An IUWM incorporated model to improve water supply reliability in intermittent and no service areas

Abstract

Water supply reliability is an increasingly important aspect of water system design, especially in regions with unreliable water supply. Most water systems initially designed as continuous supply systems are affected by constraints such as limited freshwater supply, infrastructure inadequacy and insufficient expansion, poor operations and management, contributing to Intermittent Water Supply (IWS) or no services in some regions. IWS is a common condition in developing countries like India. Many approaches have been developed to address water availability and quality challenges, including Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM). The main principle of IUWM is to incorporate non-conventional water supply sources, such as stormwater, rooftop rainwater and recycled wastewater, to augment water supply and provide fit-for-purpose water. However, in developing countries, IUWM principles have not been sufficiently investigated to understand how they can improve water supply reliability in regions with IWS or no centralized water supply. In this study, an IUWM incorporated model was developed to understand how supply reliability can be improved in areas with IWS or no services, with Bangalore city in India, as a case study. Five different supply configurations to incorporate IUWM principles were analyzed and compared to identify the most efficient way to incorporate non-conventional water sources. The analysis identifies potential supply issues in the area under the current centralized water supply. The results show that the traditional water supply system can not meet the minimum water demand. The reliability can be improved from <50% to 100% with the incorporation of non-conventional water sources.