Water Supply

It is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organizations, community endeavors or

by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Irrigation is covered separately.
Water supply systems get water from a variety of locations after appropriate treatment, including
groundwater (aquifers), surface water (lakes and rivers), and the sea through desalination.
The water treatment steps include, in most cases, purification, disinfection
through chlorination and sometimes fluoridation. Treated water then either flows by gravity or is
pumped to reservoirs, which can be elevated such as water towers or on the ground (for
indicators related to the efficiency of drinking water distribution). Once water is used,
wastewater is typically discharged in a sewer system and treated in a sewage treatment
plant before being discharged into a river, lake or the sea or reused for landscaping, irrigation or
industrial use.
Water Demand
It is divided into:
Domestic demand This includes the water required in private building for drinking,
bathing, gardening, sanitary purpose, etc.
Public demand It represents the water demand for public utility purpose like washing of
public parks, gardening, washing on roads, public fountain.
Industrial demand It represents the water demand of industries which exist earlier or are
likely to be started in future.
Commercial demand It is the water requirement for institutions, hotels, schools,
colleges, offices.
Fire demand In populated or industrial area, fires generally breakout and may lead to
serious problem. For control those situations require sufficient quantity water that is called
fire demand.
Water demand require for thefts and wastes This includes the water lost in leakage
and stolen water due to unauthorized water connection.
Some factors affecting the water demand are:

Size of the city

Climate condition
Cost of water
Distribution system

Supply system
Industry
Quality of water
Habit of consumers

 The demand of water per person per day is referred as per capita demand.
per capita demand = yearly water demand / population x 365
Water Treatment
A combination selected from the following processes is used for municipal drinking water
treatment worldwide:
Pre-chlorination - for algae control and arresting any biological growth
Aeration - along with pre-chlorination for removal of dissolved iron and manganese
Coagulation and Flocculation - Chemicals with a positive charge are added to the
water. The positive charge of these chemicals neutralizes the negative charge of dirt and
other dissolved particles in the water. When this occurs, the particles bind with the
chemicals and form larger particles, called floc.
Coagulant aids, also known as polyelectrolytes - to improve coagulation and for
thicker floc formation
Sedimentation - for solids separation, that is, removal of suspended solids trapped in the
floc
Filtration - removing particles from water through filters of varying compositions of sand,
gravel, and charcoal
Desalination - Process of removing salt from the water
Disinfection - for killing bacteria by using chlorine and/or chloramine
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_supply
http://www.slideshare.net/LUND456/water-demand-and-factor-affecting-water-demand
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_treatment
http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/public/water_treatment.html