Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
5
Drinking Water Conveyance
and Distrib
ution
Water is the best of all things.
—Pindar (ca. 522-438 BCE)
Man is not an aquatic animal, but from the time we stand in youthful
wonder beside a spring brook till we sit in old age and watch the endless
roll of the sea, we feel a strong kinship with the waters of this world.
—Hal Borland (1964)
Introduction
Before we begin our discussion of drinking water conveyance and distribu-
tion systems, we must review the information we have covered to this point.
In many cases, a municipal water supply provides drinking water for use in
homes and industries. This same water supply source may also be used for
irrigation, for extinguishing fires, for street cleaning, for carrying wastes to
treatment facilities, and for many other purposes. We stated that the two most
important factors in any water supply are its
quality
and
quantity
(Q and Q
factors). We now need to add a third factor to the mix: the
location
of the water
supply relative to points of use. Note that each type of water use has its own
prerequisites. Food processing plants, for example, require large volumes and
high water quality. Waste conveyance systems, on the other hand, require
only quantity or volume. Recall that the earliest communities were almost
exclusively located near a water source (see
Figure 5.1
). Further, the evolution
DID YoU KNoW?
Recent archaeological work has uncovered an elaborate water dis-
tribution network at Machu Pichu, Peru (see
Figure 5.1
). Amazingly,
by 1450 AD, at this incomparable site Incan engineers had devised
a spring collection system that fed 16 fountains—at an altitude of
more than 8000 feet.
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