for
better, smarter and more sustainable water management solutions. Sponge City design allows the
inhabitants to better enjoy where they live and work and of course in addition the city has the
ability to use their water resources far more effectively. The main benefit to the population will
be a better urban environment in terms of aesthetics and quality of life. With increasing
urbanization, if we continue to develop cities that don't take into account the capture, storage and
reuse of water then we can expect more flooding, with rivers and lakes becoming even more
polluted to the point that these water bodies die. Water-sustainable urban design result as the
quality of the urban environment is dramatically improved and the incidence of flooding is
reduced. The primary misconception around sustainable city design seems to be that there is only
one solution, when the reality is that there is no 'silver bullet'. The best sustainable designs are
those that use a combination of engineered products and natural features.

References:

1.Alain Mailhot and Sophie Duchesne(2010), Design Criteria of Urban Drainage Infrastructures
under Climate Change, Journal of Water Resour. Plann. Manage.(201- 208)

2. Bryan Ellis, Christophe Viavattene, Michael Revitt, Christian Peters and Heiko Seiker(2008)
A Modelling Approach to Support the Management of Flood and Pollution Risks for Extreme
Events in Urban Stormwater Drainage Systems London.

3. Christopher Zoppou(2000), Review of urban storm water models.Environmental Modelling

& Software(195-231)

4. Chusit Apirumanekul, Ole Mark(2001), Modelling of Urban Flooding in Dhaka City,

Thailand.

5. DARREN WATERS , W. EDGAR WATT , JIRI MARSALEK & BRUCE C.

ANDERSON(2003), Adaptation of a Storm Drainage System to Accommodate Increased
Rainfall Resulting from Climate Change, Canada.
6. Efrain Giron (2005). Development of a SWMM GIS flood model for new Orleans drainage
pumping station no 4 basin New Orleans.

7. H. Vernon Knapp, Ali Durgunoglu, and Terry W. Ortel(1991), a review of rainfallrunoff

modeling for stormwater management, Illinois.

8. J. J. Warwick and P. Tadepalli(1991), Efficacy Of SWMM Application, Journal of Water

Resources Planning and Managem(352-366).