Abstract:
Neglect of hydrology of the region, while undertaking planning and development works in an urban environment, will have serious consequences. One of such a consequence is non-availability of enough potable drinking water to citizens. Water budget studies can be undertaken with all the available records and may result in improving the functioning of such systems and in identifying additional or alternate resources.
Kakinada town in coastal Andhra Pradesh with a population of about 18,000 in 1870 has grown to about 300,000 by 1991 and is expected to touch 1000,000 by 2040. In this paper the water supply system of Kakinada town, which is more than a century old, is evaluated by accounting for water budget of supply and use components. Considering the surface water inflows available, capacities of water treatment works and the demands of urban environment supply and use of water is estimated at three levels of the water supply system. The information of the last 100 years is evaluated and the additional requirement for the future is estimated. The analysis on the future urban water requirements indicates that demands will increase by 3 times by 2025 and hence plans have to be drawn in this direction. In this study the availability of surface water through the eastern delta canal system for urban use is also evaluated.
The methodology applied to estimate balance/shortfall of water at different levels and by 2025 might be duplicated and used for evaluating similar systems elsewhere.
