FOURTH EDITION

CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION
 Water is controlled and regulated to serve a wide variety of purposes.
Flood mitigation, storm drainage, sewerage, and highway culvert design are
applications of water-resources engineering to the control of water so that it
will not cause excessive damage to property, inconvenience to the public, or
loss of life.
Pollution threatens the utility of water for municipal and irrigation
uses and seriously despoils the aesthetic value of rivers—hence pollution
control or water- quality management has become an important phase of
water-resources engineering.
Table 1.1 summarizes the problems that may be encountered within the
nine main functional fields of water-resources engineering.
 At some risk of oversimplification, the job of the water-resources
engineer may be reduced to a number of basic questions. Since the water-
resources project is for the control or use of water, the first questions
naturally deal with the quantities of water.

On the basis of an economic analysis, a decision must also be made

concerning the span of years for which the proposed project will serve.
 Table 1.2 summarizes 1980 water use in the United States in relation
to gross mater supply-precipitation. In discussing water use it is important to
distinguish between diversion (withdrawal), or water taken into a system,
and consumption, mater that is evaporated or combined in a product and is
no longer available for use.
 In addition to being adequate in quantity, water must often withstand
certain tests of quality. Problems of water quality are encountered in
planning water-supply and irrigation projects and in the disposal of
wastewater. Polluted streams create problems for fish and wildlife, are
unsuited for recreation, and are often unsightly and sometimes odorous.
Chemical and bacteriologic tests are employed to determine the amount
and character of impurities in water.

Chemical and bacteriologic tests are employed to determine the

amount and character of impurities in water. Plant and human
physiologists must evaluate the effect of these impurities on crops or
human consumers and set standards of acceptable quality.
 The engineer must then provide the necessary facilities for removing
impurities from the water by physical, chemical, or biologic methods.
Hydrologic studies are necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of the
wastewater management. Governmental agencies having the
authority to regulate the disposal of wastes are required to
safeguard our waters against pollution.
Structural design of facilities for water-
resources projects utilizes the
techniques of civil engineering. The
shape and dimensions of the structure
are often dictated by the hydraulic
characteristics it must possess and
hence are determined by application of
the principles of fluid mechanics. Many
hydraulic structures are relatively
massive as compared with buildings and
bridges, and the structural design
involves much less fine detail.
 Largely because of topographic controls, it is not always
possible to select the most satisfactory location for a hydraulic
structure from the structural viewpoint.

These investigations should be aimed at selecting the best of

the otherwise suitable sites, predicting the structural problems that
will result from the particular conditions at the site, and locating
sources of native material suitable for use in the proposed structure.
 Little skill is required to design a structure for some purpose
if unlimited funds are available. The special ability of the engineer
is reflected in the planning of projects that serve their intended
purpose at a cost commensurate with the benefits (value
engineering).

An economic analysis to determine the best of several

alternatives is required in planning most projects. It must usually be
demonstrated that the project cost is sufficiently less than the
expected benefits to warrant the required investment.
 Most water projects are planned for
and financed by some governmental unit—a
municipal water-supply or sewerage system, a
state highway department, or a federal
irrigation or flood-mitigation project—or by a
public utility. Many such projects become
controversial political issues and are debated
at length by people whose understanding of
the basic engineering aspects of the problem
is limited.
Planning is an important step in the development of a water-
resources project. The planning of a project (Fig. 1.1) generally
involves a political incentive or recognition of the need for a project.
 The importance of water to human life justifies the supposition
that some ancient man conceived the idea of diverting streamflow from
a natural channel to an artificial one in order to convey water to some
point where it was needed for crops or humans.

The Old World contains numerous evidences of water projects of

considerable magnitude. The earliest large-scale drainage and irrigation
works are attributed to Menes, founder of the first Egyptian dynasty, about
3200 b.c .
These early works were not designed
and built by engineers in the modern
sense of the word. The ancient builders
were master craftsmen and technicians
(the Greek architekton, or
archtechnician) who employed amazing
intuitive judgment in planning and
executing their works. Rules of thumb
developed through experience guided
the leading builders, but these trade
secrets were not necessarily conveyed
to other men.
 Increasing urban population
require more attention to storm
drainage, water supply , and sewerage.
Industrial progress finds increasing
uses for water in process industries
and for electric-power production.
 The emphasis of water-
resources engineering shifts more
or less continuously. The major
work in this field during the early
years of the United States was the
construction of canals for
transport. other modes of
transportation have made the
canal boat obsolete, but these new
means of transport have
introduced new problems of
drainage for highways, railroads,
and airports.