Percolation - Tank Design
Percolation - Tank Design
Percolation - Tank Design
C. P. Kumar, Scientist F
National Institute of Hydrology Roorkee (India)
ARTIFICIAL RECHARGE
The artificial recharge to ground water aims at augmentation of ground water reservoir by modifying the natural movement of surface water. Any man made scheme or facility that adds water to an aquifer may be considered to be an artificial recharge system. Artificial recharge techniques normally address to the following issues: 1. To enhance the sustainable yield in areas where over-development has depleted the aquifer. 2. Conservation and storage of excess surface water for future requirements, since these requirements often change within a season or a period. 3. To improve the quality of existing ground water through dilution. 4. The basic purpose of artificial recharge of ground water is to restore supplies from aquifers depleted due to excessive ground water development. Desaturated aquifer offers good scope in locations where source water, if available, can be stored using artificial recharge techniques.
BASIC REQUIREMENTS
The basic requirements for recharging the ground water reservoir are: 1. Availability of non-committed surplus monsoon run off in space and time. 2. Identification of suitable hydrogeological environment and sites for creating subsurface reservoir through cost effective artificial recharge techniques.
PERCOLATION TANKS
The percolation tanks are mostly earthen dams with masonry structure only for spillway. These are the most prevalent structures in India as a measure to recharge the groundwater reservoir both in alluvial as well as hard rock formations. Percolation tank is an artificially created surface water body, submerging in its reservoir a highly permeable land so that surface runoff is made to percolate and recharge the ground water storage. Percolation tank should be constructed preferably on second to third order streams, located on highly fractured and weathered rocks, which have lateral continuity downstream. Percolation tank should be located on highly fractured and weathered rock for speedy recharge. In case of alluvium, the bouldary formations are ideal for locating percolation tanks. The aquifer to be recharged should have sufficient thickness of permeable vadose zone to accommodate recharge.
The downstream of recharge area should have sufficient number of wells and cultivable land to get benefit from the augmented ground water. In Peninsular India with semi arid climate, the storage capacity of percolation tank should be designed such that the water percolates to ground water reservoir by January/February, since the evaporation losses would be high subsequently. The size of a percolation tank should be governed by the percolation capacity of the strata in the tank bed rather than yield of the catchment. In case, the percolation rate is not adequate, the impounded water is locked up and wasted more through evaporation losses, thus depriving the downstream area from the valuable water resource. Detailed analysis of the rainfall pattern, number of rainy days, dry spells, evaporation rate and detailed hydrogeological studies are necessary to demarcate suitable percolation tank sites. Detailed hydrological studies should be done for runoff assessment and designed capacity should normally not be more than 50 percent of the total quantum of utilizable runoff from the catchment.
4. Make suitable assumptions - such as number of fillings per year (say 2), utilization of yield per filling (say 5%) etc. Compute capacity of percolation tank (based-upon utilization of yield per filling). 5. Development of stage-capacity curve/table: Draw the contour lines at every 50 cm interval between the bed level and the highest ground level at the site. From these contour lines, the capacity of the tank at 0.5 m, 1.0 m, 1.5 m, 2.0 m, . height above the bed level is calculated. 6. Compute full tank level (FTL) from stage-capacity curve/table.
Embankment
10. Based-upon the type of material, assign suitable side slopes for embankments.
Type of material Homogeneous well graded Homogeneous coarse silt Homogeneous silty clay (i) Height less than 15 m (ii) Height more than 15 m Sand or sand and gravel with central clay core
11. Compute peak discharge depending upon the catchment area and type of corresponding data available.
Rational method: Q = CIA/36
Q = peak discharge, m3/s; C = runoff coefficient; I = Intensity of rainfall for duration equal to the time of concentration of the watershed, cm/hr; A = catchment area of the watershed, ha.
Dickens formula:
Q = CA3/4
Q = peak discharge, m3/s; A = catchment area in km2; C = constant (for North India, C = 11.5; Central India, C = 14 to 19.5; Western India, C = 22 to 25). The formula is generally useful for catchments of North India. An average value of C equal to 11.5 is generally used and it is increased for hilly catchments and vice versa.
Ryves formula:
Q = CA2/3
Q = peak discharge, m3/s; A = catchment area in km2; C = constant (for areas within 80 km from coast, C = 6.8; areas within 80-2400 km from coast, C = 8.8; areas near hills, C = 10.1; actual observed values, C upto 40). The formula is applicable to catchments in South India. The average value of C to be used is 6.8 with less value for flat catchments and more for hilly catchments.