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MODERN CHALLENGES TO A HYDRAULIC ENGINEER
RESERVOIR SEDIMENTATION
Reservoir sedimentation management is of critical importance for the sustainable
development of surface water resources. Dams are notorious for their severe
sedimentation problems. Because of the alarming rate of loss of reservoir storage
capacity and the unacceptable negative impact induced by the rapid upstream
extension of sediment deposited in the river's backwater region, the dams have to be
reconstructed to provide high sediment releasing capacity, and the dam operation is
required to be changed in order to achieve a balance between sediment inflow and
outflow so that the dam must provide the basin with flood control, irrigation, and
hydropower generation.
The sediment size also effects the reservoir capacity and it determine the place where is
will stay in the dam body. It requires the modeling of the reservoir or the dam. From
that study we can have idea about the life of the structure and the storage capacity with
the passage of time. The computation for the sediments is very difficult because we
cannot achieve all the condition present at any site.
SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF DAMS
Due to large area of the dams or reservoir, peoples are required to be displaced which
have the social impacts on the lives of people. Peoples are not ready to leave their
native place and profession. Further the hydrology of that area changes. Ground water
raise in that areas and it also affects the surrounding areas. Animal life and water bodies
like fishes also affected from these types of activities. In case of any dam or reservoir
failure, there will be a lot of human and property damage which cannot be estimated.
FLOOD CONTROL
Using different empirical relations and modeling, we can have an idea about the floods
but infect we cannot forecast the actual flood duration, quantity of flood, and the area
that will be submerged by the water. Further it is difficult to regulate the rivers at a
specific path because of high water forces it erodes the land and changes its path so we
do not know about the planes forming the river.
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DESIGNING HYDRAULIC STRUCTURES
The design should be done keeping in mind the risk that is being associated with it. Use
the latest techniques to select an optimum design regarding risk. These techniques
include Genetic Algorithm and Aunt Colony method.
MODEL EXPERIMENTS
Phenomena in a river are very complex because they are the results of interactions
among several factors, such as water flow, sediment flow, vegetation, and river
structures. Theoretical and empirical calculations are not enough to find appropriate
solutions for river management, especially for flood conditions.
On-site surveys serve as a direct measure to understand phenomena in a river.
Such surveys, however, require a great deal of cost and labor. Also, it is virtually
impossible to collect information regarding conditions of small probability, such asdesign flood, by this kind of survey.
River hydraulic model experiments, used together with calculations and on-sight
surveys, can be very helpful to find solutions. Such experiments are almost always
conducted in various project planning and designs concerning river management.
URBAN WATER SUPPLY
Studies should be done to reduce the loses of urban water supply which can include
i. Use of pressure valves at different locationsii. Increasing the charges to create awareness among people regarding water loseiii. Check and balance on water connections
GROUND WATER RECHARGING
Due to excessive pumping, rise in temperature and other environmental factors the
ground water is lowered. It is a great challenge to store the ground water to its original
level. It requires the modeling of the ground water and thus such conditions (like groundwater) are very difficult to achieve.
GROUND WATER CONTAMINATION
Almost every person on the earth is disposing the waste materials (industrial waste,
domestic waste, nuclear waste) without any treatment. The common practice is to
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