Water utilization

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Water utilization

In the villages of Medak, district of the South Indian state of Telangana, where we work, there bore well water is wasted since the water is constantly running (See slide in the attachment). This results in water stagnation and huge watre wastage.
What amount of water could be saved by diverting the bore well water to cisterns with taps? 
Could you help with the estimation? What is the approximate amount of water lost per hour if allowed to run from a bore well outlet unchecked?
 

 

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10 Answers

  1. Hello, My advise is that you should engage ground water engineer , who should be able to determine the yield of the Well by carrying out a capacity test. After that they then should design for your community appropriate elevated storage tanks, develop a piped network to cover for the populace in need of water.

  2. If you're still interested in calculating the water that is unused and returns to the ground, you can place a container that is 1 gallon at the effluent point and time how long it takes to fill one gallon. you can use that number to estimate how much water is returning to the ground per hour. 

  3. What you have is called an artesian well, the geologic pressure is causing the water flow. The well could produce this way for decades (or a short time). I know of these types of springs here in the US. that produce for generations. Do not be concerned unless you note the flow decreasing. I agree with Larry Duty, the water is not wasted, it replenish the spring. KEEP IT CLEAN!!!!

  4. I do not know why you think the water is wasted. Since the water is being soaked back into the ground (hence it is recharging the well). Actually, I would think it to be a good advantage since it is being filtered through sand layers before reentering the recharge zone. The main thing is keeping contaminates (human waste and other water soluble contaminates) from the recharge zone. It may be a good idea to enforce a sterile zone around the area.   

  5. Why do not build a fixed cistern of cement and the people can bring the water from the tap. The excess of water remain in the tank and you can measure tha water saved.

    Regards,

    Luis Seijas

    xlseijasqgmail.com

  6. Dear Mahtab,

    May be it,s better explain more about your problem.

  7. As I understand it is not an artesian well.  The water is constantly running from a tap with people using buckets to catch the water.  If you want to calculate volume loss it will be an estimate. 

    Checking flow from source:  You need to measure the flow using a known volume and measuring the time in seconds to calculate flow.  Lets say 20l bucket takes 10 seconds to fill.  Thus it will be 2ls/.  To estimate the waste check the time between people changing between getting water from the source and get an estimate for the day.

     

    The second method is to dig a hole at the outlet and measure the waste there.  It will also just be a daily estimate.

     

    Stand pipes with taps are definitely an answer.  It will also be more hygienic.  Show the people that it is important to close the tap after usage.  A few tap will also ensure that people do not waste time to wait for other for water.  In South Africa in the old days the women fetch water and it was there time to get together.  The time lost was actually good for the woman to correspond with each other.

    As I understand it is not a artesian well 

  8. Hi, all depends if this is a natural system or pumped system. For a pumped system then stopping the pump based on a water level would be straight forward (ball valve similar to toilet cistern). The amount of water saved would depend upon the pump duty (head & flow). A storage tank would appear to be a simple cost effective solution. A natural system would also benefit from a storage tank. 

  10. Dear Mahtab, Is it artesian spring or do you pump the water from a well up? Of course it would make sense to block the intake and to regulte delivery by a tap.

    Best regards

     

    Matthias

    1 Comment

    1. Can measure the water with plastic liter bottles and watch/cell phone timer.  Do 10 minutes and divide out for liters per minute then hour, then day, week, month, year.

       

      Yes could plumb the flow first to buried cistern so it would fill by gravity, use piping between well and cistern to keep water clean.  This would give better place for larger water withdrawl like filling a portable tank.

       

      Then could ditch the water just like typical irrigation ditch to vegetables, flowers, etc.  Would want to set up system of gates so water could be directed to parts of gardens in cycles then allowed to dry out, very common practice.

       

      Best of luck,

       

      …geoff

       

       

      Geoffrey S. Elliott

      Rotary Club of Grand Lake

      970-509-0199