Water Resources Engineering

Groundwater is a vital natural capital for the consistent and economic provision of potable water supply for both rural and urban environments. The present scenario of climate change has posed a challenge to the fundamental well being of all countries, and the situation is even more worser in countries or regions which are already suffering from water scarcity. Due to the decreasing trend in rainfall in certain regions and increasing water demands, the surface water sources are depleting and therefore, there is a need to locate alternate sources of water. The development of a reasonable model for groundwater potential can be a better solution. This project aims to generate groundwater potential zonation map using geographic information system (GIS) for the selected study area. Different thematic maps, such as geomorphology, geology, soil type, land slope and land use/land cover, drainage density, lineament density, hydro-geomorphology were integrated with weighted overlay in GIS to generate groundwater potential zonation map of the area. Based on the groundwater potential index values, the study area was classified as ‘high’, ‘moderate’ or ‘low’.Then the appropriate sites for artificial recharge structures are identified based on the overlay analysis of geomorphology and drainage layer execution through GIS technologies. These structures will be capable of fulfilling the demand of groundwater for future generations.Groundwater quality is a major environmental aspect which needs to be analyzed and managed depending on its spatial distribution. So, the spatial distribution of groundwater quality parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity, Cl, SO4, hardness, and NO3 concentrations is also determined and groundwater quality map of the study area, i.e, Muvattupuzha Block is then generated by using GIS interpolation techniques.

"The primary purpose of this study is to articulate how land and water should be managed to maximize the chances of providing cities and their inhabitants with water. Thematic Layers were generated from the attribute data collected which was then overlayed to find the water stressed areas in the district. The methodology was developed based on weightage analysis. Melarkode village was identified as a water stressed area district, Stormtech chambers were chosen as the remedial measure.Following which the design of chambers which include finding the number of chambers, quantity of aggregate, soil to be excavated and design of pipe systems and its components were done. After conducting cost estimation the total cost of the project amounts to Rs.13,53,000 Subsequently the understanding from this project can be extended to different land areas which are water stressed, based on the assumption that all these factors play a major role in the management of stormwater resources as well as the usability of the land area where it is implemented."

"Water is an essential element required for the sustenance of life. With the tremendous growth in population demand for drinking is increasing on continual basis. This ever increasing demand can be fulfilled by designing efficient water distribution networks based on advance computing systems including modern hydraulic modeling and designing softwares.WaterGEMS is a water simulating software. It performs extended simulation of hydraulic and water quality behaviour within pressurized pipe networks. It imprints the flow of water in every pipe,the pressure at every node,the height of water in each tank, and the absorption of a chemical sort throughout the network. The present study is Design of water distribution system of a rural area in Mookkannoor which is located at Ernakulam district of Kerala using WaterGEMS software. Study of present population, population of the three decades, daily water demand is done. The system of supply of water in the study area is not reliable. Hence the project is about analysis of existing network and proposing a new network of supply so that it will make the people there aware of new demands and rate of increase in demands.The system is a pipeline network consisting of one source node and several demand nodes are considered to find its optimal geometrical layout which delivers known demands from source to consumers over a long period of time."

An estuary is a water body where the fresh water meets the saline water. The Estuaries represent unique ecosystems that support wide variety of life forms. The present study aims at estimating the spatial shrinkage of Ashtamudi Estuary in the Kollam district of the state of Kerala and to correlate these changes with the land use land cover changes in the surrounding area. GIS coupled with remote sensing proves to be an excellent tool for such studies. Estuarine areas were mapped with the help of Landsat MSS, Landsat ETM and Landsat OLI images using visual interpretation and digitization techniques in ArcGIS Environment. The land use land cover pattern of the surrounding area were identified in the ERDAS Imagine environment. The results showed an overall reduction in the estuarine area by 7.97%F ̇rom the land use land cover it was identified that the built- upareaincreasedby70.95%thevegetationcoverreducedby35.06%A ̇lso minor increase in the settlement with vegetation and reduction in barren land was observed. The variation in the spatial coverage of estuary was correlated with the changes in land use/land cover pattern successfully Ashtamudi Estuary is the deepest and second largest estuary of the state of Kerala. Ashtamudi Lake has been designated as Ramsar Site in November 2002.Ashtamudi estuary supports a lot of associated ecosystems which makes it necessary to monitor and protect the estuary. Periodic monitoring of the estuary is essential for the formulation of viable management options for the sustainable utilization of this vital environmental resource.

"Saltwater Intrusion vulnerability mapping of coastal aquifers using GALDIT and GIS, is an attempt to map the vulnerable parts of Ernakulam district to saltwater Intrusion . GALDIT model was used to assess the vulnerability and ArcGIS was used to map the spatial variation of vulnerability. The results of the analysis indicate that the study area is having a low to moderate threat of saltwater Intrusion."