Articles

Water Corrosion Problems and Sustainability of Water Supply Schemes

Water supply schemes should be technically and socially sustainable for smooth running, smooth operation and maintenances. Failure in either one of these leads to the whole system failure. Once the system is technically feasible, we can manage its social aspects. In this paper, we deal with technical sustainability of corrosive water, its impacts and the remedial measures. Corrosive water can severely damage intakes, metal pipes, cemented chambers, concrete reservoir and household plumbing systems. Hence, it is necessary to identify the corrosiveness of the water and should be neutralized. There are several solutions to this problem, however, they are not sustainable and economical for semi urban and rural communities. In this paper, we propose a sustainable, natural and economical solution to determine the corrosiveness of water and to effective technology to neutralize it. The proposed solution uses naturally available resources, hence makes it sustainable and affordable. Once the proposed method is deployed, it doesn’t require additional resources such as continuous monitoring, skilled manpower and electrical power cost etc. In this method, initially, the corrosiveness of the water is identified using parameters such as: total dissolved solid (TDS), pH, temperature, calcium and alkalinity. The corrosive water is then analyzed in laboratory. With carbon dioxide kinetic study, we verify the design of stabilization tank volume calculation. The research outcome is applied in the field to upgrade intake, pipe and fitting designs. The experiment in this research is conducted with the data obtained from several water supply schemes including Padampokhari water supply scheme in Nepal and tested in the same water supply scheme.