Water Resources Engineering and Management - A Civil Engineering Course under the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning

This Civil Engineering Course under the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) on the broad subject of Water Resources Engineering and Management is being carried out by Indian Institute of Technology’s and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore as a collaborative project supported by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (Government of India) to enhance the quality of engineering education in the country, by developing curriculum based video and web courses. In these web based lectures, the authors have developed the subject in detail and in stages in a student-friendly manner. The broad group of Water Resources Engineering is structured into modules on the topic by IIT Kharagpur as follows:

Module 1: Principles of Water Resource Engineering

• Lesson 1: Surface and Groundwater Resources: This lesson deals with hydrological cycle and its components, distribution of earth’s water resources, distribution of fresh water on earth, rainfall distribution in India, major river basins of India, land and water resources of India, water development potential and need for development of water resources. Download the lesson here.

• Lesson 2: Concepts for Planning Water Resources Development: This lesson deals with planning for water resource projects, planning for prioritizing water resource projects, concept of basin-wise project development, demand of water within a basin, structural construction for water projects, concept of inter-basin water transfer project and tasks for planning a water resources project. Download the lesson here.

• Lesson 3: National Policy for Water Resources Development: This deals with water policy, the conventional and non-conventional methods in planning water resources projects, priorities in terms of allocation of water for various purposes, participatory approaches to management, guidelines for projects to supply water for drinking and irrigation, agencies responsible for implementing/monitoring water resources projects in our country and constitutional provision guiding water resource development in the country. Download the lesson here.

• Lesson 4: Planning and Assessment of Data for Project Formulation: This chapter looks into the different aspects of preparing a project plan likely to face a water resources system planner, including the basic assessment of data that is primary to any project plan formulation. Download the lesson here.

Module 2: The Science of Surface and Groundwater

• Lesson 1: Precipitation and Evaporation: The lesson deals with the role of precipitation and evapotranspiration with the hydrological cycle, the methods to calculate average rainfall over an area and estimation of evapotranspiration based on climatological data. Download the lesson here.

• Lesson 2: Runoff and Infiltration: This lesson deals with the difference between overland flow, inter-flow and base flow components contributing to stream flow generation. Methods to separate infiltration from rainfall hyetographs effective rainfall and baseflow from stream hydrograph to find out the Direct Runoff Hydrograph are explained. Download the lesson here.

• Lesson 3: Rainfall-Runoff Relationships: This lesson deals with the relationship between the direct runoff hydrograph of a catchment observed at a location (the catchment outlet) and the effective rainfall over the catchment causing the runoff are proposed to be dealt with. Download the lesson here.

• Lesson 4: Design Flood Estimation: This lesson explains how design flood is described for a particular hydraulic structure and the methods to calculate design floods viz, a) Hydro-meteorological approach, and b) Statistical approach. Download the lesson here.

• Lesson 5: Subsurface movement of water: This lesson deals with the theory behind movement of water in saturated/unsaturated zone, the meanings of equipotential and flow lines, aquifers and confining layers. Download the lesson here.

• Lesson 6: Principles of Groundwater Flow: In this lesson, the mathematical description of saturated groundwater flow and its exact and approximate relations to the hydraulic gradient is dealt with. Download the lesson here

• Lesson 7: Well Hydraulics: This lesson deals with concepts of steady and unsteady groundwater flow to wells and the determination of the physical properties of confined aquifers. Download the lesson here

• Lesson 8: Flow Dynamics in Open Channels and Rivers: In this lesson the behavior and corresponding mathematical description of flow in open channels are reviewed in order to utilize them in designing water resources systems. Download the lesson here

• Lesson 9: Geomorphology of Rivers: This lesson attempts to understand the flow and sediment transport behavior of natural channels and rivers. Applied theories of sediment dynamics and their application to natural rivers and artificial channels have been discussed. Download the lesson here

• Lesson 10: Sediment Dynamics in Alluvial Rivers and Channels: This lesson deals with the mechanics of sediment movement in alluvial rivers, the different types of bed forms in alluvial rivers and quantitative assessment of sediment transport. Download the lesson here

Module 3: Irrigation Engineering Principles

• Lesson 1: India’s Irrigation Needs and Strategies for Development: This lesson looks into the options available to the irrigation engineer for development of irrigation facilities within the constraints. Download the lesson here

• Lesson 2: Soil Water Plant Relationships: In this lesson the essentials which are important to a water resources engineer contemplating the development of a command area through scientifically designed irrigation system are discussed. Download the lesson here

• Lesson 3: Estimating Irrigation Demand: This lesson finds out the methods by which estimation may be made for irrigation water demand. Download the lesson here

• Lesson 4: Types of Irrigation Schemes and Methods of Field Water Application: In this lesson the ways in which various water sources may be utilized to meet the demand of irrigation or the gross irrigation requirement and the different procedures adopted for applying the water to the field of crops is discussed. Download the lesson here

• Lesson 5: Traditional Water Systems and Minor Irrigation Schemes: This lesson deals with the traditional approaches of irrigation prevalent in different regions of our country and discusses ways by which these may be integrated with modern engineering practices. Download the lesson here

• Lesson 6: Canal Systems for Major and Medium Irrigation Schemes: This lesson discusses the various aspects of irrigation canal system layout and design. Other canals like those for navigation and power generation are discussed separately. Download the lesson here

• Lesson 7: Design of Irrigation Canals: In this lesson, the general procedures for designing canal sections, based on different practical considerations are discussed. Download the lesson here

• Lesson 8: Conveyance Structures for Canal Flows: This lesson deals with the concepts of planning, layout and design of canal structures for flow conveyance across artificial and natural obstacles. Download the lesson here

• Lesson 9: Regulating Structures for Canal Flows: In this lesson, attention is focused on structures that regulate the discharge and maintain the water levels within a canal network. Download the lesson here

• Lesson 10: Distribution and Measurement Structures for Canal Flows: This lesson deals with the flow distributing and measurement structures in a canal system, the function of outlets and their classifications. Download the lesson here

Module 4: Hydraulic structures for flow diversion and storage

• Lesson 1: Structures for Flow Diversion  Investigation Planning and Layout: This lesson deals with diversion structures. Download the lesson here

• Lesson 2: Design of the Main Diversion Structure of a Barrage: This lesson deals with the sub-surface consideration for the design of a barrage, steps for computing seepage pressure and exit gradient for barrage etc. Download the lesson here

• Lesson 3: Design of Barrage Appurtenant Structures and Rules for Barrage Operation: The lesson deals with the design steps for a canal head regulator, the need for sediment exclusion devices and operation and regulation rules for barrages. Download the lesson here

• Lesson 4: Structures for Water Storage Investigation, Planning and Layout: The lesson deals with different types of storage structures, that is, dams, the decisive factors for choosing suitable location for a dam and the criteria for selecting a particular dam type. Download the lesson here

• Lesson 5: Planning of Water Storage Reservoirs: The lesson deals with the primary types of reservoirs and their functions, the steps for planning reservoirs, the effect of sedimentation in reservoirs, the principles to be employed for reservoir operations etc. Download the lesson here

• Lesson 6: Design and Construction of Concrete Gravity Dams: This lesson deals with the different components of concrete gravity dams and their layouts, the design steps of concrete gravity dam sections etc. Download the lesson here

• Lesson 7: Design and Construction of Earthen Embankment Dams: This lesson deals with the different types of embankment dams, the causes of failure of embankment dams, design procedure for earthen embankment dams, seepage control measures for embankment dams and their foundations etc. Download the lesson here

• Lesson 8: Spillways and Energy Dissipators: This lesson deals with the passage of excess flood water, which has to be removed from the reservoir before it over-tops the dam. Passages constructed either within a dam or in the periphery of the reservoir to safely pass this excess of the river during flood flows are called spillways. Download the lesson here

• Lesson 9: Reservoir Outlet Works: This lesson deals with the functions/classifications of outlet works, determination of design discharge and elevation of outlet works, choice of outlet works and their layout etc. Download the lesson here

• Lesson 10: Gates and Valves for Flow Control: This lesson deals with the different types of gates and valves used in water resources engineering, difference between crest gates and deep seated gates, design criteria for important gates etc. Download the lesson here

Module 5: Hydropower Engineering

• Lesson 1: Principles of Hydropower Engineering: This lesson deals with the potential of hydropower that may be generated from a stream, the types of hydropower generation plants and the layouts of hydropower plants. Download the lesson here

• Lesson 2: Hydropower Water Conveyance System: This lesson deals with the important issues related to the different components of a hydropower Water Conveyance System. Download the lesson here

• Lesson 3: Hydropower Equipment and Generation Stations: This lesson deals with equipment employed for converting water energy to electrical energy, different types of turbines, guidelines for selecting a specific turbine etc. Download the lesson here

Module 6: Management of Water Resources

• Lesson 1: River Training and River Banks Protection Works: This lesson deals with the need for river training, guide bunds for restricting the flow path of river waterway, afflux bunds, approach embankments, groynes, spurs, etc., for river waterway control. Download the lesson here

• Lesson 2: Drought and Flood Management: This lesson deals with the two crucial adverse effects of water imbalance: droughts and floods. Download the lesson here

• Lesson 3: Remote Sensing and GIS for Water Resource Management: Download the lesson here

The lectures on the same course by IIT, Kanpur can be downloaded here

Water Resources Systems Planning and Management: The IISc Bangalore offers a course covering the following aspects: system components, planning and management, economics in water resources, modeling of water resources systems, reservoir operation, dynamic programming with applications to water allocation, capacity expansion, reservoir operation, water quality modeling and river-basin planning and management. The course details and references can be viewed at the NPTEL website here.