ICEH Papers

ECOSYSTEM APPROACH TO MANAGEMENT OF DRINKING WATER SUPPLY HEAD WORKS

Thirunavukkarasu, S. “Ecosystem Approach To Management Of Drinking Water Supply Head Works” in Martin J. Bunch, V. Madha Suresh and T. Vasantha Kumaran, eds., Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Environment and Health, Chennai, India, 15-17 December, 2003. Chennai: Department of Geography, University of Madras and Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University. Pages 583 – 587.

Abstract:

Human health and sanitation is mostly dependent on water availability and water quality. The Majority of the population in Tamil Nadu depend on groundwater for human consumption.

This paper deals with the problem of availability of groundwater for drinking from alluvial river beds. In all the rivers with alluvium, the present water supply headwork consist of infiltration wells and galleries. Whenever there is flow in the rivers, the alluvium get saturated and this water is drawn through infiltration wells. This water is then pumped to supply mains with or without an overhead tank.

The above conventional water supply head works are facing many problems now. Due to over exploitation of groundwater for irrigation on both banks of the rivers, the aquifer level had been lowering year by year. Now the aquifer level is well below the level of the infiltration galleries. Due to this no water is received through the galleries and only the water in the infiltration well is pumped for supply. This has resulted in a short supply to many Towns. This results in the installation of a higher number of bore wells within the town limits, resulting in over exploitation.

In this paper an attempt is made to suggest an ecologically sound method of rejuvenating the defunct infiltration galleries. The method involves the formation of a subsurface dyke which will be of clay across the river just downstream of the infiltration wells and galleries.

The method of construction, will be detailed in the full text. This method will go a long way to improving the water availability for the people and thereby improving the health and sanitation of the people.

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