Here is a compilation of essays on ‘Water Supplies in Rural Areas’ for class 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. Find paragraphs, long and short essays on ‘Water Supplies in Rural Areas’ especially written for school and college students.
Essay on Water Supply in Rural Areas
Essay Contents:
- Essay on the Introduction to Water Supplies in Rural Areas
- Essay on the Sources of Water for People in Rural Areas
- Essay on the Selection of Suitable Source of Water for Rural Water Supply
- Essay on the Quantitative Requirement of Water in a Rural Water Supply Scheme
- Essay on the Water Treatment Methods for Rural Water Supplies
Essay # 1. Introduction to Water Supplies in Rural Areas:
Most of the Indian population live in rural areas which is about 80%, but only about 60% of them have some form of potable water supply, with only about 20% having piped water supply.
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There are various reasons, due to which the potable water supply has not been feasible to cover all the villages, such as:
(i) Scattered and inaccessible nature of villages,
(ii) Non-availability of nearby water sources, and
(iii) Non-availability of adequate funds to take up those projects which may serve only a few people.
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Due to the above constraints, it becomes very difficult to supply piped potable water to the villages through a full-fledged conventional water treatment plant, and hence, special simple methods are adopted to treat the available water supplies in rural areas.
Essay # 2. Sources of Water for People in Rural Areas:
Since most of the surface water sources, generally, are located at par off distances from the rural villages, hence, it is not possible to supply surface waters to the scattered and isolated rural areas except in few cases. Most of our villages, therefore, do depend upon ground water supplies, to be extracted through wells and tube wells. In hilly areas, sometimes, natural springs also become available. Infiltration galleries have also been constructed in a few cases to supply water.
The degree and type of treatment to be given will depend upon the quality of water sources available:
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1. Springs and boreholes are widely used as the sources of water in rural areas.
2. Springs are natural sources of ground water, while the boreholes are dug or drilled to lift ground water. These sources can provide reliable water supply.
3. A well or a bore hole must be dug or drilled into the permeable strata, and the water is lifted manually or by mechanical pumps. It is essential that care full control is kept on the land adjacent to the well head. It is usually advisable to prevent surface water entering the well by sealing the top section with brick or concrete.
In order to obtain larger centralized discharges for distribution among the villagers through piped supply after treatment, deep tube wells may be drilled, water from such tube wells shall be lifted by means of pumps, which may be run on electrical, diesel or wind power. The chances of contamination of such deep supplies are very less, although however. They may contain large scale minerals and dissolved salts.
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Essay # 3. Selection of Suitable Source of Water for Rural Water Supply:
Where more than one possible source is available, the choice should be made in order of the following priorities:
(i) The reliability of the source
(ii) The purity of water available in the source, and
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(iii) The ease with which the water from the source can be supplied to the consumers
Essay # 4. Quantitative Requirement of Water in a Rural Water Supply Scheme:
The hand book on water supply and drainage, Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi has laid down the following minimum per capita domestic consumption for rural communities with population up to 20,000.
(i) Where piped supply with service connections is proposed — not less than 70- 100 lpcd
(ii) Where supply is proposed through hand pumps or central stand posts — not less than 40.
The estimated water requirement and other factors relevant to village water supply can also be computed by using more detailed information on number of taps, etc. as given below:
1. The capacity of each water tap is 10 l/min. and hence the total quantity in litres can be worked out by multiplying the no. of taps with minutes of supply and rate factor of 10 lit/min.
2. If houses are not provided with taps and only street taps are provided, then the general average per capita demand may be taken as 18 lit/person/day. If however, the houses are provided with taps, then the average per capita demand of 45 lit/ capita/day may be considered.
3. If the entire house is piped and provided with flush system, then the per capita water demand may be taken as 225 l/c/d which can further be reduced upto [135 l/c/d],
4. The demand for a school or a hospital may be taken as 45 l/c/d.
5. Loss through faulty joints and careless handling of taps may be taken as 25%.
6. For every 200 people, at least one tap must be provided.
7. Water carrying distance should not exceed 100 meters.
8. The design population for computing water demand should be taken as 1.5 times the present population.
Essay # 5. Water Treatment Methods for Rural Water Supplies:
The treatment of water for rural and small communities will largely depend upon the quality of available raw water, and also upon the availability of funds.
Most of the Indian rural supplies are being derived from wells and tube wells, and are usually supplied after simple ‘chlorination’, which ensures elimination of bacterial contamination present in rain water.
When deep bore waters are to be used for drinking purposes, testing for the dissolved metals like fluorides, iron, manganese, nitrates, etc. becomes virtual necessity. Many of the Indian deep well waters are found to contain excess concentrations of fluorides, chlorides, iron and manganese, harness, etc.
(i) Treatment Methods for High Fluorine Waters:
Ground waters in many parts of India are found to contain very high concentrations of fluorides, which cause moulting of teeth initially, and fluorosis disease with continued used of fluoride rich waters. The states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, are affected with high fluoride content. ‘Defluoridation’ is mainly employed for removal of excess fluoride from water.
A simple method, called the ‘Nalgonda’ method, has therefore, been designed to defluoride waters in our country. This technique not only helps in removal of fluorides, but also helps in removing colour, odour, turbidity, bacteria and organic contaminations from raw waters.
In this technique, sodium aluminate or lime, bleaching powder and filter-alum are added to fluoride water in sequence. Water in then stirred for ten minutes and allowed to settle for one hour, and water is then with drawn without disturbing the sediments, sodium aluminate or lime accelerates settlement of precipitate and bleaching powder ensures disinfection.
The alum dose required will depend upon the concentration of fluorides, alkalinity and total dissolved solids in raw water. It is found that this technique is simple operation and economical.
(ii) Treatment Methods for Removing Iron:
Many of the Indian deep bore hole waters are found to contain excess concentrations of iron than permissible value of 0.3 mg/l. The excess concentration of iron does impart bitter characteristics metallic taste to the water. The oxidised precipitates of iron, if present, can cause coloration of water, which may be yellowish brown to black which is objectionable for domestic purposes.
The iron rich waters also cause staining of the plumbing fixtures and clothes washed in laundries. Deposition of iron oxide in the pipe lines of the distribution system may not only lead to reduced carrying capacity, but also promote the growth of iron bacteria (m.o.) causing bacterical slimes.
Iron, in ground waters, is usually contributed by the dissolution of rocks and minerals, chiefly oxides, sulphides, carbonates and silicates of iron.
The iron may be present in water either in combination with organic matter or without such combination. Water present without combination with organic matter, the iron can easily be precipitated by aeration.
On the other hand, when iron is present in combination with organic matter, it becomes difficult to break the bond between them, and to cause their removal. However, when once this bound is broken, it can be removed as above.
This bond may be removed either by adding lime and thereby increasing pH value of water to about 8.5 or 9.0, or by adding chlorine or potassium permanganate during oxidation which when followed by settling and filtration can remove iron.