Chapter Five: Pipelines Design
The quantity of water to be supplied to a particular community has to be conveyed from source to consumers. Normally, the medium through which water has to be conveyed in pipelines. This chapter describes the pipelines design. It presents the calculation of pipelines hydraulics and associated design approaches.
5.1 Design Requirements of pipelines
There are five principle operational requirements for a pipeline. The requirements are;
- It must convey the quantity of water required,
- It must be capable of resisting all external and internal forces,
- It must be durable and meet the design working life,
- It must be properly laid and embedded,
- The material from which it is made should not adversely affect the quality of the water being conveyed.
5.2 Types of pipelines
Broadly, there are two types of pipelines which should be considered for design. They are transmission and distribution systems. Transmission and distribution systems vary in size and complexity but they all have the same basic purpose, which is to deliver water from the source(s) to the consumer.
5.3 Security considerations for pipelines
When designing a water supply project, pipeline route should be located. It should be accomplished by ensuring to obtain pipeline way-leaves. For security reasons we propose marker posts to be provided for the boundaries of the way-leave. For all pipelines it is important to obtain and secure a way-leave so as to avoid problems later on. Even in road reserves the alignment should be agreed with the road authority in advance and officially recorded so that even many years later there can be no argument when it comes to any dispute or compensation claim.
5.3.1 Methods of water transmission and distribution
There are three (3) methods which should be considered when transporting water from the source to the treatment plant, if any, and the distribution system, and eventually reach consumers. The methods are;
