| Water for survival and physical well being is becoming a major issue of concern as available resources become more and more strained to meet the quantity and quality needs of a growing world population. While the need for safe, adequate water for human use in rural developing areas has received little attention, the results of shortages in these areas are easy to see but difficult to address. The focus of this research and dissertation has been to identify sustainable water alternatives available to a village and then compare the resulting sources in order to make a sound engineering choice on the optimum system. The results provide a systematic description of the water systems that are derived from different types of water sources. The component parts of each individual system, vulnerable points for contamination, best treatment points, use and disposal were identified. Once the alternative water source systems and their functions were described, they were inserted into the Decision Support System for Village Water Resources (DSSVWR) model for comparison in terms of construction cost, sustained operation and system risk. The DSSVWR model was developed to identify the specific water needs of a village first and compare them to the expected yield of the available water resources. Additional formulas were developed to provide a cost estimate of each component of an alternative system using RS Means cost data and field survey information. The result is a dynamic model that can aid in selecting the most efficient water resource for exploitation. |
